Your kindness is welcome but it is transparent. I am not leaving this village again. I have made my peace with that.” Joyce nods. “You read people very well, Joyce, don’t think I don’t spot that. I see how you do it too, coercion through kindness. But understand this. Behind me, in these files, there are people I couldn’t help, people beyond reach, problems I couldn’t fix, whichever way I twisted and turned. You like to fix things too, Joyce. You can’t bear it when something is out of place. And so you come in, and you smile, and I know your affection for me is genuine, and you ask me to drive
...more
