Joy's Valentine Read Online Free

a growing girl.”
    “She didn’t have to make me go cold turkey!” Katie balked.
    “Trust me, when she went through withdrawals…both of us suffered!”
    Eli shook his head and Joy couldn’t help but laugh. They ordered and Joy was halfway through her angel hair when she made the decision Eli was no longer in trouble. His family was warm and fun. She was actually glad she’d met them. They talked about serious and non-consequential things and teased each other mercilessly.
    Katie explained how she cut her school year in half. “We own a house in Rosemary Beach,” she said around a bite of pizza. “So, I go to school there from August until February. I finish the year at my school in New York. We stay with Uncle Jon in the Hamptons for a few weeks during the summer, and then we come back here.”
    “Doesn’t that make it hard to have friends?” Joy asked in wonder.
    “Not really,” Katie said with a shrug. “I’ve got two sets of friends and it’s not like we ever lose contact. We e-mail, face-time, and text each other the whole time I’m away.”
    “Can’t fall behind in high school gossip,” Eli teased.
    Katie stuck her tongue out at him and took another bite of her slice.
    Greta sat back in her chair and sighed. “I believe that most of her friends think she splits her time between two divorced parents. They don’t realize her mother is a snowbird.”
    “What’s a snowbird?” Joy asked.
    “It’s a person of retirement age who relocates according to the weather. They live up north, but when it starts to get cold they come down to Florida. Then they go back up north when it starts to get too hot here,” Eli explained.
    “Oh. That makes more sense than shoveling driveways. Maybe I should become a snowbird. The weather here is amazing. I’m in short-sleeves in February!”
    Her three lunch companions laughed.
    “You two should stay at our house tonight,” Katie suggested after her mother ordered a cup of coffee.
    “On Valentine’s Day?” Eli said raising his eyebrows. “I don’t want to have a sleep over at my mom’s on Valentine’s Day.”
    “We’re not going to be there, narisch !” Greta said laughing.
    “I promised Aunt Pauline that we’d stay at her place in Seaside before we leave. When we get out of here, we’re going straight to her place. The airport taxi is picking us up from there in the morning. You’ll have the whole place to yourself. It’s right on the beach, and very romantic.” The last sentence was directed to Joy.
    She blushed and looked at Eli. “Well, maybe one night.”
    “Wonderful!” Greta exclaimed. “The housekeeping service cleaned the house yesterday. I just have to call them and tell them to do it again on Monday!”
    Eli paid the bill and after many hugs, kisses, fussing, and goodbyes, Joy and Eli went down the sidewalk toward Victoria’s Secret while the other two headed in the opposite direction toward the valet.

    Eli spread a blanket over the white sand and stepped back. Everything was perfect. A bottle of champagne was chilling in a tin bucket with two flutes.  He shoved the bucket into the sand beside the blanket. 
    “Eli?” Joy called from the back of the house. He could just make out her figure as she stepped off the steps.
    “Right here!” he answered waving.
    He met her halfway, lifting her off the ground and into a slow romantic kiss. “So, how am I doing so far?” he whispered.
    Eli left a trail of chocolate kisses from the dining room to the bathroom where a candlelit tub awaited Joy. He’d told her to enjoy it while he got the last surprise ready and meet him on the beach when she was done.
    “Wonderful,” Joy admitted.
    Eli smiled. Joy wore a pair of thin white linen pants and a pale purple camisole he’d picked out earlier that day. Her feet were bare and her dark hair spilled around her shoulders in soft curls. He took a moment to thank the heavens for a perfectly timed full moon that let him appreciate her beauty