Read Online Mistletoe and Murder in Las Vegas by Colleen Collins - Free Book Online Page A

opened Montgomery and Montgomery.
    Being a behind-the-scenes supporter was also second nature to Joanne. In high school, she was an honors student, editor of the school paper and a dork who never dated. The exact opposite of her two-years-older sister Shannon, a Blake Lively lookalike with lousy grades and a killer social life—cheerleading captain and homecoming queen, which was like winning the Power Ball in the high school dating scene.
    But when the school counselor called their parents and warned if Shannon’s grades didn’t improve she would not graduate with her senior class, Joanne felt sorry for her sister and started doing Shannon’s homework at night. They kept the secret between them as one thing that infuriated their normally mild-mannered father was discovering one of his college students had cheated, and never told their mother because she reported everything to their father.
    “Maybe you should keep her,” Gloria said. “But if she makes you think too much about that jerk, I’ll keep her at my place for a while.”
    “It’s a plan.”
    As she reached to place the figure on a nearby box, Gloria said, “What the hell’s with Las Vegas and Christmas decorations?” Joanne started to look over, but the sword snagged in her nightshirt, resulting in a minor skirmish of tugs before Lady Justice and Joanne went their separate ways.
    “Nobody ever saw White Christmas ?” Gloria continued, staring out the window. “Christmas lights go on fir trees , not palms.”
    Kimmie and her husband Hal were stringing lights around the trunk of one of the palms. Kimmie wore a loose polka-dot blouse and slacks. Her husband wore jeans and a T-shirt, his dress style as sparse as his buzz cut. As she turned to say something to Hal, a breeze gusted past, lifting the hem of her top. Joanne noticed her baby bump was starting to show.
    Kimmie wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck and tilted her head back, smiling up into his ruggedly handsome face. He said something, which Joanne and Gloria couldn’t hear, but the couple’s tender looks said it all.
    “Wouldja look at those lovebirds.” Gloria clutched her rag to her chest.
    Hal cupped one hand on the back of Kimmie’s head while sliding his other arm around her and pulled her closer. She arched her body against his and they kissed.
    Joanne felt a spike of yearning for the little things that she'd once taken for granted…how her hand fit in Roger’s when they walked, the bond even in long silences, lying in the dark and feeling the warmth of his foot. How dumb, missing his foot .
    “Those two are like Allie and Noah in The Notebook ,” Gloria murmured. “Course, he don’t look like Noah, but the way he’s cradling her head and kissing her...”
    Joanne looked away. “We’re acting like a couple of voyeurs.”
    “Yeah, don’t want ‘em to see us gaping at them like we have no lives--oh my God! He’s lifting her and kissing her neck...somebody get me a defibrillator...okay, she’s back on her feet...they’re stringin’ lights again.”
    Gloria turned and picked up the dust rag. “That gooey stuff makes me miss Nicholas...but he couldn’t get past my working as a PI.”
    “I remember.”
    Nicholas, a Roulette dealer at Caesars, had swarthy good looks and an old-school charm, but struggled with Gloria being a PI. Joanne was sorry things didn’t work out, but glad, too. Gloria didn’t just work as a PI, she was a PI. She didn’t talk about it, but Joanne guessed it was also a way her friend stayed close to her dad.
    “Could you ever leave practicing law?” Gloria asked.
    “On a temporary basis, sure.”
    “Like when you wanted to have a baby.” She made a face. “Sorry, Jo. Shouldn’t have mentioned that, especially this time of year. That was my inner stupid talking.”
    Joanne shrugged it off. “Not to worry. I don’t think about it much anymore. Plus considering what happened, I should be grateful Jamoke didn’t want a child.”
    True,