Things like that didn’t happen in his family, or if they did, they weren’t discussed. No one in his family talked as openly as CJ did on any subject, and the more he came to know CJ, the more he thought that might be why he liked her. But not in a romantic way, at least he didn’t think so. Either way, he was now uncertain as to how much he should get to know her, for both his and her safety.After dinner, when Lee went to the trunk of his car to remove the case of beer he had bought earlier, he discovered the shriveled plant he had uprooted from his property the previous month. Once inside, he retrieved a box of college textbooks from the back of his closet and pulled out a plant-identification guide that focused on root systems.Nothing matched, but the deterioration of the specimen made it hard to tell. He wished Dr. Rad lived closer. He would know. He found it hard to believe his uncle had had anything to do with planting any kind of crop. But regardless of who had planted it, why would someone pick such a remote corner of the property?* * *With the end of the year fast approaching, Lee had to decide how he would spend Thanksgiving and Christmas.
