Southern Poison Read Online Free PDF Page B

arm. “Please, stay. I don’t know what to say to an upset sixteen-year-old.”
    “I think she had a fight with Louise,” I said, retying the sash on my robe that had worked its way loose.
    Ox’s eyes moved over my satiny, fur-lined outfit. “Nice.”
    “Thanks. Your daughter wasn’t as impressed by it.”
    He smiled. “Will you help me out here?”
    “Let me put on some clothes first.” So much for enjoying a leisurely morning in my jam jams. I found Lindsey sitting on the floor with Cracker, letting him exuberantly lick her face. Ox watched them from the sofa. Even when he and Louise were still married, Ox had always let his wife deal with the emotional, sometimes irrational side of their daughter. He still didn’t quite know how to deal with this side of Lindsey.
    I settled into a chair. “Since you are two of my favorite people in the world and I love you both, I will moderate the discussion,” I said, hoping to lighten the tension a notch. “Lindsey, you can start by telling us what happened. Did you have a fight with your mother?”
    She shook her head. “Not really. But her boyfriend is a total jerk.Dealing with him coming over to the house was bad enough, but now he’s moved in.”
    Ox’s jaw clenched. “Roger moved into your and your mother’s house?” It was the house he’d paid for, the one Louise got as part of the divorce settlement. Ox could have made her sell, but he chose to give her what she wanted and walk away, once his ex said she no longer loved him.
    “Not him. Her new boyfriend.
Albert.
She calls him Allie. It’s disgusting.”
    “So, your mom has a new boyfriend who is at the house a lot?” I said to clarify.
    Lindsey pushed Cracker away from her face and the dog settled his wide head across her lap. She absentmindedly rubbed his neck. “I told you, he
moved in.
He lives there and he’s a pig. The game room is now his office—he made Mom get rid of the pool table—and now I’m not even allowed in there. It’s like his private Zen space, or something. He totally rearranged our furniture to enhance the energy flow. And there are like, new phone rules and stuff. She’s cooking tofu and seaweed for God’s sake, because he’s a health nut.”
    My eyes flicked to Ox, wondering if this was all news to him. It was.
    “When did Albert move in?” he asked.
    She shrugged. “Maybe two weeks ago?”
    I slid into the role of counselor. “So it’s understandably a big adjustment. You must feel left out of the whole equation.”
    “Duh!”
    Ox’s jaw muscles were working overtime, but his words came out calm. “Clearly, you don’t like this man, but what exactly makes him so unbearable?” After all, his ex wife was free to do what she wished, as long as his daughter wasn’t neglected or in danger.
    Lindsey threw her hands up. “You don’t get it! This weirdo hasmoved into my house and brought all his things and he’s changed everything around and now we have to live by his rules and eat that nasty stuff he calls food and Mom just runs around fussing over him like he’s royalty or something!” She wiped her eyes with a sleeve before tears had a chance to roll down her face. “I don’t want to live there anymore. I want to live here, in Wilmington, with you.”
    I hated to ask but we had to know. “Did Albert do anything to hurt you, Lindsey?”
    “Hello? He’s destroyed my life! Does that count?”
    “Has he done anything to physically harm you?”
    “You mean like come on to me or something? No way. I’d kill him if he ever tried to touch me.”
    “If I didn’t get to him first,” Ox said under his breath. He flipped open his cell phone and dialed.
    “Louise, it’s Duke,” Ox said when his ex answered. “Lindsey is here with me and everything is fine.” He paused to listen before walking back into the kitchen, to get out of earshot. Lindsey looked at me with raised eyebrows. Sound carries relatively unobstructed between my kitchen and living area, and