After thinking about the
A moment later she added, “I’m glad we went tonight. We both needed to be at the vigil, and dinner was fun. I feel like I made a new friend tonight.”
“That’s funny,” Joanna replied, flashing her own quick smile back in Leann Jessup’s direction. “I feel the same way.”
By then they had reached the entrance to the APOA campus. The Blazer’s headlights slid briefly across Tommy Tompkins’s broken-winged angel guarding the entryway. Basking in the glow of a newfound friendship, the angel seemed far less incongruous to Joanna now than it had the first time she saw it.
After parking in the lot, the two women started toward the dorm. “How about going for a jog later?” Leann asked.
“No way,” Joanna answered. “Look at me. I can barely hobble along as it is. This afternoon’s session of PT almost killed me.”
“You know what they say,” Leann said. “No pain, no gain.”
It wasn’t a particularly witty or clever comment. In fact, when Brad Mason had said the exact same thing earlier that afternoon as Joanna came crawling in from running her laps, she had been tempted to punch the PT instructor’s lights out. Now, though, for some reason, it struck her funny bone.
She started to laugh. A moment later, so did Leann. They were both still convulsed with giggles and trying to stifle the racket as they struggled to unlock their respective doors.
Joanna managed to open hers first. “Good night,” she called, as she stepped inside.
“Night,” Leann said.
Closing the door behind her, Joanna leaned against it for a moment. It had been a long, long time since she had laughed like that—until tears ran down her cheeks, until her jaws ached, and her sides hurt. It felt good. She was still basking in the glow of it when her phone began to ring.
Sure the call had something to do with Jenny, she jumped to answer it only to hear Adam York voice on the line.
“Joanna,” he said. “I’ve been trying to track you down all day. Didn’t you get my message?”
“I did, but I haven’t had a chance to call. Where are you?”
“The Ritz-Carlton. On Camelback.”
“Here in Phoenix?”
“Yes, in Phoenix. There may be streets named Camelback other places, but I don’t know of any.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I came in from the East Coast this afternoon for a meeting that’s scheduled for both tomorrow and Friday. I thought I’d check in and see how things are going for you before you head on down to Bisbee for Thanksgiving.”
“I’m not going,” Joanna said. “My in-laws are bringing Jenny up here for the weekend.” She paused for a
