Snowed In Read Online Free PDF

walking in the opposite direction that I needed to go. I could see a road curving upward. That might be interesting to explore someday. As a matter of fact, I really needed to map out an exploring strategy. While the island wasn’t that large, it still had lots of possibilities.
    But I was starting to lose feeling in my extrem-ities again. Maybe in time, I’d toughen up and the cold wouldn’t feel so cold.
    I glanced around. I could see only a few people, so I took out my cell phone and very nonchalantly sent a few more pictures to Tara. No way did I want to be mistaken for a tourist. This was my new home.
    I wanted to do everything I could to fit in.

    * * *
    39
    “I can’t believe there’s so much snow!” Tara said when I called her later that night.
    “I know. And there’s more falling right now.” I was sitting on the window seat in my room, wrapped in a quilt my grandmother had made and wearing my toasty slippers—specially designed to be warmed in the microwave.
    “That is so cool. Shaun and I went cycling today—in shorts.”
    I loved Tara. She’d been my best friend forever.
    But her selection of boyfriend had baffled me.
    Shaun Dade. I secretly call him Shaun of the Dead.
    He never gets excited about anything. Well, except maybe dating Tara, but even then it’s hard to tell.
    She told me that he saves his enthusiasm for making out. Way too much information.
    “I have a feeling it’s going to be a while before I’m wearing shorts again,” I said. If ever!
    “Have you built a snowman yet?”
    “Nooo!”
    “Why not?”
    “Maybe because I’m a little old for building snowmen?”
    “You’re never too old for building snowmen.
    Besides, you could build a whole village of snowmen.”
    Shaking my head, I looked down where the 40
    street lamps were casting a glow. I saw two people walking together, arm in arm, probably trying to warm each other up. This was definitely a place for couples. And I’d already made great progress in that area.
    “Guess what? I’ve got a date already.”
    “You’re kidding!”
    She practically shrieked in my ear. She and Shaun were total opposites. Maybe it was true that opposites attract.
    “I thought there were, like, no guys on the island,” she continued.
    “There are guys. Just not many.”
    “And you’ve already hooked up with one?”
    “Apparently, he has no interest whatsoever in commitment.”
    “Sounds like a match made in heaven.”
    “That’s the thing. There’s no potential for an actual match , because neither of us wants a match.
    That’s what makes him perfect. We’ll go out a time or two, and he’ll move on to the fudgies.”
    “The what?”
    “The tourists.”
    “What if you don’t want him to move on?” Tara—who thought the ultimate was having a boyfriend—had a difficult time understanding my attitude about dating. It wasn’t only because I’d 41
    grown up with Mom constantly reminding me to wait. I just didn’t seem to have the settle-for-one-guy gene.
    “It won’t happen,” I said with full confidence.
    “What if it does?”
    “Tara, he likes to go out with different girls. I like to go out with different guys.”
    “Yeah, but there aren’t as many guys on the island as there are here.”
    “I’ll date fudgies, too.” As a matter of fact, now that I knew that was an option, I could see the potential for getting to meet all kinds of guys. It could be fun. Lots and lots of fun.
    “Okay,” she said with a sigh, which I knew meant she wasn’t going to try to convince me. So a subject change was coming. “I can’t believe your mom named your new place after you.” With my cell phone, I’d taken pictures of the sign and sent them to her. When no one was looking, of course.
    “Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. I’m going to design the website.”
    I’d taken website design my sophomore year and had been in advanced design before Mom and I decided we wanted to move.
    “Awesome,” Tara said. “You have