“Where’d that come from?” Everett mumbled, scowling.
Rill chuckled. Everett glanced at Joy and saw her looking at him with a knowing smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Seth watching his niece.
After a while, Rill and Katie went inside to put Daisy to bed. Joy collected their glasses and went inside to clean them. Barnyard must have had enough o
f the humid night, because he trotted after Joy. Seth watched the front door close behind the basset hound’s waddling rear and turned to address Everett.
“Joy told me that you visited her classroom earlier in the week.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Did she seem to like it? The new job?” Seth asked.
Everett nodded. “Yeah. I actually went into class for a while, saw her work. The kids really like her . . . respect her. She’s very comfortable teaching.”
Seth nodded, seeming to consider.
“Are you worried about her moving to Chicago?” Everett asked after a pause.
“A little. She doesn’t know anyone there.”
“I met two of her friends—the Weismans. They’re a couple. Joy teaches with them.”
Seth gave a doubtful grunt. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and then said abruptly, “I’m going to ask her to be a partner in Hightower Special Effects.”
“You are?” Everett asked, leaning forward. “Do you think she’ll accept?”
“I don’t know. Joy’s a law unto herself. To call her independent is an understatement.”
“Yeah. I’ve noticed,” Everett said dryly.
Seth speared him with his stare. “You’re not just stringing her along, are you,” he stated more than asked.
“No. I’m not. Joy is . . . special.”
Seth turned his gaze back to the black night, his profile unreadable.
“I’m glad to hear you think so. Because Joy isn’t weak, by any means. But she’s vulnerable. She didn’t just watch her mother go through five years of hell; Joy walked with her. Every step of the way. And then her father—my stupid-ass brother—abandoned both Alice and Joy when they needed him most.” He paused. Everett sat there, trying to absorb the idea of a teenage girl enduring all of that grief and pain and fear. Not any girl—Joy—the stunning, gifted woman he strongly suspected he was falling in love with.
“If you were to hurt her in any way, I wouldn’t take it lightly,” Seth said starkly.
Everett arched his eyebrows at the subtle challenge. He wasn’t offended. Not in the slightest.
“I can understand that. I wouldn’t take it lightly, either. I don’t take Joy lightly. Just the opposite, in fact,” Everett replied evenly.
Seth and he settled into a silence that wasn’t companionable, necessarily, but comfortable. They’d both had their say, and they both knew it.
* * *
Joy was in the process of drying off the glasses they’d used for lemonade and putting them into the cabinet when Katie walked into the kitchen.
“You don’t have to do that, Joy. You’re a guest,” Katie protested.
“I’m glad to have something to do. It makes me feel like I’m earning my stay. Is Daisy all tucked in?”
“Snug as a bug. For a few hours, anyway,” Katie said, drying off the clean lemonade pitcher. “Are you having a nice time? With Everett, I mean?”
“Oh, yes,” Joy replied, shutting the cabinet. She carefully folded the dish towel and set it on the counter. “He’s . . . very unique, isn’t he?”