Oh, Baby!. Patricia Kay

knew Joy had a pretty good idea of what the subject of their talk would be. Sophie also knew Joy wanted to protest, but to her credit, she only sighed.

      “Okay,” she said.

      Sophie’s heart melted a little as she gazed down at the sister she loved so much, the sister who almost felt like her daughter. But even as she wanted to lean over and kiss Joy’s cheek and say not to worry, she knew she couldn’t give in to the understanding and sympathy she felt. It’s for her own good. She’ll thank me someday. Sophie squeezed Joy’s shoulder and got up. “Would you like to have pancakes today?” she said brightly.

      “Sure,” Joy said.

      “All right. See you downstairs.”

      Fifteen minutes later, barefoot and dressed in denim cutoffs and a faded One Direction T-shirt, her long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, Joy entered the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she took out the carton of skim milk and poured herself a glass. She drank it leaning against the kitchen counter.

      Sophie smiled at her and ladled batter into the frying pan. She’d already put syrup and butter on the table. “Want to put two plates out?”

      “Sure.”

      It only took a couple of minutes for the first batch of pancakes to be ready. Sophie put them on a waiting platter, covered it with foil to keep the pancakes warm, then put a second batch on to cook. Once there were enough pancakes to feed both of them, she turned off the stove, moved the hot frying pan to a cool burner and joined her sister at the table.

      Since it was obvious Joy wasn’t going to ask any questions about what Sophie might want to talk about, Sophie waited until they’d both eaten a couple of pancakes before saying, “I’m glad I got a chance to meet Aidan last night.”

      Joy, who had been hunched over her plate, looked up. Sophie’s heart pinched at the hopeful light in the girl’s eyes.

      “I told you he was nice,” Joy said.

      “He does seem very nice.”

      “So it’s okay if I date him.”

      “That’s not what I said.” Earlier Sophie had fixed herself another cup of coffee and she drank some.

      “Why not, if you like him?”

      Sophie sighed. “Joy, you know why not. He’s too old for you. That fact didn’t magically change because I met him and he seems like a nice boy. He’s still too old.” And troubled.

      Myriad emotions played across Joy’s face. “That’s not fair!”

      Sophie wished she could tell Joy she understood perfectly, that she’d felt exactly the same way when she was Joy’s age and wildly in love with Dillon. Could she? She wouldn’t have to tell Joy who the boy had been, but she could share some of what she’d gone through.

      Tears welled in Joy’s eyes as they stared at each other. Sophie battled the desire to comfort her, to give in, to make her sister happy. “I know you don’t think I understand, but I do. You have to trust me on this. You’re too young to be seriously dating to begin with, and Aidan is too old for you. Honey, he’ll be going off to college next year. And then what?”

      Sophie reached across the table to take Joy’s hand, but Joy snatched it away. She pushed her chair back. Her face looked like thunderclouds. “He’s less than two years older than me! You’re just using his age as an excuse because you think you know everything and I don’t know anything! So what if he’s going away to college next year? What difference does that make? He’s here now! And...and I really like him. And he likes me! I—I can’t wait till I’m eighteen and I can make my own decisions!”

      “Joy...”

      “Sometimes I hate you!”

      And before Sophie could say another word, Joy had jumped up and run from the room. Sophie sank back in her chair and listened to Joy pounding up the stairs, followed by the sound of her bedroom door slamming shut.

      “Well, that went well,” Sophie muttered as she debated what to do. Should she go after Joy? Maybe tell her about Dillon and what had happened between them? Without mentioning any names, of course. She thought back to the heartbreak she’d felt when Dillon left Crandall Lake...and her...and gone off to college. She’d cried for days, weeks. She hadn’t wanted to go anywhere or do anything. She’d haunted the mailbox, thinking Dillon would surely write to her. But he didn’t. She’d almost broken down and called him, but at the last minute she came to her senses and ignored the urge. It took her a long time to regain some kind of normality, because for months she’d felt as if the world were crashing down on her. Which was probably exactly the way her sister felt right now.

      Sophie sighed for probably the tenth time that morning.

      Would it do any good to tell Joy any of this?

      Would it have stopped you from seeing Dillon if Mom had warned you off him? Sophie’s mother hadn’t because she’d been too preoccupied with a new husband, a three-year-old Joy and a full-time job as an office manager.

      But even if she had realized what was going on with Sophie and Dillon and said something, Sophie had to be honest with herself. It wouldn’t have made a difference. Nothing in the world would have kept Sophie away from Dillon. Certainly not what some adult had said. When you fall in love with someone the way Sophie had fallen in love with Dillon, nothing anyone said would have mattered.

       Face it. It’s obvious things have progressed with Joy and Aidan to the point where she won’t hear you. She’ll continue to sneak around and see Aidan the way she’s been doing.

      Sophie sighed again as she got up from the table and cleared the breakfast remains. The only thing she could do now was make sure that when Joy did see Aidan, she saw him here at the house, where Sophie had some control over what they did.

      Sophie knew her plan was a Band-Aid when what she needed was major surgery, but until she came up with something better, it would have to do.