“Knox and Thane.”
Joy nods, staring off into space. “Emerick, Knox and Thane. Wow. Your parents were super old-fashioned with your names. Let me guess – they’re called Jethro and Clarabelle?”
“No. Henry and Sarah. My grandmother’s name is Clara, though.” I pause until Joy stops giggling. “Her father was Adler Wolfe, who settled here and bought up a huge chunk of land.” Studying her expression carefully, I expect to see…I don’t know. I’ve always felt like I’m being judged by the weight of my entire family.
“That’s so cool!” she chirps, sitting up straighter. “So you have this whole… mountain family dynasty thing going on. That’s amazing.”
“If you say so.” Personally, I’m not a fan of strangers second guessing every move I make. That’s why I isolate as much as I can. But I’m not going to argue with her.
Clearing my throat, I decide to get the unpleasantries out of the way sooner rather than later. “Joy, how old are you?”
“Twenty-three.” Her gorgeous eyes dance and sparkle. “Why?”
“Just checking if I could offer you a beer,” I lie.
“You can. And you are…?”
My shoulders sag. “Thirty-five next month.” I wait to see her cringe. She doesn’t.
Joy smiles, looking around my spotless kitchen. “I’ve heard horror stories of men who don’t know how to cook or clean. And here’s a literal bear in the woods who does both.”
My face falls into its usual scowl, although a half chuckle slips out. “Those are little boys. A man keeps his home in order.”
Once we’re settled at the table with a couple of beers and halfway through eating, I realize this feels like a date. We’re sitting around the corner of the table, our knees occasionally brushing, getting to know each other. I can’t think of the last time I’ve been on such a thing. I hope I’m not being too quiet.
“You said it would be fun to have a large family. What’s yours like?” I ask.
Joy stares down at her plate for a moment. “The short version is that my dad took off when I was three, so I never knew him. And then Mom…” She hesitates for a moment. “When I was eighteen, she was killed in a fiery car accident. My brother Carl couldn’t stand to be in the city where it happened, so he moved us out to Cedarvale, where he was able to buy us a house.”
“I’m so sorry.” My hand lands on hers on the table, caressing her petal-soft skin. “Are you and he close?”
She hesitates longer this time. “Well, without him I’d be completely on my own, right?”
I don’t like that answer. Don’t like that her only person in the world makes her frown. “That’s…a lot to deal with.”
Her lips press together and she half-shrugs. “Really? I think everyone’s life has some crap in it.”
“Maybe so, but that’s way more than just ordinary crap.” There’s no keeping the rough rasp out of my voice. “That’s total bullshit, and not fair.”
She looks up at me with luminous eyes. “You truly want things to be fair, don’t you?”
I love that she picked up on that right away. Somehow, that proves her sweetness. “It’s just…the way things ought to be.”
Her hand flips over and she slips her fingers through mine. “I like a man with a sense of honor and justice.”
Wow. I’ve never thought of myself like that, but it’s something my family has always stood for. “I guess so.”
Joy sighs. “Anyway, we could only afford a very small house with Mom’s life insurance money, and Carl ended up buying a place that’s kind of divided into two apartments. He has the upstairs, and I have the basement.”
I fight to keep from growling at the thought of Joy living underground.
“The past few years, he’s been trying to kick me out of the house as much as possible?—”
A wave of heat floods my nerves. “Kicking youout?”
“Not in the bad way.” Her fingers squeeze mine gently. “More that he wants me to leave the house so I get more sunlight and fresh air. But I work from home, and I like to read a lot, so I end up not going out much.” She shrugs. “He’s also desperate to find a girlfriend and thinks that I get in the way.”
She shakes her head, retracting her hand and wiping it on her napkin. Did holding my hand make her palm sweat? If I make her nervous, I’m going to kick my own ass.
