Cozy Christmas Shorts

by Halliday, Gemma

  "The pasta eating contest? That was nine months ago. Why did you wait until now?"

  She scuffed her shoe against the rug. "It didn't seem like the right time. And I knew my other mom would be upset."

  "Where are your parents?"

  She reared back, and I reached forward. "Not that I'm not glad you're here. I am. I just don't want them to be worried about you."

  "My mom brought me. She's staying at a motel over in Meadow Ridge."

  "And your dad?"

  She looked away. "He died last winter. Car accident."

  Though I wasn't sure it was the right time, I rose and moved to kneel in front of her. "I'm so glad you're here. And your dad, your other dad, his name is Kyle, will be, too. Call your mom and ask her to come for dinner."

  She wiped her eyes in that same aggressive way I had of clearing away the wetness when I didn't want anyone to know I was crying. "Really? You mean that?"

  "No one should spend Christmas alone in a motel," I told her. "Besides, I owe her everything."

  She hugged me, and this time I didn't bother to hide my tears.

  EPILOGUE

  "So where's the ring?" Donna asked as she set her green bean casserole on the dining room table.

  "It wasn't for me. It was Lizzy's. Jones was picking it up after she had it refitted. Do you think we have enough chairs?"

  "If not I'll send Steve home to snag some." Donna finished the place settings. "So you're not getting married?"

  "Not today."

  The Victorian on Grove Street was busting at the seams. Donna and her family had come for dinner, along with Kyle, Lizzy and even Kyle's parents who were too busy fussing over Kaylee to even give me the hairy eyeball. Mimi, who'd brought a giant Swiss roll, was in the kitchen adding the final touches to the Christmas Pasta under Aunt Cecily's hawkeyed supervision. Pops was chatting it up with Kaylee's mom, Barbara, and Jones.

  There was only one person missing.

  Donna took wine goblets from the china cabinet and shook her head. "I can't believe your Aunt Cecily snuck her into town under your nose like that. And that she took the recipe book and let you sweat it out, thinking someone had stolen it. I thought Mimi was going to expire from the stress of it all."

  "Apparently she wanted to test Mimi's knowledge of the recipes. Like her version of a pop quiz. She wasn't about to hand over the business to me if Mimi wasn't up to snuff, which of course she was. And she wanted to see if I cracked under the pressure, which I nearly did."

  "That's nuts," Donna muttered.

  I shrugged helplessly. "They say the Lord works in mysterious ways. So does Aunt Cecily."

  Mimi, looking happier than she had in days, carried the huge dish with the Christmas Pasta. "Everything is ready."

  "Thanks, Mimi. Could you call everyone in here while I go grab the wine?

  Mimi nodded, and Donna scurried off to yell at her twins who were attempting to slide down the banister, dresses be damned.

  I was hunting for a corkscrew when I heard a soft tap on the back door. I smiled at the newest edition to our party. "Hi, Peter. How's your Mom doing?"

  "The doctor says she's going to pull through." He smiled nervously and handed me a small Christmas cactus. "Thanks for inviting me."

  I took the plant and gestured inside. "Please come in. We're just about to sit down."

  He bit his lip. "Did you mean what you said in your note? That you could find someone to help her?"

  I nodded. "A friend of a friend actually. She specializes in helping people who hoard. She has her own television show and everything."

  Peter's eyes went wide. "Mom wouldn't like to be on T.V."

  "No worries," I said quickly. "She won't film anything. I can call her as soon as you think your mom is up to it. Stuff is stressful, and getting rid of some of it will only help her. Just say the word, and I'll make the call."

  "Thanks, Andy." Peter smiled, his shoulders relaxing for the first time. "I really appreciate it."

  On his way to the living room, he passed Jones, who came into the kitchen. "What can I do?"

  I wrapped my arms around him. "Just keep on being you. That's the best gift of all."

  "Why Andrea, I had no idea you were so sentimental."

  I shrugged. "What can I say, it's Christmas. Mangiamo."

  "What does that mean?" Jones asked.

  "Only the most important phrase in Italian. Let's eat."

  * * * * *

  Christmas Pasta

  You'll need:

  2 pounds penne, cooked al dente

  2 tablespoons extra virgin garlic infused olive oil

  4 cloves garlic, crushed

  1/2 pound pancetta, chopped into small bits

  1/2 pound mild Italian sausage

  1/2 pound ground beef

  1 stalk celery, chopped

  1 medium carrot, diced

  1 red onion, chopped

  1 cup dry red wine

  1 cup beef broth

  2 pints grape tomatoes, quartered

  1 jar roasted red peppers

  1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

  1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

  Handful of chopped fresh parsley

  Heat a deep pot over medium high heat. Add oil, garlic, and pancetta bits and brown for one minute. Add meats and brown and crumble them for five minutes.

  Chop carrot, celery, tomatoes, and onion and add to the pot as you work. Cook vegetables with meat for five minutes then add the wine and red peppers. Cook for one minute before adding broth to the pot.

  Stir in parsley, nutmeg, and cinnamon and season sauce with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, and cook 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

  **Andy's note: This is even better as leftovers as the flavors in the sauce continue to combine. Reheat and serve for a very Merry Christmas! **

  * * * * *

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Former navy wife turned author Jennifer L. Hart loves a good mystery as well as a good laugh and a happily ever after is a must. When she's not playing with her imaginary friends or losing countless hours on social media, she spends her free time experimenting with both food and drink recipes and wishing someone else would clean up. Since she lives with three guys and a beagle, that's usually not the case. Her works include The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag series, the Southern Pasta Shop Mysteries, and the new Mackenzie & Mackenzie Mysteries series.

  Visit Jennifer L. Hart online at: www.jenniferlhart.com

  * * * * *

  BOOKS BY JENNIFER L. HART

  Southern Pasta Shop Mysteries:

  Murder Al Dente

  Christmas Al Dente (holiday short story)

  Murder À La Flambé

  Murder Al Fresco

  Mackenzie & Mackenzie Mysteries:

  Sleuthing for a Living

  Misadventures of the Laundry Hag Mysteries:

  Skeletons in the Closet

  Swept Under the Rug

  All Washed Up

  Damaged Goods Mysteries

  Final Notice

  Other Works

  Who Needs a Hero?

  River Rats

  Stellar Timing

  Daisy Dominatrix

  Redeeming Characters

  ORNAMENTAL DANGER

  a Working Stiff Mysteries short story

  by

  KERRI NELSON

  * * * * *

  Dedication & Acknowledgements:

  To my hubby and my oldest daughter, Brooke, who spent the better part of one evening trying to help me come up with the plot on this one. I totally didn’t use any of those ideas, but the brainstorming session was hilarious and a time that I won’t soon forget. Yay Christmas lights and fruit cake!

  With thanks to Beth and David who own the real Smith-Byrd House in Prattville, Alabama. Thank you for hosting me for an author event and for allowing me to use your home in this novella. I will definitely be back. There is no stopping me. Seriously, you’ve been warned, I will be back for mo
re delicious scones and tea.

  CHAPTER ONE

  "I'm wearing my new sweater dress to the Christmas party, so I hope they have the AC cranked, or I'll just melt!" —Ms. Lanier's Christmas Wardrobe Malfunction

  "Now who's gonna bring the hooch to the Christmas social?"

  Ms. Lanier stood over the body of Verna Strength and shook her head with obvious concern. I stared in disbelief at my elderly neighbor who seemed to have misplaced her concern.

  "That's what you're worried most about right now?" was all I could manage to say as I fanned myself in the early December heat wave which was not all that uncommon here in central Alabama.

  "Heck, yes. She made the best General Lee's Eggnog you've ever tasted. Now, she's done gone and taken the recipe with her. Stingy old thing would never share with any of us." As she spoke the words, her head pivoted back toward the former hooch-bringer's kitchen doorway.

  Amazingly, I knew what she was thinking and reached out for her arm before she could make a move. "Leave it. This is no time to be rifling through this poor woman's kitchen in search of a recipe."

  She turned her puppy dog eyes up at me in mock hurt. I returned her expression with a frown.

  She shrugged. "I've already looked for it anyway. I don't think she even had it written down—she was suspicious like that, ya know? Stingy to the last minute."

  "Ladies." The voice of Ty Dempsey sounded from the hallway, and we both turned in unison to greet him.

  His eyes met mine and lingered for a moment more than I was comfortable with. I scratched an invisible itch that had suddenly surfaced on my bare left arm in response.

  "Well, Captain Dempsey has arrived on the scene." Ms. Lanier grinned up at him. His well over six-foot stature cast a shadow over her four-foot-nothing frame, but he seemed to return her smile with nothing less than full-on boyish charm.

  "Yes, ma'am. Sorry to see you under these circumstances. I know you and Ms. Strength were good friends."

  I watched his tanned arm reach out and offer a comforting touch to Ms. Lanier's shoulder. And my eyes followed his forearm, thick with sinewy muscles.

  Sigh.

  Here I was standing over a recently deceased little old lady, and all I could think of was how fun it might be to watch Ty cut the grass with his shirt off. Well, it was December, and I doubted he'd be strutting around bare-chested despite the warm holiday season, but the memory of just such a vision tickled my brain, and my stomach countered with a little rumble.

  Ty and I'd had a little romance back in high school, but things had been more than strained since I'd returned to town after a decade-long absence. My renewed attraction to him was probably just a sign that I needed more of a social life than Ms. Lanier and my other senior citizen neighbors could provide.

  "Well, yeah, I've known her since…well…since forever. But we weren't that close really. She was kind of a jerk, if you ask me."

  I cleared my throat. Ty cast a glance my way, and I offered a small smile in return.

  "So, you ladies found her like this?"

  We both nodded. But then I added, "Well, Ms. Lanier called me and told me that she'd found Verna's cat wandering around in her yard and was worried when she couldn't get Verna to answer the door…so we found our way in to check on her…"

  "You found your way in?" His eyebrows rose at my choice of words.

  "Yeah…yes. And we found her here…like this. I checked for a pulse, but I can see that rigor mortis has already come and is starting to fade so she's been dead at least eighteen hours." I couldn't stop myself from analyzing the scene from a medical standpoint. I was almost a doctor anyway. I'd come all but one semester short of completing med school just a few months ago.

  "What a minute…you're not answering my question, Mandy." Ty broke my little trip down medical lane.

  "What question?"

  "He wants to know how we got in the house, dear. Yadda yadda…I crawled through the kitty door. It is no big deal."

  My mouth dropped open, and I was pleased to see that Ty had a similar response going. Only, he still looked attractive.

  "You did what?" Ty rolled his eyes, and I followed the movement.

  Ms. Lanier hadn't told me how she'd gotten in. Only that she'd found Verna and that I needed to come over immediately. She'd let me in the back door, and we'd found the body and called the cops. I'd assumed that she'd had an extra key to the house.

  "I'm agile like that. I could be one of those cat burglar types. You know like that hot little blonde named Parker on that show Leverage? I love that show." Ms. Lanier became temporarily distracted by the mention of one of her favorite shows, and her eyes darted over to the television sitting nearby which was tuned in to the mid-day soaps.

  "Wait a minute." Ty tried to get back on point. "Have you touched anything? Other than the kitty door and the body? How did all these books get off the shelf and onto the floor?" He gave me a you-should-know-better-than-this-after-finding-a-body-just-a-few-months-ago glare.

  I shook my head. But Ms. Lanier put one scrawny finger up to her mouth and squished the lower lip in and out. "Well…"

  "Ms. Lanier, you know better than that. What if this is a crime scene? You could have tampered with evidence." Ty gave her a verbal wrist slap.

  My throat tightened a little at the mention of yet another possible murder in Millbrook. The sleepy little community just north of the state's capital city had barely started to recover after a huge scandal concerning the mayor this past summer.

  "Awe. This ain't no crime scene. It is obvious as the day is long that she tripped over one of these four dozen rugs she has all over the floor and broke that crystal vase thingy in the process. That Scrooge-like heart probably gave out. This ain't no crime scene, sonny."

  I shuddered at the thought of this poor old woman falling and dying here all alone. It hadn't been that long since I'd lost my own elderly aunt. I studied the body more closely, and for the first time since entering the premises, I noticed the shiny object lying near the lifeless body of Verna Strength.

  "We don't know anything yet. We don't know if she fell accidentally or if she was attacked. You can't just rule things out because she was old. And…that's not a vase," Ty confirmed as he squatted down and examined the tip of the crystal object with one gloved finger.

  Ms. Lanier shrugged, and the tiny rumble that had started in my stomach earlier began to roil with more force.

  "What is it?" I asked, although I was somewhat afraid to hear the answer.

  "That's the Millbrook Mistletoe Smackdown trophy awarded for best holiday decorations. I believe she's won this five years in a row."

  "Oh, crap on a stick. It sure is… Well, I declare." Ms. Lanier now seemed to have a renewed interest in Captain Dempsey's theory that foul play might be involved.

  I knew nothing about this coveted award, but I did know one thing about Millbrook. Nothing was ever as simple as it seemed.

  Could this be yet another murder?

  Ty pulled out his phone and began to make calls. I rubbed my arm, now covered in goose bumps despite the heat.

  Ms. Lanier put her hand on her forehead and rubbed the heel of her palm around in circles. "What a headache. Now the contest committee will have to try to get one of those suckers ordered to be delivered before the Christmas Eve Festival. You know the winner gets to keep that for the entire year, and now it is smashed to smithereens. I can't believe that old bitty took both the trophy and the eggnog recipe with her. "

  CHAPTER TWO

  "Have a holly golly Christmas…" —A Millbrook Christmas Carol

  "What's it worth to ya?" Coach Milo Mulder said, to yet another customer at the What's-Worth Christmas Tree farm. When it came to making a few bucks, he was the world's best haggler that I'd ever seen. Folks knew to expect it when they came to buy from him, but since he owned the only such farm in the county—he had the upper hand.

  I tuned out the ongoing price negotiations and returned to my conversation with Penny Dempsey.
r />   "Aren't you going to go down to the station and see what Ty has turned up on Ms. Strength?" she asked as she leaned against the counter.

  "Uh, that would be a world of no." I was standing behind the counter trying to untangle an unforgiving bundle of Christmas lights and waiting for the delivery of fake snow to arrive. Only a couple more hours, and my shift at the farm would be over.

  "I'm sure Ty would give you a little update, and maybe you could ask him over to dinner while you're at it." Penny's voice was hopeful yet firm. I knew that tone, and I wasn't falling for it. We'd been friends all our lives, and after a big senior year fall out, we'd finally come back together in a truce-based friendship that was growing more solid every day.

  "Penny, he's your brother. Why don't you just ask him about the investigation?" I ignored her not-so-subtle comment about asking him out to dinner. She'd been pushing for us to resume our old high school flames for the past few weeks. I'd figured that the holiday season had gotten to her and made her all nostalgic, but knowing her—she had an ulterior motive.

  "No can do. We promised each other that we'd keep our professional lives separate. Now that he's running the police department, he says I have to dig out my own headlines with no help from him. It's his new policy on running a clean department."

  I looked up from the clump of lights that I seemed to be making worse with every twist and turn and gave my friend a knowing smile. "That's a good policy, Pen. The department took a huge hit after all that Mills family scandal business. Ty probably shouldn't rock the boat after his new promotion. Even if you are his favorite newpaper-owning sister."