September: Calendar Girl Book 9 Read Online Free PDF Page A

it is. You can call the shots for Maddy, but when I try to help you, I’m the jerk?” He smiled that crooked one that I knew made Cyndi swoon.
    “I’m the big sister,” I countered as if that answered all the questions of the universe.
    He pointed a thumb at his chest. “Big brother.” He grinned, and I smiled for the first time in a week.
    “Yeah, well, that’s a new title. You’ve got to earn that kind of clout, Maximus.”
    His eyes twinkled as he kept the elevator door from closing. “I intend to for the rest of my life, sugar.”
    He let the doors close and waved before turning around and heading back to the room. Max had made his point. He was in for the long haul and had no intention of us not being a big, happy family. He’d gained a pair of sisters. A blood relation to his mother and father. Something he didn’t have a few weeks ago. The type of guy Max was, he’d make the most of it and give both Maddy and me his all. Hell, he already had in spades, but I was too far into my own head and my heart was carved out with worry, so I couldn’t express how much him being here meant to me. How, when this year was over, I planned on making a very big effort to be a part of his regular life and looked forward to it. I’d work on it when I could. There would be time. Hopefully.

Chapter Three
    “ I come bearing gifts !” Ginelle strutted into the hospital room. One arm held a plant, not flowers, and the other carried a mysterious brown paper bag.
    Ginelle set the potted array of desert succulents near the few bouquets of flowers, walked over to Pops, and kissed his forehead, mindful of the tubes all around him. “Wake up, old man. Your girls are aging, watching you sleep,” she said.
    Leave it to Gin to be sweet and snarky at the same time. She watched his face for a moment as though she were waiting to see him do what she’d asked and open his eyes. He didn’t. With a shake of her head, she turned and looked at me, head cocked to the side. She gave me a once over and then she clucked her tongue.
    “Well, you look a little better. Still like shit, but you must have gotten some decent shut-eye and finally blessed us all with a shower.” She leaned forward and sniffed my head, loudly making her point. “Yep, fresh as a daisy.”
    I shoved at her chest and smiled. “Shut up, skank. What’s in the bag?”
    Blinking rapidly, she lifted a finger to her cheek. “Whatever do you mean?”
    I half-chuckled, already feeling lighter in her presence. Gin swayed her hips and arms, making a real deal out of sitting on the loveseat and pulling items out of her bag of goodies.
    “Okay, since it’s been over a week and you’re flabby ass hasn’t left this room, I figured some serious shit to pass the time was in order.” Gin grabbed each item and showed them to me. “Deck of cards, crosswords, Sudoku…”
    “Sudoku? What the heck is that?”
    Ginelle shrugged. “It’s some type of math game.”
    “You brought me a math game? Me ?”
    She grinned and flipped a few pages in the book. “I don’t know. There was this really cute guy working at the grocery store, and we kind of got to talking. I told him what I was looking for so he pointed to all this shit. And I just grabbed and flirted.” She looked out the window as if she were remembering the moment. “Anyway, he said it was his favorite, loved trying to break all the puzzles, blah blah. Really, I was more interested in watching his mouth move and wondering how he could put those plump lips to use on my…” She pointed to her crotch.
    “Gin!” I looked over at Pops. “Girl, he can hear you.”
    Her brows furrowed. “Really? You think so?”
    “Yeah, I do. So don’t talk about wanting a grocery store clerk to you know.” I gestured to my own hoo-hah.
    Ginelle rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Anyway, Mads can work on that one.” Good point. Maddy was the brains in this family. “I’ve also got some fashion mags, and of course, your favorite…”