Obsession (Southern Comfort) by Lisa Clark O'Neill Read Free Book Online

impossible for her to resist feathering the nest a little.
    He dragged it across the pine tabletop with his fingers, then sliced the clear packing tape with a knife.  Inside was another box, wrapped in shiny red paper.  A fat white bow with pink and red hearts printed on it squatted in the center.  Justin’s eyebrows drew together.  A little early for her to be sending Valentine’s gifts.  Maybe she’d run out of Christmas wrapping.  Or…
    Dismissing that as a waste of brainpower, he pried the tape up and laid the paper aside.  Nestled inside this box, in a bed of silvery tissue, was what appeared to be Mickey Mouse.  And Minnie, he corrected, fingering another layer of tissue aside.  Caught up in an embrace.  When he lifted the figurine out – it appeared to be some kind of tree ornament – he saw the words on the banner which stretched aro und their feet.
    Our First Christmas Together.
    Okay. 
    What the hell was that supposed to mean?
    Taking another sip of coffee, he looked in the box for a card or some kind of note.  When none appeared he snagged the ornament by the little fabric loop it hung from, and walked toward the living room doorway.
    “Was mom doing drugs when you left Savannah?”
    “What?”  James pulled his atte ntion from the TV with a frown.
    “She sent me an our first Christmas ornament.”  Justin held it aloft.  “Unless this is some kind of suggestion that she’d like me to take you in permanently, I wouldn’t eat any more of those brownies she made.  She must be lacing them.”
    Justin tossed the ornament through the air, and James fielded it like the veteran ballp layer he was.  “Mickey Mouse?”
    “I would call you Minnie, but that’s just wrong on so many levels.”
    James shook his dark head, and sat the ornament next to his feet.  “Why would she mail it, anyway?  She just saw you last week.  Wait.  Was that what was in the box?”
    “Yep.”
    “Mom didn’t send that. It… aw, what was that? ”  James thrust his beer toward the TV.  “If that ball was any deader there’d be an obituary.  That guy was out of bounds . ”
    Justin thought of the kid whose football career he hadn’t been able to save, and turned away from the scr een.  “Why would you say that?”
    “Because his foot was –”
    “About Mom,” Justin clarified.  “How do you know she didn’t send it?”
    “The box had a Charleston postmark.  Between that and the cutesy little heart graffiti, I figured it was from one of your women.  Oh.”  More interested now, James turned suspicious gray eyes on Justin.  “You’re not getting married or something, are you?”
    “Yes.  I set this who le thing up to break the news.”
    James shrugged at the deadpan tone.  “Hey, after you’re down I’m the last son standing.  You can’t blame me for getting a little itchy at the idea of having all of Mom’s attention focused on me.  But more importantly, you got a woman sending you” he flicked his hand at the ornament “couply crap like that, and you can’t figure out who it’s from?  You dog.  Guess all that working too much to date anyone right now line you fed Mom at Christmas was crap.”
    Formulating a re buttal wasn’t worth the effort.
    With a smirk, James tossed the ornament back to Justin.  Justin studied the intertwined figures with a suspicious eye, then noticed the little green ball hanging from the ribbon.  He squinted, realizing i t was supposed to be mistletoe.
    Mistletoe.
    Was it possible…
    No.  Justin nixed that thought before it could fully form.  First of all, Kathleen certainly hadn’t seen that kiss as any sort of… attempt at deepening their relationship.  If she had, she would have contacted him over the past week.  Likely by simply showing up at his door and asking if he was interested in adding benefits to their friendship.  Coy, she was not.
    And sending cutesy little knickknacks anonymously through the mai l was definitely not her