William nodded. “It’s settled then,” he said.
And Max, satisfied too, stood up. “I’ll let you know as soon as we find her, sir. We’re certain she’ll know exactly why he would have targeted you.”
“Right,” said William, Max said his goodbyes, put the chair back in place, and left.
Joy looked at William. “He’s a member of this club too?”
“By my invitation, yes.”
Then Joy felt a pit in the bottom of her stomach. “I’m sorry you’re the target.”
William looked at her and frowned. “I’m not sorry! Thank God I’m the target. I don’t want that burden to fall on you.”
“But you’ve got enough burdens on you,” she said so heartfelt that it made William smiled.
“I can handle them,” he said. “I’m used to it, Joy. Don’t you worry about me.”
Joy smiled. “I’m still gonna worry anyway.”
She was everything he could have hoped for and more. Even after Cassidy, she was still in his corner. And he wasn’t about to allow some woman who didn’t hear what he was telling her ruin her birthday dinner. He stood up, and extended his hand. “Let’s dance while we wait,” he said. And Joy, pleased that he wasn’t some stuff-shirt the way she at first thought he was, gladly took his hand.
They made their way to the dance floor. Many older couples were dancing and they joined right in. Joy was the youngest thing on the floor. But she enjoyed herself. Although the song, The Beatles singingSomething, was a song she was only vaguely familiar with. But even that seemed to work too.
And soon she and William were dancing in a slow drag. She leaned closer against him, and he held onto her, as they danced:
“Something in the way she moves.
Attracts me like no other lover.
Something in the way she woos me.
I don’t wanna leave her now.
You know I believe and how.”
As the guitar played, William stared at Joy as they danced. And she looked up at him and was staring back.
“Something in her smile she knows.
That I don’t need no other lover.
Something in her style that shows me.
I don’t wanna leave her now.
You know I believe and how.”
And in that moment, that very moment, William knew he was one hundred percent completely and unequivocally in love with Joynetta Johnson. It was early days. Too early for him to be that certain. But he was that certain.
He pulled her back into his arms as those emotions of seeing his pathetic parents again battled with the emotions of the love for Joy he held deep in his heart.
It wasn’t even close.
Love won.
“I don’t wanna leave her now.
You know I believe and how.”
