Christmas at the Beach

Christmas at the Beach by Wendy Wax

Book: Christmas at the Beach by Wendy Wax Read Free Book Online
Authors: Wendy Wax
Ads: Link
they’d shared with Chase, his two teenage sons and his increasingly
     frail father had been delivered. Few of them had required silverware. She began to
     scroll through her contacts.
    “I have it on speed dial,” Chase said. “But Deirdre took care of dinner.”
    “Deirdre?” She asked. “Deirdre ordered pizza?” Deirdre continued to claim that all
     she wanted was to be Avery’s mother and to make up for abandoning her. But none of
     her efforts to build a mother/daughter bond had included a willingness to lower her
     epicurean standards.
    “Not exactly. I think the appetizer is a liver pate of some kind. The main course
     is pampano en papillote.”
    Avery groaned. “I don’t know why your dad gave her that apron and those cooking lessons
     for Christmas.”
    “Hey, there’ve been four males living in this house for way too long for me to see
     a downside to a home cooked meal of any kind. And he was smart enough not to give
     them to you,” Chase said.
    “Ha. Deirdre always has an angle. She took mothering lessons from Maddie in Miami.
     Now she’s trying to become Betty Crocker. If she thinks she can turn her reappearance
     in my life into some Brady Bunch reunion show, she’s crazy.”
    “I agree that she has a lot to make up for. No one’s ready to pin the mother of the
     year medal on her chest. But she did throw herself in front of a bullet for you,”
     Chase pointed out.
    This was still almost as hard to believe, as it was to dismiss. “Well, all I know
     is Maddie and Kyra have been on the road for eight hours with a toddler. Greeting
     them with ground up goose livers and fish cooked in a paper bag is ridiculous.” Avery
     hurried through the newly widened doorway and into the family room.
    In the kitchen Deirdre was arranging crackers around a mound of pate. Jeff Hardin
     sat at the kitchen table, his walker within easy reach. A bowl of fancy nuts and an
     opened bottle of red wine sat breathing on the counter.
    “There.” Deirdre slid the plate of hors d’ oeuvres closer to Jeff and untied her apron.
     She wore a periwinkle blue silk pantsuit that looked as if it had been dyed to match
     her eyes. She was built just as small and big breasted as Avery, but the cut of her
     tunic top downplayed the D cup that dwelt beneath it. A pair of strappy sandals gave
     her an extra couple of inches.
    Avery wore a pair of Daisy Dukes, a chopped off Do Over T-shirt, and an ancient pair
     of Keds. Which just went to prove that the apple could fall far from the tree if it
     tried hard enough.
    “Dinner’s almost ready,” Deirdre said giving Avery the once over. “But there’s time
     if you want to shower and change.”
    That had been Avery’s plan until Deirdre brought it up. “I’m good. Thanks.”
    With a snort of laughter Chase reached in the refrigerator and pulled out a beer.
     “Dad?”
    “Don’t mind if I do.”
    Chase handed his father a beer then opened one for himself. He slathered pate on a
     fancy cracker and popped it in his mouth. “Mmmm—mmmmm.”
    Deirdre beamed at him. Avery gritted her teeth and went to the pantry.
    “Where are the Cheez Doodles?” she asked scanning the shelves.
    Deirdre raised an elegant eyebrow. “I believe we’re out.” She said this with a regretful
     tone that was no more convincing than Avery’s French accent. “But if you put them
     on the shopping list I’ll . . .”
    “Forget to buy them. Again.”
    “They turn everything they touch orange. There’s no telling what they do to your internal
     organs,” Deirdre said.
    “I’m thirty-six-years-old. My internal organs belong to me. And you showed up on the
     scene way too late to influence my taste in food.”
    Deirdre rubbed her arm where the bullet had gone in.
    Avery rolled her eyes. “She does that every time I even think about disagreeing with
     her.”
    “Which is pretty much all the time,” Deirdre said.
    “My Cheez Doodle habit is my own business,” Avery pointed

Similar Books

Serious Men

Manu Joseph

Mate of Her Heart

R. E. Butler

WalkingSin

Lynn LaFleur

Whatever the Cost

Lynn Kelling

Worth the Weight

Mara Jacobs

Styxx (DH #33)

Sherrilyn Kenyon