Willow Smoke Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Sometimes a guy just doesn’t know his own strength.”
    Daisy closed her eyes. The man didn’t have a subtle bone in his body. Either give Reggie some possible winners, or her sister would be hurt. Not that it would be a new experience for Maxine. Against her better judgment, she caved in.
    “Okay, I’ll give you three to five runners a week that appear ready to win. You know that doesn’t mean they’ll win.”
    Both Reggie and Maxine nodded. “You make your own bets, however you manage that, but not through me. I could
get in trouble with my boss for that. I don’t have time to run to the betting windows on race day.”
    “No problem. I can handle that.” Reggie stood. “I’ll drop by and get the picks Wednesdays.”
    “No!” Daisy jumped to her feet, towering over her beefy brother-in-law. “I’ll leave messages on your answering machine. My work is so erratic I’m never certain when I’ll be home.”
    “That’ll be just fine, Daisy.” Maxine rose and hugged Daisy loosely. She stood back and looked up at Daisy. “I never will understand how you got so tall and me so short. Mama was
average height, but daddy was short.”
    Daisy snorted. “At least you know who your daddy was.”
    “Yours must have been a pro basketball player.” Reggie laughed. “I hear your mother was a professional,
too.”
    “Reggie!”
Maxine pulled her husband toward the door. Daisy clenched her teeth and kept
her hands to herself.
    “Don’t
mind him,” Maxine said. “Mama loved both of us. You know that. She did the best
she could.”
    The
door shut quietly. Daisy laid her forehead against the door jamb and let out a
breath she hadn’t known she was holding. She ran her fingers through her hair and walked back into the living room. Giving up on studying, she picked up the trash, turned off the lights and headed for her bedroom. A good novel might help remove the foul
taste her sister and brother-in-law so often left in her mouth.
    She changed into a sleeping shirt and pulled back the futon covers. Daisy smiled and drank in the warmth of her bedroom. She’d had a choice of a rental with two small bedrooms or one large. She’d opted for the latter.
    It was her favorite room
in the apartment. From her bed she could see her reflection in the mirrored
closet doors at the end of the
futon. In a corner near it stood a stuffed chair and a reading lamp. A small TV and VCR sat on a dresser in the opposite corner. Someday she’d break down and buy a proper bed, but she liked her simple
futon floor mattress.It didn’t
require much upkeep. Another reading lamp stood between the bed and a four shelf bookcase.
    The bedroom was light and breezy. She’d wallpapered the room with a simple floral design of daisies—her favorite flower. They made her feel special, like someone loved her.
    She crawled under the covers and hugged Bear to her chest. Maxine was right. She knew their mother had loved them. There were good memories from when she was quite young. Times when her mother would read a children’s story at bedtime.
    And then everything had gone wrong. Her mother began working nights. Too many men came to visit. Most ignored the gangly string-bean of a girl, yet they still managed to scare her.
    She’d only been seven when she found her mother lying naked on the kitchen floor. The woman who had read bedtime stories to her was no longer breathing.
    Grandmother Matthews loved her. She knew that to be true. Daisy hugged Bear tighter. Her grandmother had been a solid rock and had taught her basic values. While Maxine had given their grandmother a difficult time, Daisy had listened and wanted to please.
Grandmother Matthews was family.
    Tears stung her eyes as she remembered her grandmother’s death—another death that turned her life upside down.
    Raul and Cassie loved her. Raul Hernandez would love any stranded dog. He was the nicest man, and she was lucky it was his group home where she’d been sent. That
was where she met