Mistletoe and Magic Read Online Free

who had you tag this tree,” he pointed.
    “Yes, that was Mrs. Gardner.”
    “Oh, you know her?”
    “For a long time.”
    AJ smiled, figuring the young boy couldn’t have been any older than twelve. “I called out to her before she left, but she didn’t hear me.”
    “Yeah, she was pretty mad. Jenny and Lacey were fighting again.”
    “I guess that’s a pretty regular occurrence then?”
    “Yeah. It is. I tried talking to Jenny, but she said they do it to get their mom’s goat.” He covered his mouth with his hand. “I probably shouldn’t have said that to you. You’re not gonna tell on me, are you?”
    “No, your secret is safe with me. No offense to you, but teenagers can be a little insensitive at times. Anyway, the reason I called out to her was to tell her I have enough room on the roof of my car to deliver her tree. Is she still in the same place?” he asked hoping the boy would give him the address.
    “Yeah. I don’t think they’ll ever move from there. As long as I’ve known Jenny, they’ve lived at 24 Hillside Road—third house on the left. I’m in Jenny’s history class,” he boasted with a prideful expression on his face.
    “And you have a huge crush on that pretty little thing, don’t you?”
    “Yeah, I do. But she doesn’t know it.”
    “And I won’t tell her. Must run in the family,” he mumbled without giving it any thought. He quickly changed the subject before the boy could ask, “Jenny’s thirteen, right?”
    “Yes,” he said, “we both turned thirteen last month.”
    “Glad to hear my memory hasn’t failed me yet. So if you’ll get the tree ready for transport while I pick out my tree, I’ll pay for and deliver them both.”
    “Yes sir.” The boy picked up the tree and carried it over to the tree bailer. AJ watched him pull it through the funnel to encase the tree in a sturdy plastic mesh. He continued his search and stopped in front of a tall tree. He turned the tree around to get a look at the backside. Except for a few uneven branches this was the perfect tree. He’d shove it in the corner of the living room and no one would notice the sparse spots.

 
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    “Shut up, little puke girl,” Jenny shouted at her sister.
    Mallory bolted into the living room where Jenny had her sister up against the wall.
    “Jenny, that’s it! I’ve had enough of your crap tonight.” She pointed her finger. “You’d better move that fanny of yours into bed this very minute.”
    “But it’s too early to go to bed!”
    “Tough! You should have thought of that before you started bullying your sister.” Mallory pursed her lips. “I just don’t understand how you can be so mean to your sister. You’re supposed to love one another.” Heat burned in her stomach and she wondered if she had an ulcer. It would be a miracle if she survived this insanity until the time Jenny was old enough to go off to college.
    Jenny stomped off to her room and stopped by her bedroom door. “This wouldn’t be happening if you hadn’t killed my father,” sailed out of her mouth in a hateful voice before slamming the door so hard the mirror on the wall shifted slightly from the impact.
    Mallory sucked in her breath and blew it out. Jenny’s comments had a way of stabbing her in the heart every time she mentioned her father. It was meant to remind Mallory she and Mitch had had an argument when he raced out of the driveway on his motorcycle. What Jenny refused to believe was that Mallory had forbidden him to ride the bike with his young single friends who were smoking weed and doing jumps over all sorts of things. But Mitch refused to grow up and brushed her off deciding smoking pot and jumping with those single guys was more important than being a responsible adult. Anger swelled inside her chest as she remembered the call from Mitch’s girlfriend saying he’d lost control during a jump and the bike fell over top of him crushing his chest on impact. The police had