The Full Cup of Murder: Cozy Murder Mystery (Full Cup Mysteries Book 1) by Ruby Jones

cell phone. It was loaded with voice mails and texts. I started scrolling through the texts until I came to one text in particular. It was from Uncle Junior telling me to get well quick and if I needed anything to call. I decided to call. It had been about fifteen years since I had even said Uncle Junior’s name let alone spoke or seen him. I did owe him a thank you for choosing to save my life but I was still having problems even wanting to do that. I dialed the phone. He answered on the fourth ring.
    “Hello!”
    “Hi Junior.”
    “Alison. How are you?” He did sound concerned.
    “I am doing well.”
    “I imagine Jason is taking good care of you. Or at least helping you take care of yourself.” I know he was trying to flatter me but I could not help but feel he was trying to egg me into an argument. He was known to like to start fights and push buttons. I chose to ignore it.
    “Thank you for making the choice to do the surgery.”
    “Umm…you are welcome.” He sounded uncomfortable. I guess the whole conversation was in reality. “Is there anything else I can do?”
    “No, Lisa and Jim have things going very well and smoothly at the Full Cup. Jason is doing so well to make sure I have everything I need including emotional support. Something I am not used to.” I could not help but dig back even if that was not what he was doing. After all, we were both from the same family although I was still not so eager to admit it.
    “No.” He said gently.” I am sure you are not used to it. Hopefully things will change there with that.”
    “I am not dying Junior.”
    “Alison, I want to help. I know I have not been an Uncle to you or anything else and I am not going to try now, but I do care and I want to offer help.” I relented a little. “Perhaps I can come and visit sometime.” He said.
    “Give me time to think about it Junior. We have a lot going on here.”
    “How is the case going?”
    “Honestly, I can’t talk about it. I really do not know either. Jason has been handling everything. I am sure I am going to have to deal with things eventually but right now I have to worry about healing.”
    “I totally agree.” He said.
    “Ok well Jason is waiting to eat so I am going to let you go for now. Thank you again Junior.”
    “You are welcome Alison. If there is anything.”
    “Thank you.” I hung up. Jason had come in and sat down but remained quiet so I could talk. I wanted to lean on him. It had been so long since we had touched. I was hesitant. I was not even sure if he would want to touch me. He moved closer, cupped my face, and kissed me. His kisses thrilled me still.
    “Are you going to eat Ali?” He had made a nice salad. I could not eat a lot as I had to be careful with my diet. I ate with him and soon we were back to kissing again. “Do you want to sleep on the couch or do you want me to. I don’t want to disturb your sleep.” He looked at me and I did not even have to answer. Gently he lifted me off the couch and carried me to the bedroom. There were bunches of roses all over the bedroom. He had changed the color scheme to a nice light rose color but it also had burgundy as well so it had some masculinity to the room as well. He slowly and gently laid me down on the bed. I could undress myself but he slowly started helping me. I had lost so much weight and still had ugly bruises, welts, and cuts all over my torso. I tried to cover myself with my hands but everywhere I covered he gently kissed my hands away. When he had me naked, he covered me with the blankets. He stripped himself and slid under the covers with me. His hands rested on me and I could feel myself relaxing and starting to fall asleep.
    Over the next few days, my private nurse came to meet me. Linden and Holbrook and now my full time FBI agent bodyguard came to brief and update me on the case. My bodyguard, Shawn Naylor was a really nice guy. My nurse, Marla Duntton was a very serious person and I knew I was in good hands