B. J. slid the knife through the tape as carefully as if she were dissecting a frog. The cardboard box parted and she took out a fat volume, Criminal Law, Second Edition, LaFave and Scott, then carried it to the shelves with the same precise movements she’d used in opening the box.
In control. That’s what she was.
“B. J.,” her sister called from the next room. “Come in here and see this. It’s gorgeous.”
B. J. looked at the huge stack of boxes, the wall of empty shelves, the curtainless windows at the end of the large empty room. A million tasks needed her attention.
“I’m busy, Maxie.”
She took another book from her box then checked it off her list. A tousle of red curls appeared around the doorframe, followed by her sister’s paint-spattered face.
“Come on, B. J.” Maxie swept into the room, trailing paint brushes, wallpaper borders, and the scent of Jungle Gardenia. “You’ve got to see this.”
Maxie grabbed her arm and propelled her down the paneled hallway into the spacious front room.
“Ta-da!” Her sister made a sweeping gesture.
“My God. It’s red.” B. J. put her hand over her throat. “Maxie…you’ve painted the walls red.”
“I know. I figured the people who come to you could use some perking up. Do you like it?”
“When I told you to paint any color you wanted, I never dreamed you’d choose red…I think I’m going to have to sit down.”
What would soon become the law offices of B. J. Corban, formerly of a ritzy address in Philadelphia but lately of her sister’s modest address in Tupelo, Mississippi, was now only an unfurnished, partially painted 1950s house on Broadway Street. B. J. sat on the floor.
“You don’t like it?”
“I didn’t say that, Maxie.”
“You didn’t have to. I can tell by the way you squint your eyes and scrunch up your mouth when you don’t like something.”
“You make me sound like a dried up old prune.”
Which wasn’t far from the truth. Otherwise, why would she be sitting on a dusty floor in Tupelo with her sister, while Stephen Matthews III combed the beaches of St. Cruix and St. Thomas with another woman? A younger woman, at that.
And on B. J.’s honeymoon.
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Maxie’s book is Angels on Zebras (Forever Friends, Book 4 of 4), coming in the spring of 2013.
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If you love the Forever Friends series, you will also enjoy the 5- book Donovan’s of the Delta series and the 3-book Mississippi McGill series and its sequel – all romantic comedies.
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