Caribou Crossing Read Online Free PDF

town.” They were going to her parents’ for a snack-style lunch and another round of gift giving.
    â€œI’d rather you tried on your Christmas present,” he groused good-naturedly as he started to collect wrapping paper.
    â€œTonight,” she promised. “If you’re a good boy.”
    She went into the kitchen to make stuffing for the turkey, and he headed out to feed the cattle. With snow on the ground, he couldn’t go a day without harnessing the draft horses and toting hay to the hungry beasts.
    Kitchen chores finished, Miriam showered and dressed in figure-hugging black pants and a long red sweater. As she was putting playful Christmas tree earrings in her ears, Wade rushed in and headed for the shower. She laid out clothes for him: charcoal cords, a sage green shirt, and the new green sweater his parents had given him. Then she went to make sure Jessica was dressed. They called Wade’s parents in Phoenix and shared Christmas greetings and thank-yous, and then it was time to go.
    They loaded the car with gifts and tins of mincemeat tarts she’d baked, and then the three of them drove west into Caribou Crossing. They were ten miles out of town, and the drive was scenic: split-rail fences lining the road, an occasional house with outbuildings, vast expanses of rolling ranch land now blanketed with snow, and a backdrop of low hills.
    Reaching town, Wade drove down the main street. Caribou Crossing was a bit of an odd mix. Several heritage buildings had been restored, other storefronts had a tired fifties look, and some, like The Gold Nugget Saloon, were tawdry. Still, today everything looked festive with garlands of holly and strings of white lights. Firefighters, using their ladder truck, had decorated the huge fir in the town square where she and Wade had held their wedding reception. On the snowy lawn of the town hall, a jolly Santa waved from a sleigh towed by wire-framed creatures that anyone outside Caribou Crossing would call reindeer, but here were called caribou.
    Too bad these wire beasts were the only caribou ever seen in town. Though the chamber of commerce had set out road-crossing signs—like the ones in school zones but with “Caribou Crossing” and a black silhouette of the mammal on them—those were purely for tourism. The caribou that had once roamed free had fled to more remote territory long ago.
    Caribou might be scarce, but a number of people strolled the sidewalks, decked out in colorful hats and scarves, many carrying gaily wrapped packages. As Wade cruised slowly down the main street, Miriam opened the window on the passenger side to let in crisp, snowy air and warm holiday greetings.
    Her friend Jane, who’d gone to school with Miriam and Wade and was now a lawyer in town, said, “Lunch next week?” and she happily agreed. Elderly Mrs. Vey asked when the vet’s office, where Miriam worked part-time, would be open, and Miriam told her, “The twenty-seventh. But if it’s an emergency, call Dr. Christian.” Main Street was always like this; you couldn’t go twenty feet without stopping for a chat.
    Wade made a couple of turns, entering one of the nicer areas of town, then pulled up outside her parents’ two-story wood-framed house, where multicolored lights sparkled at the windows and eaves. It was the family home where they’d raised four kids. Only their fifteen-year-old daughter, Andie, still lived at home.
    Most days, her mom complained that the three of them rattled around in all that space, but today the downstairs was full. Andie’s longtime BFF was there. Logan, who lived down in Vancouver where he went to college, had brought his girlfriend—a student from India—home for the holidays. Kate, the middle sister, was there with her husband, baby, and in-laws. Add in a few close friends of their parents’ and it was a noisy, cheerful crowd, rosy cheeked from excitement, the warmth of