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Joy Pal him What should have been obvious after two phone calls didn’t hit him until he’d made four

Ted was in sad shape Real sad shape, not to have recognized that sooner He’d kissed her, and it was as if his co leap out the proverbial

He’d liked Joy from the first The woman enthralled hiame had cinched it Even noasn’t sure what had proe From there the rest was history

Unfortunately there was the small problem of Blythe He needed to talk to her, but when he’d phoned she’d abruptly canceled their date without offering an explanation He wondered if she’d heard about him and Joy but decided that was impossible He would clear up matters with Blythe, but he’d wait for her to contact him She would, he knew, and soon

Ted left the office tento do about Joy From the office he headed directly to the Wilshire Grove Retirement Center He smiled when he found Edith parked in her usual spot On impulse he walked over and patted the Chevy’s hood

"There’s no escaping me now," he told the vehicle, and was confident that if Joy did decide to leave, her car would be ether

Ted went directly to Joy’s office He found her secretary in the outer office "Joy Pal appoint woh the pages of the appointment book "I’m sorry, but Joy isn’t here"

"May I ask where she is?"

Once again the assistant sorted through a variety of pages and then looked up with an apologetic expression "It says here she’swith the library committee, but--"

"Thanks" Ted didn’t wait to hear the rest It wasn’t necessary With his grandmother as president, he knew more than he ever cared to about her precious co in the library

He found the corandnized each woroup by name There was Emily and Thelma, Vera and Lois, Mary Frances, Justine, Dorothy, Joyce, Rachel, and a couple of others who had their heads turned away from him so he couldn’t see their faces

Joy was one of those

His grand--quite vehemently, he noted--when she saw hiuessed didn’t happen often

"Ted," she said, recovering quickly

Ted stepped into the compact rooaze found and connected with Joy’s He loved the way the color rose up her neck and invaded her pale cheeks "I need to speak with Joy Palmer, if that would be possible"

"I’," she protested, and looked to Catherine for support She should have known better

"It’s all right, dear," Catherine said ever so sweetly "We’ve already taken far o on and talk to your younght be

"Thanks, Grandesture

Reluctantly, as if this were the last thing she wanted to do, Joy stood It took her another couple of ather her notes and pencils

By the time she joined hiine red "Just exactly what are you doing here?"

"We have a dinner date, ree There’re two things you need to know about me, Joy Palmer Number one, I don’t take ‘no’ easily, and nu to tell ht," she said, squaring her shoulders "I can’t go to dinner with you"

"Why can’t you?" he pressed He wouldn’t make this easy for her, if that hat she assu "no" easily

She stiffened and knotted her hands around the pad and pen she’d clenched against her chest "Can’t you just accept the fact I changed ainst the wall "Take Blythe"

"I’ you," he told her sied your athered soain, Ted saw so that hadn’t been there earlier

"I don’t want to see you again, understand? That shouldn’t be so difficult, should it?" Her voice was cool and une he knew her to be

"It wouldn’t be so hard if I believed it"

"What do I have to do to convince you? My word should be enough"

"Not this tiainst the wall and looe eyes followed his nantly

"In a minute," he promised This wasn’t what he’d planned, but then he didn’t really have a plan There was only one way he could think of to convince Joy she was lying to herself as much as him And that was to kiss her

"Ted"

"S-h-h," he whispered, lowering his