Page 2 of Until Joy

But…did I want to stay where everybody knew my business, and my older brothers stuck their noses into every aspect of my life?

I almost dropped my book as I heard the distinctive shuffle coming down the hall.

Little Grandma was close. I’d recognize her, no matter where I was.

Before I had a chance to hide the book, the pantry door creaked open, and I saw her concerned blue eyes looking at me.

Busted!

“That book doesn’t have the kind of cover I’m used to seeing you read,” she teased.

I laughed. “Since it doesn’t have a picture of a man’s naked chest on it, does that mean you don’t want to borrow it?”

“I like all kinds of books.”

That was true. I got my love of reading from her. She had made the top floor in her house a library and I had hidden there for hours as a child.

“Tell me, sugar, how do you want to transform your life?”

“I wish I knew. So far, the book has been no help.”

“In that case, I probably won’t be borrowing it,” she chuckled.

I pulled up my knees and laid my cheek on them, so I could look at her as she pulled up a milk crate to sit down beside me. “Do you want to talk?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “But I need to.”

Why did I feel like crying?

“I feel like a failure. Two years ago, I left town with big dreams, and everything went wrong and I came home with my tail between my legs.”

“You’ve never told anyone what happened. Do you want to tell me now?” she quietly asked.

I shook my head and swiped at one lone tear that had escaped.

“I understand. There were some things I only shared with your great-great-grandfather. He knew all my secrets, and I knew his.”

I couldn’t imagine sharing what had happened. Not when it would mean that my brothers and parents would keep me locked in my room until I was forty, because they’d be so worried about me.

“Joy?”

I looked up.

“Can you tell me why you’re still here?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

She brushed flour out of my hair and we both laughed. “Sugar, you’re living small here in Jasper Creek.”

My head jerked up. I couldn’t have been more surprised if she’d hit me over the head with a two-by-four. She read my expression right and started talking.

“I’m not saying the people here in Jasper Creek are living small lives. They aren’t. The furthest I’ve been away from Jasper Creek was when I was a tour guide at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1942, which wasn’t far at all. But I’ve lived a full and spectacularly happy life here. I can point to person after person and tell you they are fulfilled, having lived here all their lives. And they’re not living small, they’re living large!”

I was still frowning.

“But some people need more. Take Evie and Drake Avery, for example. They would have lived half-lives if they’d stayed here. Being away was good for them. Then there’s you.”

“What about me?”