Joy was left alone to make a mental list of who she needed to call after her parents. Meg was a given. She would leave it up to her mother to contact other family members. The woman loved to gossip and was the artery of information that kept everyone linked.
Trisha returned.
“Here you go. I’ll give you some privacy and see if I can hurry them along on bringing you a hearty meal. Eating something will also help keep down nausea caused by the drugs.”
“Thank you.” She accepted the cell phone. “Where is Moon?”
“He’s in a meeting.”
“Is he in trouble for what happened at my condo? He had no choice but to take my client out of commission.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. This proves my point. He’s a big male who can take care of himself. Right now focus on yourself.” She left before Joy could ask any more questions. She dialed, flinching over the lateness of the hour. Her mother answered on the third ring.
“Hi, Mom. I’m okay. I’m sorry I woke you but there are a few important things I need to tell you. It can’t wait.”
“Who is it? What do they want?” Her father sounded groggy and annoyed in the background.
“What’s wrong?” Her mom’s voice sharpened. “What do you mean you’re okay? Why wouldn’t you be?”
She took a deep breath. “A client had a meltdown. I was hurt but I’m fine.”
“Oh my god, Joyce. I knew this would happen. Did he hit you? Stab you?”
She bit her lip. She couldn’t try to downplay it because they’d hear the details on the news.
“What happened to our girl? Is she okay?”
Her father sounded much closer, as if he were right up against the receiver. She could almost see them huddled together in the middle of their bed with the phone held between them. It would never occur to them to hit the speakerphone button. They never used it despite her taking the time to buy them an updated system for Christmas.
“I’m fine. I only needed a few stitches, okay? It’s going to sound much worse than what it really was.”
“What did one of those nutballs do to you?” Her father was worked up. “I told you to become a chef. Cooking is much safer. I warned you how dangerous it is to work with crazy folks.”
Oh boy, not this again. He always thinks everyone I deal with is a serial killer. She sighed.
“Enough,” her mother ordered. “What happened?”
“I’m fine,” she repeated, knowing they’d overreact when she gave them the rest of the details. She was their only child and they were very protective. “I was grazed by a bullet.” That sounded better than stating she’d been shot. Silence. She winced. “It’s a scratch.” Another lie but she could live with it.
“What hospital are you at? Honey, get dressed.”
“Dad? I’m not at a hospital.” Medical at Homeland wasn’t technically one, at least not that she was aware of. “I don’t need you to get out of bed and rush to my side. I wanted to tell you that I’m fine before you see it on the news.”
“The news?”
Joy pulled the phone away from her ear. “Don’t yell, Mom. There’s one more thing I need to tell you. I’ve been seeing someone recently that you don’t know about. Our relationship is kind of new so I wanted to wait until we figured out where it was going before I introduced you to him.”
Joy hated feeling as though she was fifteen again but she did. It was her job to counsel people on how to relate to others but her parents had a way of negating all her training.
“Kind of new?”
Dad had to pick up on that, didn’t he? “Well, we only started spending time together recently,” she hedged. “He was with me when I was shot at.” She chose her words with more care. “His name is Moon and he saved my life.” She was pretty sure Douglas would have taken more shots at them if he hadn’t ended up unconscious and bleeding on her living room carpet after Moon was done with him.
“Moon? What kind of name is that? Are his parents hippies?” Her dad didn’t sound happy.
“Tell me he’s not some rock star or actor,” her mother pleaded. “They always pick odd stage names and I read about them getting divorced all the time. Your father and I want you to have what we do.”
She bit her lip, muffling a groan. They seemed to have forgotten she’d been shot at but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. She knew them too well.
“Marriage is a serious commitment so you make sure the boy is going to treat you right,” her dad stated. “Does he have a good job? Are his parents still married?”