Dining with Joy Read Online Free PDF

against it. When she acquiesced, it soothed the fire in Lyric’s belly.
    â€œWhat? Five? What happened to ten?” Lyric rammed the toothbrush into her mouth.
    â€œYou burned it up spouting your classic wit.”
    â€œAunt Joy, why do I have to go to Granny’s shop?” Lyric’s toothbrush rounded out her cheek. “Can’t I just stay here? It’s summer. All my friends are going to the beach, taking vacations, and what am I doing? Watching Roseanne reruns at Ballard Paint & Body with my kid sister.”
    Roseanne? That explained the sarcasm. “You had home privileges until you threw an unauthorized party.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t have known if Annie-Rae hadn’t snitched.” Lyric bent forward, flipping her hair, twisting it into a thick, wavy knot.
    â€œAnnie-Rae only shortened the investigation. We were on to you when we found Amos Watson’s driver’s license in the front bushes.”
    â€œHow am I supposed to fit in when I’m treated like a baby? How will I get Parker Eaton to notice me?”
    â€œIf he doesn’t notice you, Lyric, he’s blind.”
    A soft sigh relaxed her shoulders. “You’re just saying that to shut me up.”
    â€œNormally, yes. But not this morning, baby.” Joy eased her way toward the bathroom. “You’re more beautiful than you know. And with your wild attitude and anger, you’re way more dangerous than you realize. Relax, Lyric. Let love come to you. You’re not even fifteen yet.”
    Since the girls moved in with Mama while Sawyer and Mindy tried to find a life for themselves in Vegas, Joy postponed her plan of buying her own place in order to help out. She tried to marry wisdom with compassion, letting the girls heal. But she also refused to let their truth become grounded in their circumstances and their faith in their feelings. She still fought that battle herself.
    â€œIs that what you’re doing? Letting love come to you? You’re almost thirty, Aunt Joy. How long do you have to wait?”
    â€œCertainly past your fifteenth birthday. Now please, get in the shower. Today. Now. Two minutes . . .”
    The bathroom door slammed. Next the shower water hit the porcelain tub. Joy paused at the top of the stairs, listening to the song of the shower, wrestling with Lyric’s caustic observation. Letting love come to you? You’re almost thirty . . .
    She’d known love once. But for the past seven years she’d been busy running from her own broken heart and the hollow echo of her own tears. Then she joined Dining with Charles as an associate producer, which shockingly turned into Dining with Joy .
    Love seemed like a million years away. The shower water cut off. Joy stirred and started downstairs. What she didn’t have time to ponder today was romance. Not the morning Duncan Tate planned to introduce her to her new boss, Allison Wild.
    At the bottom of the stairs, Joy slowed her step, sniffing the air, captured by a silky scent that brought to mind the image of Luke Redmond.
    The Dining with Joy studios were in downtown Beaufort on the second floor of the Old Bay Marketplace building. Duncan Tate built it for Daddy after his first heart episode. He thought a hometown studio would relieve the stress of traveling to Atlanta to tape the show. Plus, it would give Dining with Charles a cozy, hometown feel. The brand caught on with viewers and Daddy’s star started rising. But bad hearts don’t care about hometown studios, rising stars, or the collateral based on the power of a man’s name.
    â€œJoy, good, you are here,” Duncan greeted her, wearing a suit and tasseled loafers, his face pinched and his voice strained.
    â€œNine o’clock. Just like you said.” She peered at the woman with Duncan, then crossed over to the conference table, smoothing her hand over her new jeans, curling her toes against her flip-flops. She’d dressed in