A Wild Goose Chase Christmas: Quilts of Love Series Read Online Free PDF Page B

suggested Sunset Boulevard, but pressed her lips together against the impulse. Once the door shut behind them, she leaned forward, head in her hands, and let out a groan.
    Behind his desk, Pastor Quaid laughed. “Are you sure you’re related to them?”
    “Sometimes I wonder.” Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and counted to five. Maybe now she and the pastor could make some forward movement. When she looked back at him, he was smiling. “What?”
    “You looked so much like your grandmother when you did that. Which reminds me …” He held up a finger then leaned over and pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk. When he sat back up, he had a small box in his hand. “This is for you.”
    Izzy smiled as she took it. “Thanks. But you didn’t need to do this.”
    “I didn’t. It’s from Isabella.”
    She almost dropped the box. “From Gran? When did she give it to you?”
    “Before she moved into the assisted living facility. She made me promise not to give it to you until after her death. The lasttime I saw her, she reminded me about it. Between you and me, I think she knew her time was coming.”
    Izzy nodded in agreement, only half listening to what the man said. Turning the box over in her hand, she studied its plain brown wrapper tied with coarse yellow string. First the quilt, now this. Not only did Gran want her passing to be a celebration, she was turning it into a crazy backward scavenger hunt as well.
    “Izzy, are you all right?”
    She looked up at Pastor Quaid. His voice was gentle; his eyes brimming with genuine concern. A pang zinged Izzy’s heart. If her father were still alive, she imagined he’d be a lot like her pastor. And if Dad were still alive, Mom would be a totally different woman.
    She sniffed and dabbed the corner of one eye with her knuckle. “I’m fine. Just the thought that Gran wanted to make sure I had this … well, it got to me.”
    “I understand. Would you like some time alone to open it?”
    “No. I’ll open it later.” She and her dysfunctional family had taken up enough of the pastor’s evening. He had a perfectly well-functioning family of his own to get home to. “Let’s get back to the arrangements for tomorrow.”
    If Mom was irked about ending the service with “When the Saints Go Marching In,” Izzy doubted she’d be happy about the Christmas carols they’d be singing. But at that moment, Izzy didn’t care.
    Gran wanted a party, and a party she would get.

    Izzy frowned at herself in the mirror. She looked as if she were going to a funeral. Mom would be pleased, but Gran would hate it.
    “What do you think, Bogie?” She glanced at a pile of clothes on the floor by her dresser, then grabbed a bright blue scarf that was draped around one of the tall bedposts. “Can I get away with a splash of color?”
    The pile of clothes shuddered as the terrier poked his nose out from under her discarded pajama bottoms. He looked up at her, cocked his head, and barked once.
    “I agree,” she said with a nod to her reflection. She folded the soft fabric in half, draped it around her neck, and pulled the two ends through the open loop. Then she fluffed and arranged the material until it had just the look of casual elegance she had hoped for. “Much better.” Gran would be proud.
    Gran’s voice spoke in her head, clear as day. Of course I’d be proud. I’ve always been your biggest fan.
    Izzy stooped down to pull the clothes off Bogie and tossed them on top of her bed. Taking his wire-haired little head between her hands, she looked into his melted-chocolate eyes. “We’re saying our final good-byes to Gran today. It’s just you and me now, buddy.”
    He pushed his nose forward and tried to lick her face, but she was too fast for him. There would be time for cuddling later, after the service was over and it didn’t matter that he shed white fur all over her black dress. For now, she had to remain as presentable as she could.
    As she stood up, her