The Color of Joy Read Online Free PDF

trying.”
    “Don’t overwhelm her,” he added. “I’m on my way. And don’t touch anything in the baby’s room. We’ll be gathering evidence and dusting for prints. Was there any sign of forced entry?”
    “Not that I know of, but I haven’t checked around yet.”
    “Don’t touch a thing,” he repeated. “We’ll do a thorough search. Who was with your children at the time? Was it your mother-in-law?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’ll definitely need to talk to her again.”
    I cupped my forehead in a hand and shut my eyes. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
    “This is good news, Riley,” Miller assured me. “It’s a solid lead. You should call your wife and let her know.”
    I nodded in agreement, hung up and prayed this would get us somewhere.

Six Months Earlier

Chapter Eleven

    Jenn Nichols

    Someone very wise once told me that our greatest purpose in life was to find joy. That seemed rather self-indulgent to me at the time, and I couldn’t help but wonder about all the sickos in the world who got their jollies out of hurting others. Surely that should never be someone’s higher purpose, under any circumstances.
    But that wasn’t the kind of joy this person was referring to. She was talking about something else entirely. Something far more pure. It took me a long time to truly understand it, but in the end, I finally got it.
    *
    Since I’m about to bare my soul to you, I suppose I should formally introduce myself. My name is Jenn Nichols and I turned thirty a few weeks ago. I’ve always been a bit of a dreamer, but in a good way. When I was young, I imagined myself doing amazing things like becoming a television reporter who covers wars and weather disasters, or an ER nurse who remains cool headed under pressure and helps people feel safe when they’re gravely sick or injured.
    When I say I’m a dreamer in a good way, what I mean to suggest is that when I aspire toward something, I feel confident enough in my intelligence and abilities to achieve it. I don’t just dream about it. I understand that I have to take action, and I do.
    I’ve always found it rather sad that most of us go through life believing there’s plenty of time to make our dreams come true. “Someday I’m going to…” Any goal could be inserted there. You’ve probably been guilty of that yourself at some point, haven’t you?
    Or some of us get stuck in a rut and can’t stop focusing on the past. We see only the possibility of the status quo instead of looking toward a different future.
    Well, I have news for you. Life is short. It flies by faster than you think, and you never know when the rug will get pulled out from under you, so if you really want something more, you need to get busy.
    Where do you want to be five years from now? Ten years? Don’t just dream about it. Start the ball rolling now so that when those years are behind you, you won’t still be standing at the bottom of the mountain looking up.
    *
    If you’re wondering what qualifies me to give advice about goal setting and making your dreams come true, I promise I’ll reveal that to you later. But first I want you to know what kind of person I am.
    I won’t start at the very beginning because that would be boring. I’ll simply disclose that I enjoyed a normal childhood with one older sister who was sometimes difficult to be around because she was overly dramatic as a teenager and frustratingly pessimistic and surly. She went a bit wild and made some bad decisions, and I now recognize that she may have had some mental health issues, even back then.
    As for me, I was always sensible, levelheaded and emotionally content growing up. I was a slightly above average student in high school where I played on the volleyball team. I wasn’t gorgeous by any means, but I wasn’t hideous either. I didn’t struggle with any self-esteem issues. As far as adolescence goes, mine was pretty much a cake walk.
    Now let’s fast-forward to young adulthood: I went to my