Joseph Read Online Free

Could she reach out to him after all this time? Should she involve this wonderful woman and her family in the torrent of events swirling around her?
    Amanda King was a saint and helped her bury her aunt four years ago. The older woman walked her through the multitude of funeral arrangements and stood beside her at the grave site. She made Ember dinners and caught her up on her children’s exploits, travels, and occupational choices. Mrs. King spent a particularly skewed amount of time talking about Joseph, Ember’s first love, ensuring she knew he was still single and worked for an international security firm. That was the reason she was calling now.
    “Yes ma’am, thank you. Ahh…Mrs. King, I can’t find Joey’s telephone number. Would you happen to have a way I can get in touch with him? It’s kind of important that I talk to him right away.”
    The pause at the other end of the line was pregnant. Finally, Mrs. King asked, “Ember, honey, are you in trouble?”
    Ember didn’t respond. A long pause followed and in the end she couldn’t say anything.
    Mrs. King sighed. “Okay sweetheart, I’m giving you his emergency contact number. Leave a message and give him a number to call you back. I don’t know if he is in the country or overseas, but he will call you as soon as he gets your message. It could take a couple days or longer. Maybe you should call Jacob or Jared? They’re in the states and they could help you if you’re in trouble. If you need a lawyer Jason has an office here in town.”
    “No ma’am, I don’t need a lawyer. I really just need to talk to Joey. If he doesn’t call me back soon, maybe I’ll ask for Jared’s number. Okay?”
    “Alright, dear. I won’t pry. Lord knows I want to, but I won’t. Here is the number.”
    Ember ended the call after she scribbled the overseas number down. Forcing a deep breath to steady her shot nerves, she called the number. The ringing stopped abruptly and a computer beep sounded. She drew a shaky breath, “Joey, it's Em. Ember Harris. I think I’m in trouble. Please call me back. Ah...Joey… I’m…I think…please would you give me a call. I need help.” She left the number of her third phone, powered down the second phone, took out the battery and the SIM card. She broke the card and threw it on the floor. The phone ended up dropped in the toilet of the bus. A flush ensured it went down into the septic tank.
    Joseph King, the boy she knew years ago had been her hero. Her mom had raised her alone. Ember’s dad was a drunken leech who drifted in and out of her childhood, but was never a constant. When her mom died of cancer, her Aunt Caroline took her in. Ember transferred from a huge Ohio high school with over two thousand students to a small Mississippi school with less than one hundred in her class. Most of the people in the school had been friends since they were in kindergarten and their social circles and cliques were formidable. As a quiet and introspective teen, the death of her mother forced her even further into herself. Tagged as the new ‘city girl’ she was circled by the hormone-crazed boys at the country school. All the attention she received from the young men garnered her spite and ridicule from the local girls who desperately tried to attract the boy’s attention.
    She did her best to avoid talking with anyone, but one afternoon about a week after starting school four boys surrounded her at a lunchroom table. She tried to get up and move, but one pulled her back down. The other three laughed at her surprise.
    “Where you going so fast, princess? What? Is the city girl too stuck up to be around us? Do you think you’re too good for us, honey?” The blond’s sarcastic southern drawl taunted her.
    Ember glared at him. “I’m done with lunch and I don’t want to talk with you. Go talk to those girls over there and let go of my arm now.”
    The crowd of boys laughed as the tanned blond continued, “Hey, who said we just want