Snow Angel (The Hope Falls Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF Page A

did.
    Maybe next year it wouldn’t , Lily thought to herself, trying to put a positive spin on her neurosis.
    “Okay, I think this one might be the one,” Lauren said confidently.
    Lily felt the car coming to a stop, and she looked up, squinting in the sun, to see a quaint cottage-style
    house. It looked to be right out of the pages of a fairy tale book. There was a brick walkway leading up to the large wooden door. The house was painted a deep eggshell with a red trim.
    “It’s really cute,” Lily said as she stepped out of Lauren’s BMW. She sensed something shift inside of
    her as she walked up the brick path. She paused but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what the odd
    sensation was.
    Looking at her surroundings, she saw that there were two houses on the street besides the one she stood
    in front of. So, there were neighbors. That was a definite plus.
    Lauren had walked ahead of her to open the front door, and Lily followed her inside the house. The
    feeling that had crept up inside of her intensified, and she realized suddenly that it was calm . She was feeling an overwhelming sense of calm and peace.
    “This is a furnished one-bedroom, one-bath, cottage-style home. Upgraded kitchen and bathroom.
    Hardwood floors throughout except the bedroom, which is carpeted.”
    Lauren listed the features of the home as they walked through the house. Lily followed closely behind
    her down the short hall to the bathroom and bedroom, excited to see what each room held. Both were
    clean, cute, and small. They continued their tour to the kitchen. What she had seen so far was very cozy and welcoming. The kitchen was no exception.
    The only issue that she could see with this place was space. The front room and bedroom were small
    — really small. Even if she moved the furniture, she wasn’t sure she would have enough square footage to dance.
    Hmmm . If she had to settle, this place wouldn’t be bad at all.
    Lily ran her fingers across the cold tile counter top in the small, cheery kitchen. The walls were painted
    a muted yellow and there were white curtains hanging across the picture window behind the sink. There
    were all new appliances, and another bonus was that the one-bedroom house came completely furnished.
    “And the pièce de résistance! Drum roll please,” Lauren said with a sparkle in her eye. “The detached
    garage has been renovated into an office space that would work perfectly as a studio.”
    Lily spun around. “Seriously?”
    “Seriously,” Lauren confirmed happily. “Let’s go check it out.”
    Lily tried not to get too excited. She knew that what some people considered a studio or office was not
    anything more than a closet or shed. Her attempt to control her enthusiasm was failing miserably though. As she walked behind Lauren down a small path in the backyard she felt like a kid at Christmas about to open
    her presents.
    Not that she had ever really had a normal Christmas experience. She had gotten some presents in her
    childhood but they had never been Barbies, Cabbage Patch Kids, a bike, or cute clothes. She had received
    practical things from charities and churches. Things like backpacks, socks, jackets, and shoes. Not attractive things, but at least functional. And although she had always appreciated them, she had also wished that she could be like her classmates, the ones who wrote Christmas lists and then came back after winter break with the things that they had put on their lists.
    After Lily’s mom had passed away when she was three, she had been put into the system. It started with
    foster care until the age of twelve, at which point she had been moved to group homes. Between the ages of
    twelve and sixteen, she’d been in a dozen group homes. Then she had been completely taken off the grid,
    which had come with its own set of fears and terrors, but it had been better than the life she’d had to endure up until then.
    To this day she wasn’t sure which she had preferred between