Christmas in the Air Read Online Free PDF

around the church, making goose bumps break out on Livia’s body.
    â€œThe rest of you get what sleep you can,” Les said. “I’ll stay up and keep the fire going. It’s kinda cozy in here now, but when the temperature drops outside, it’ll get colder.”
    â€œIt isn’t fair for you to shoulder all the responsibility,” Livia objected. “I know how to stoke a fire. We’re in this together. I’ll take my turn.”
    â€œSo will I,” Quinn said.
    When all of the castaways insisted that they wanted to help out, Eric said, “Let’s divide into four groups of two and keep watch.” He looked at his watch. “It’s nine o’clock now, and it won’t be daylight until seven. That’s ten hours, which we can divide into two-and-a-half-hour segments. Even if she is sleepy, Marie and I will take the first shift.”
    â€œI’ll watch with Sean,” Roxanne said, with a fond glance at the basketball star. “I’ll keep him awake.”
    Les looked at the truck driver. “We’d probably make a good team,” he said. Allen nodded his agreement.
    â€œThen that leaves Olivia and me,” Quinn said, and experienced a quickening of his heartbeat. He darted a questioning glance at her. “Is that okay?”
    It definitely wasn’t okay, but what could she say? How could she spend over two hours with a man for whom she’d harbored bitter thoughts for three years? She’d finally gotten to the point where she’d put her crush on Quinn behind her. Why had he entered her life again?
    Unwilling to allow him to think that his presence bothered her, she met his eyes directly for the first time. “Of course,” she said.
    Perhaps these solitary hours with Quinn would erase her bitter memories and pave the way so they could become friends again.
    Â 
    With twenty pews at their disposal, preparations for bed were simple. They’d gathered several blankets from their vehicles, so the people who were sleeping, or trying to, could each have a covering. As cold as the room was when they moved a few feet from the stove, no one considered removing their bulky outerwear.
    Since the snow had accumulated several more inches, Quinn and Allen cleared the paths to the woodshed and the johnny houses again. Eric and Les carried in more fuel to last through the night.
    The trip to the outside necessary was an experience Livia would never forget. Life on the farm, and summer camping events, had prepared her for rough living, but nothing she’d experienced could prepare her for this jaunt when the wind was blowing forty miles per hour and the snow was two feet deep.
    Hustling toward the necessary, Livia felt like she was in a tunnel, because the shoveled snow was heaped high on both sides of the path. The tunnel provided plenty of privacy, and Roxanne carried a large battery-driven spotlight that Quinn had brought from his truck. Despite their discomfort and unfamiliarity with this rugged substitute for plumbing, Marie and Roxanne, teeth chattering, giggled about the experience as they waited their turn in the one-person accommodation.
    When all eight of them were back in the church building, Quinn warned, “Don’t anyone go out alone tonight for any reason. If someone slips and falls, without any help, it could be fatal.”
    Preparing for the first watch, Eric and Marie cuddled under a blanket on a pew close to the stove. Livia extinguished all of the candles except two. Since they didn’t know how long they’d be snowbound, they needed to conserve their small stock of candles.
    Quinn and Livia were scheduled for the two o’clock shift.
    Worried about being away from home and frustrated over this chance meeting with Quinn, Livia wondered if she would get any rest. Unwelcome thoughts scampered wildly through her mind. She knew that she was in for a long night of soul-searching.
    Sitting on a front pew,