A Christmas to Dismember by Addison Moore (best desktop ebook reader TXT) 📕

center, senior club, and any organization that had anything to do with Christmas out here today. Let’s hope they like what they see inside.” And that they brought lots of cold, hard cash to throw at the register.

Georgie and Juni step our way, right along with Mackenzie Woods. Georgie has Fish tucked on the inside of her coat, and I can see one of her wonky quilt dresses peeking from underneath.

Juni, too, is wearing a wonky quilt dress along with a wonky jacket thrown over that. It looks as if she’s doubling down her wonky sense of fashion in a show of solidarity for her mother.

Mayor Mackenzie Woods, however, is clad in somber black from head to toe, and has chosen to accessorize the cheery look with a sourpuss on her face. I still find it hard to believe she and Hux are determined to get hitched to one another.

Mackenzie nods to my mother. “I’ll say a few words first. And Hux has a bottle of champagne, if you want to smash it over something and christen the place once the sign is revealed.” Bizzy’s head would be my pick.

I avert my eyes at that one.

Mom scoffs. “And have a mess of broken glass all over the sidewalk? Please, I could just see the lawsuits now. No thank you. I’ll take that bottle home. Something tells me I’m going to need it.”

Juni moans at the thought. “I’ll split it with you, sister. I’ve got a full-time job here, too, you know.”

“Yeah,” Mom says. “And coincidentally as our one official employee, you’re the only one pulling a paycheck at this point.”

Mackenzie shrugs. “No champagne. Have it your way. We can throw a donut at the wall to christen it for all I care.” She stalks off to the front where Hux is speaking to a few of the customers in line, and they all seem to be laughing and having a good time.

“All right, Toots.” Georgie elbows my mother before pointing up at the sign. “Whatever Macy decided is what it’s going to be. Full disclosure, I’ve been picking up her lunch for the past two weeks.”

“Full disclosure”—Mom huffs a laugh—“I gave birth to her almost thirty years ago. You’ll just have to read it and weep.”

“What’s Macy deciding?” I ask with a note of caution. Macy has made many decisions in her life, most of them dicey.

Georgie gives a dark chuckle. “The fate of the world, kiddo. The fate of the world.”

Fish mewls, Anyone with half a brain knows you don’t leave decisions of any magnitude in Macy’s hands. These two must have been very desperate. But Macy does have a way of being brutally honest. In fact, that day Macy found me behind her shop, she looked right at me and said, ‘I’m not keeping you no matter how cute you look. Let’s see if my sister is a sucker.’ I’m so glad you were a sucker, Bizzy.

“Me too,” I whisper as I wrinkle my nose her way. She knows it’s my favorite story. And true as gospel, I’ve never been happier to be a sucker.

Rudolph lets out a yip of a bark as he wiggles in my arms. Macy says my puppy dog eyes can make her do things that aren’t rational—like try to adopt me.

I shake my head him. “And I would never let that happen.”

Mom grunts, “Bizzy is right. We should have never let Macy have the final say in what we should call the store.” She frowns my way. “We would have asked you, but we needed someone ruthless. We narrowed it down to two options, but we couldn’t decide. Of course, I said we should flip a coin.”

Juni raises her hand. “I flipped it myself.”

Georgie smacks her lips. “That coin was rigged, and you both know it.”

Mom tosses up her hands. “I won three out of three—fair and square.”

“What were the choices?” I cock an ear their way. “I could be ruthless. I’ll tell you right now what I would have chosen and we can see if Macy and I are truly like-minded.”

Georgie twitches her brows at my mother before looking to me. “Ree and Georgie—or Georgie and Ree. Now which one would you have picked?”

Juni balks, “My vote was for Juniper Moonbeam’s Delights. Who wouldn’t want to go in there and drop every dollar they own?”

Mom chuckles. “Anyone not on psychedelic drugs, that’s who.”

“Already being mistreated by the management.” Juni shoots her a look. “The only thing to keep me from quitting is a steady stream of donuts.” She takes off for the refreshment table, and I’m half-tempted to join her.

Rudolph barks. Don’t pick, Bizzy. Sherlock says Christmas is coming and we need to be on our best behavior if we want to find bacon in our stockings.

“I plead the fifth,” I tell them. “I’d like to find bacon in my stocking.” I glance to my right and spot Jasper coming this way along with my father and his mother.

“Bizzy Bizzy!” Dad envelops me in a warm hug before I can smile his way. Nathan Baker has jet-black hair, light eyes, and a smile that never leaves his face. My father has always greeted me that way, doubling up my name and singing it out loud. That’s my father in a nutshell, the forever jovial boy who never grew up. Sure, he’s had a string of failed marriages, but I think he rather appreciated the short-lived nature of those matrimonial stints. He worked as a finance manager before retiring. And just last year he tried to recruit Jasper’s mother, Gwyneth, as his next wife, but she wisely opted to have a long engagement instead. Shockingly, they’re still together.

Gwyneth is tall, thin, tight-lipped, has a halo of black hair, and the same pale eyes as Jasper. I’m not her favorite person, but she seems to tolerate me well enough. And honestly? The feeling is mutual.

We exchange niceties, and soon my mother and Gwyneth are embroiled in a conversation about how chaotic the holidays can