The Santa Mug Read Online Free

to that bonehead pretty much cemented us,” Max said.
    Carl looked eager. “Oh? What did you do to him?”
    Max and Darren looked at each other for a moment and began laughing. Finally, Darren motioned for him to continue.
    “Oh, it wasn’t much, really. And it only cost us a pitcher each. The game was particularly good that day.” Max glanced at Darren. “College playoffs, wasn’t it?” Darren nodded, and he continued. “Everybody was yelling and cheering, and we just let ourselves get jostled, same as he did to me, only he got it from two directions at once.”
    “That, and you plowed into his back,” Darren said.
    Max snorted. “He wouldn’t have fallen quite so hard if you hadn’t tripped him.”
    “Well, it was my favorite shirt,” Darren said defensively.
    “And even wet, it looked good on you,” Max’s eyes were dancing. “Anyway, by the time the gorilla got himself untangled from the chairs and the other people, we were already out in the parking lot, laughing our asses off and running for our lives.”
    “I prefer to think of it as a strategic retreat. He was pretty big, and you were even skinnier then.” Darren winked at Emily, who seemed not to notice. Instead, she was staring at her son as if he had suddenly sprouted a third eye.
    Max squirmed uncomfortably under her steady gaze until she finally spoke.
    “It’s almost like I don’t know you anymore, Maxie. Roughing up people, drinking in bars.”
    “Ma, it was just the one time, and besides, I am an adult.” Distress creased his face as she continued to stare at him.
    “Em?” Carl began, reaching for his wife. “He’s not a child—”
    Emily cut him off with a look and suddenly buried her face in her hands, wailing. “My baby boy is all grown up!”
    Her histrionics might have been more effective were it not for the peals of merry laughter that followed. “Maxie, baby, you’re worse than your father was.”
    Max stared at her like a cornered rabbit until Carl huffed.
    “Never mind, Em. We don’t need to go into that.” Carl’s lofty tone made his wife laugh all the more.
    Emily dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “I’ll tell you boys all about it later,” she said, throwing a look at Carl, who managed to look pained and amused at the same time. “For now, though,” she continued, still smiling broadly, “it’s bedtime for me. The rest of the kids’ll start showing up early, and I want to at least have the coffee on before the rioting starts.”
    Max looked at his watch and yawned. “Is everybody really going to be here?”
    “They better be or I’ll know why not,” Emily locked the brakes on Carl’s wheelchair. “It’ll be the first time in six years I’ll have had all my children under one roof, and nothing had better interfere.” She waited while Carl shifted himself off the couch and into his wheelchair. “And Darren, I can’t begin to tell you how pleased I am to have you here with us,” she said as Carl unlocked the brakes.
    “Thank you, Mrs. Terreigne. I’m glad to be here.”
    Emily sniffed. “We really do have to work on that, dear.”
    “Leave him be, Em. It’s nice to see some good old-fashioned courtesy around here for a change.”
    “But it makes me feel old.”
    “Hate to tell you, but you are old, sweetie.”
    “Carl!”
    “Good night, boys,” Carl said, looking over his shoulder and grinning as Emily rolled him down the hall.
    “Night, Dad.” Max stood up and stretched. “I’m gonna crash too. What about you?”
    “Right behind you,” Darren said. “Do we need to lock up or anything?”
    “I’ve got it. Head on up if you want, and I’ll be there in a minute.”
    Darren nodded and started for the stairs. He paused and turned around. “Thank you, Max. I think I needed this.” Darren turned and left without another word.
    Max stared after him, too startled to reply. He finally flipped the switch on the near wall, plunging the room into darkness. “I know you do,”