Love Finds You in Frost Minnesota Read Online Free PDF Page B

huh?”
    When she heard a strangled sound, she narrowed her eyes and stared at him. He was trying hard not to laugh. “What’s wrong?”
    “That is the most awful, ugly— hideous —sweater I have ever seen!”
    She tried and failed to keep the hurt look off her face. “Hideous? This is one of my favorites!”
    “ One of your favorites? You mean there are more?”
    “Dozens of them. My friends search rummage and after-Christmas sales for these. They are my uniform both November and December. What’s so bad about that?”
    “What’s so bad is . . .” Then he put his hand to his forehead as if he had a brewing headache. “Maybe we shouldn’t get into this right now.” He glanced at his watch. “I’d better get going. I have lots to do today.” He pushed away from the table, his food half eaten. “Thanks for breakfast.”
    She watched him go. Hadn’t he said only moments before that he had plenty of time? What on earth about her sweater had offended him so? The man really didn’t like Christmas. Merry glanced around the room. There were Christmas potholders and towels, plates, napkins, and mugs everywhere. There were candles on each windowsill and poinsettias and gingerbread houses on every flat surface. Merry’s Christmas Boutique was what she did for a living . How could he expect it to look any different? How could he expect her to look any different?
    Jack Frost had come to town with a grudge against Christmas, bent on somehow banishing it from what she realized she’d begun to refer to in her mind as his town . She recalled what she’d read about Jack Frost killing those who aggravated him by covering them with snow. In fact, she felt the flakes piling up right now.
    But she wouldn’t allow it to bother her. He didn’t own her or this house. Let him try to throw a monkey wrench into Frost’s Christmas celebration. He’d find a lot of push-back he wasn’t expecting—especially from her.
    * * * * *
    The principal called Merry into the office even before she got to the kindergarten room. Mr. Peterson looked harried, not a good sign so early in the morning. He waved Merry toward a chair. “Lori Olson spoke to me earlier. I need to ask you some questions about Greta. Have you noticed anything in her behavior that might indicate she’s been neglected or . . . anything?”
    “Other than the fact that she’s short of clothing? No. She’s a very sweet and happy little girl. I think her parents are just down on their luck.”
    The principal nodded. “I agree. She’s living with her mother and her mother’s husband. They’ve been in a string of shelters. Her mother was very open about it when she registered Greta for school.”
    “Where’s her father?”
    “Gone. An accident in the military, somewhere overseas. Since Greta’s mother is remarried, she and her daughter don’t share the same name. The mother’s name is Barker, but Greta’s is Olson.”
    “And there are hundreds of those around,” Merry said with a faint smile. In fact, not only was her coworker Lori’s name Olson but so was that of her retired neighbor Hildy.
    “They are hoping to find the grandmother—her father’s mother. Social Services say she used to live in the Twin Cities. Greta’s mother suggested that if they could find her, the little girl could stay with the grandmother until she and her husband got their feet back on the ground. Apparently after Greta’s father died, Greta’s mom went off the deep end for a while and cut off ties with everyone—including her husband’s family. She’s found her way back, but after she remarried they both lost their jobs. She tried to find Greta’s grandmother in Minneapolis but without any luck.”
    “They completely lost track of her?”
    “The woman moved to somewhere around here, according to old neighbors. That’s why the family came to Blue Earth. They thought they could get help if they found her former mother-in-law.”
    Merry thought of Hildy next door—no,