Read Online Kentucky Christmas by Sarah Title - Free Book Online Page A

also said you should have been back from this trip a week ago. Now you tell me you’re not even going to be back for Christmas?”
    â€œI didn’t say that, Mom—”
    â€œI understand that the holidays are not cool and fun, and you have your own more important life to lead, but your family needs you. Eddie has been running himself ragged trying to get things set up for the kids, and that wife of his is no help at all.”
    Ed’s wife, Tina, was pretty much a clone of his mother, which had implications Andrew didn’t like to think about. She married Ed right out of high school and immediately gave birth to three boys. Adorable, precious, angel boys, according to Andrew’s mother. So even though Andrew grew up without much Christmas, as soon as those boys were born, all bets were off. Christmas explosion. And, according to his mother, Tina did everything wrong. Not wrong enough for his mother to pitch in, but still. Wrong. Tina was ruining Christmas for those precious angel boys.
    Not that Andrew was jealous.
    â€œI’m sure the boys are fine,” Andrew said. He knew there was no defending Tina, just like there was no defending his mother around her. “She’s probably busy keeping the boys in line.” Ed called his kids “spirited.” Andrew called them animals. Meeting Billie’s well-behaved menagerie had him reconsidering the comparison. It was so not fair to animals.
    â€œThose children are angels. I don’t know why she makes such a fuss about them. She acts like they cause trouble without constant supervision.”
    Andrew thought about all of the appliances, glassware, and sheetrock that had not survived a visit from his cousin’s kids.
    â€œYes. They are angels.”
    â€œAnyway, this year Eddie is getting the kids a puppy.”
    â€œWhat does Tina think of that?”
    â€œWhat does Tina have to do with it? It’s for the kids.”
    His mother had a really selective memory when it came to the helpfulness of young people.
    â€œI need you to pick up some things for the dog. I’m swamped at the store. And it’s not like you have a lot of shopping to do.”
    Andrew winced. He knew this guilt trip. He and his mother hadn’t exchanged Christmas gifts since she’d bought the store when he was in high school. She was too crazy around the holidays, and Andrew apparently picked out crappy presents. But she still managed to suggest that, at his age, he should have a girl to buy presents for.
    He wondered what Billie would want for Christmas.
    â€œThe only thing I want for Christmas is my darling son home.”
    His phone beeped. “Mom, I gotta go. Someone else is trying to call.”
    â€œWho could be more important than your mother?”
    â€œIt might be business.”
    â€œOh! OK, you go take that call. Make a sale, honey. Make Eddie proud.”
    He grumbled goodbye, and disconnected.
    â€œAndy?”
    Tina. Tina never called him.
    â€œHey, what’s up?” He heard a crash in the background.
    â€œWe’re just decorating the tree.” Another crash, and a scream.
    â€œYou OK?”
    â€œYeah, the kids are just killing each other. Listen, I know you’re working, but I have to ask you something.”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œIs Eddie getting the kids a dog for Christmas?”
    â€œUhh.”
    â€œCrap. I knew it. Your mother has been around, talking about picking up shoes and things that can get chewed on. At first I thought she was talking about Joey, but Joey outgrew his shoe-chewing thing months ago.”
    Andrew had lost a good pair of boots to Joey’s shoe-chewing thing.
    â€œYou gotta talk to him, Andy. We can NOT have a dog in this house.”
    Crash .
    â€œJoey! No! Don’t eat that! Listen, I gotta go. Andy, will you talk to him, please?”
    He loved his cousin’s wife, really, he did. But there was no way he was getting involved.
    He didn’t