Joy had placed on the gate-legged table in the entryway of the home that had belonged to Joy’s parents.
“Um, sort of...”
Sophie idly leafed through the advertisements and credit card offers. When would these banks quit sending her this stuff? She never responded. Suddenly realizing that Joy was standing there quietly, Sophie looked up. “Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. What did you say?”
“Um, I said I did kind of have a date.”
“Oh? Who with?”
“Um, Aidan Burke?”
Sophie blinked. Aidan Burke? Dillon Burke’s nephew? Alarm bells began ringing in her brain. She opened her mouth, then closed it, not sure what to say. Her first instinct had been to say over my dead body, but she knew she would have to justify an answer like that, and what could she say? I don’t want you seeing anyone even remotely connected to Dillon Burke. The Burke men are bad news. Really bad news. Sighing again, she met Joy’s hopeful gaze. “How old is this Aidan Burke?”
Joy’s expression became hesitant. “He’s a senior,” she said softly.
“Yes, that’s what I thought.” Oh God. Is history repeating itself? “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to date a senior, Joy.”
“Why? He’s really nice, Sophie. You’d like him.”
Sophie could just imagine. She’d seen Dillon’s nephew from a distance. He was a good-looking kid. In fact, he reminded her of Dillon when he was a kid. No. This would never do. “You are too young to date a senior. And when did you meet him, anyway?”
“At the pool. This summer.”
“I see.” She studied Joy for a moment, but Joy evaded her gaze. “Have you already gone out with him?” At first, Sophie wasn’t sure Joy was going to answer her. But then she looked up.
“We’ve never had a date.”
There was something about Joy’s answer that bothered Sophie, but she certainly wasn’t going to accuse her sister of lying to her. Was she lying?
“Sophie, I just wish you’d meet him...”
“I’m sorry, Joy, but I’ve made up my mind. You cannot go to homecoming with him. You can dance with him if he asks you, but you cannot go with him or allow him to bring you home.”
Joy’s face crumpled. “This is so unfair. You...you don’t even know him!”
“Joy,” Sophie said quietly, “you knew what my reaction was going to be before you even told me about him.” When Joy just stared at her, Sophie added, “We agreed last year, when you first began dating, that you would stick to boys in your age bracket.”
“But that was before I’d met Aidan. Please, Sophie, just give him a chance. Let him come over and talk to you. I know you’ll change your mind if you meet him.”
Sophie shook her head. If Aidan had even one quarter of the charm his uncle had, she would be putty in his hands. “No, honey. It’s out of the question. When you’re older and in college, you can make your own choices about who you date. While you’re here, and I’m in charge, the rules will stand.”
Joy gave her one last beseeching look, then walked away dejectedly. Sophie sighed. Please, God, give me the strength to get her safely through high school.
An hour later, dinner on the table, Sophie called upstairs to tell Joy it was time to eat. Hearing nothing in return, she called louder. When there was still no response, she climbed the stairs and knocked on Joy’s bedroom door before opening it, all ready to deliver a reprimand. Her mouth instead fell open. The room was empty.
“Joy?” Sophie walked in, then checked the adjoining bathroom. Joy wasn’t there. Where was she? Sophie looked at Joy’s nightstand where her charger lay. Joy’s cell phone, which was always connected to the charger when Joy was in the room, wasn’t there, either.
Her niece had sneaked out.
Somehow Joy had come down the stairs noiselessly, opened the front door and left without making any noise or saying a word to Sophie.
Sophie’s heart sped up. She was furious. In fact, she couldn’t believe Joy had defied her like this. Worse, she couldn’t think what she was going to do about it. Trouble was, she herself was only twenty-nine. She was too close to being a kid herself not to remember what it felt like to have a crush on an older, drop-dead-handsome boy. To think you’d die if he didn’t ask you out. Maybe she’d made a terrible mistake. By telling Joy she couldn’t go to homecoming with Aidan Burke, had she inadvertently pushed the girl right into his arms?
Sighing, Sophie moped downstairs. Picking up her own cell phone, she texted Joy.
Where R U? Pls come hm. Lets talk.
When ten minutes had gone by with no answer, she realized Joy either had her phone shut off or was simply going to ignore her. She probably figured Sophie wasn’t going to relent on homecoming anyway, so what difference did it make? All Sophie could do was wait, and try to figure out what she was going to do now.
* * *
The house was dark when Aidan dropped Joy off. But Sophie’s bedroom faced the backyard, so even if her light was still on, Joy wouldn’t have been able to see it.
Joy silently let herself in, glad there was no dog to make noise, even though she’d been begging Sophie for months to let her get a Lab. Sophie had finally relented, saying they could pick out a Lab puppy for Christmas. Joy made a face. She guessed she’d probably blown that, too, with her disappearing act tonight.
Why had she sneaked out? She still wasn’t sure. All she knew was that when Sophie had so stubbornly refused to allow her to go to homecoming with Aidan, she was so angry she just wanted to show Sophie she couldn’t control everything in Joy’s life.
You’ve blown it. Totally blown it. Now she probably won’t let you go to homecoming at all.
Joy was still thinking dark thoughts when she reached the top of the stairs—thankfully, not making any noise while doing it—so she wasn’t fully prepared for Sophie’s sudden appearance in the hallway.
“Where have you been?” Sophie demanded.
Joy swallowed. “I was upset. I—I had to get away...to think.”
“To think.”
“Yes.” Joy straightened, abruptly deciding she would brazen this out. She was in the doghouse anyway. Might as well show some backbone.
Sophie sighed heavily. “Joy,” she began.
“I know, I know. You’re mad at me. I don’t blame you.”
“I’m more than mad, Joy. I’m disappointed. I didn’t know where you were or what you were doing. I even bailed out on my book club tonight because I was so worried about you. I’ve been sitting and waiting all night. I know you were out with that boy, otherwise I might have been tempted to call the police and have them look for you. The least you
