Walker decided he needed something stronger than tea after witnessing a miracle and he placed mugs on the dining room table before returning to the kitchen for the coffeepot. Misty had spoken to him! His hands still shook from that magic moment. He couldn't wait to talk to Joy and thank her again. He wanted to… What? Kiss her? He tossed that thought aside. His beloved wife had only been dead a year and no one could ever replace her.
Joy entered the room and thoughts of kissing her jumped back into his mind. He said, "I decided I needed something stronger than tea. Is coffee okay with you?"
"More than okay. In fact, maybe we should spike it with whiskey."
At Walker's shocked expression, she laughed. "I'm just kidding. My one forbidden sip of whiskey when I was sixteen cured me of that curiosity."
Walker teased, "We could both roll a couple of smokes."
"Oh, I was cured of that at the ripe old age of eighteen when my cousin Eva and I indulged behind the barn. We both coughed so hard we figured we'd ruined our lungs forever."
Walker wanted to ask her about her first kiss, but decided that was too personal. Then he blurted. "And what about your first kiss? Was that also behind the barn?"
Joy blushed prettily and glanced away.
Walker wondered if her response was because she'd done more than kiss or whether she'd never been kissed at all. He decided the latter was probably the case. To make amends for his forthrightness, he said, "I apologize. That's something personal that I should never have asked you."
Joy's face flushed even redder and he felt like a heel. Reaching his hand out to grasp hers, he brought the conversation back around to what they had just witnessed. "Thank you for giving my daughter back to me."
Joy met his gaze. "I feel like today is a turning point for her. When she lay down for her nap, she grabbed one of her stuffed animals and cuddled it to her heart. I've never seen her do that. And then she kissed it."
Walker's hand trembled as he released Joy's hand and lifted his mug to his lips. He sipped, never taking his eyes off Joy. She lifted her own cup and then said something that pierced his heart.
"Walker, I want you to know that these weeks teaching Misty have been wonderful, and seeing her progress makes my leaving a little less difficult."
He frowned. "Leaving?"
"Yes. I'm scheduled to depart four weeks from tomorrow. I haven't seen my family in over a year and I miss them dearly. My Uncle Nate's little boy, Nate, Jr., is walking. My cousin Charity birthed a girl after I left, so I've never seen baby Anna."
Joy appeared to run out of steam with her conversation and Walker puffed a breath. "I don't know what to say. I guess it never occurred to me that you would be leaving so soon. But I understand your desire to return to your family and I know they'll be overjoyed to have you home again." He felt like he'd just run out of steam, too.
They both sipped their coffees and began rehashing Misty's breakthrough.