Page 71 of Until Joy

“I’m taking the day off,” he informed me. “So, you tell me, what do you want to do?”

“You are? Why would you do that?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

I shook my head.

“For God’s sake, Joy. You have a stalker here, and it could be the guy from London or somebody new here in Tennessee, but we need to start figuring things out. I want to start doing that today. So, for the next hour or two, I’m yours.”

“This goes with the whole, taking care of me, right?”

“Damn right it does.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my cheek against his chest. I heard the steady beat of his heart, and it soothed me. “In that case, I want to go to Miss Laverne’s for a change of clothes. Two days in a row in the same clothes makes me feel icky. Plus, I want to go check in on her. If someone’s after me, I’m afraid they might target where I live, and she might get caught in the middle.”

He stood up and held out a hand. “Good thinking. We should definitely give her a heads up.”

I took his hand and stood up. “The thing is, I don’t want to worry her. What’s more, she’ll tell Little Grandma.”

Graham gave me a look. I knew what it meant. “You’re thinking I need to come clean with my family, aren’t you?”

He nodded as he steered me into the house.

I sighed. I didn’t see any way out of it. Not if I wanted to warn Miss Laverne.

“I’ll tell you what, Doll. Let’s let Jax do his thing, and for the next couple of nights you and I will stay at Miss Laverne’s.”

“That would be perfect! With you working days, and me working nights, we’ll have her covered 24/7.”

Graham started shaking his head. “That’s another thing. I don’t think it’s safe for you to be working at the clinic alone at night.”

“They have a great security system. You said so yourself.”

“Sure, in a normal situation, it’s fine. But this isn’t normal. You’re a target.”

I went to the kitchen counter to pick up my purse. “I don’t want to leave July in a lurch. She hired me to work nights. She has days covered. I’ll have to look around town for another day job.”

“Under the circumstances, I think she’ll let you work days,” Graham assured me as we went out to his truck.

“Graham, it’s not my style to ask for favors. It just isn’t.”

He opened the passenger side door for me and gave me his hand to help me up. “Something tells me you won’t have to ask.”

I frowned. “You didn’t call Wes or something, did you?”

“I didn’t have to. I know July.”

“Well, so do I. She’s a businesswoman. I respect that about her. She’ll do what she needs to do for the business, which means she won’t be handing me a day job, when she already has that position filled.”

“Hey there, Miss Laverne,” I called out as I opened the screen door to her newly painted house.

Miss Laverne was wiping her hands on a kitchen towel when she met us in the parlor. “Aren’t you two a sight for sore eyes? Come to the kitchen table. I just made up a batch of cornbread to go with a stew I’m fixin’ for Jerome and Delilah Wylie. You know she had hip replacement surgery last week, and DoorDash is mighty expensive.”

I had no idea who the Wylie’s were, but I nodded anyway. When I looked around the kitchen, I could see that Miss Laverne had made a lot more than just a pot of stew and cornbread. There were Tupperware containers everywhere.

“Miss Laverne, why don’t you let me drive you over to the Wylie’s?” Graham suggested.

Miss Laverne laughed. “How about I say no, because there’s no way I could get on up into your truck without a crane?”