Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) (2 page)

“I’d love to see
Kiara.” Tj smiled. “It’s been months. Will she be here for the entire holiday season?”

“She has to go back to school for finals after Thanksgiving
, but she’ll be home in time for the play and won’t need to go back to school until after New Year’s.”

Kyle had arranged for Kiara to attend community college in preparation for
transferring to a four-year university the following year. Both Kiara and Annabeth had been raised without a formal education but both were thriving under Kyle and his mother’s care.

“Speaking of the play, are you still planning to hold
rehearsals next week?” Tj asked.

Ashley and Gracie, as well as Jenna’s daughters
, Kristi and Kari, were cast members in
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
, which was being produced by both Kyle and Jenna.

“On Monday and Tuesday,” Kyle answered. “Then we
’ll take the rest of the week off and resume our rehearsals the week after Thanksgiving.”

“I’m glad you aren’t practicing on Wednesday. I
suddenly realized I have a ton to do and only a short time to get it done.”

“I’ll help you with the food,” Jenna offered. “
I know I cook for a living, but I really enjoy making Thanksgiving dinner. How many turkeys do you think we’ll need?” Jenna owned the Antiquery, a coffee shop and antique store, with her mom Helen and mother-in-law Bonnie.

Tj thought about it. “I know Dad invited Rosalie”
—she referred to her father’s girlfriend, town veterinarian Rosalie Taylor—“so that’s two. Grandpa invited Doc and Bookman, which brings us to five. If you add in Ashley, Gracie, Captain Tanner, and me, that makes nine. There are four of you plus your mom, Bonnie, and Bonnie’s new guy, so that brings us to sixteen. Add Nikki, Kyle, his mom, Kiara, and Annabeth and we have twenty-one.”

“Anyone else?” Jenna asked.

“Actually, I thought about asking Hunter and Jake, since I heard Chelsea is going back east this year to visit their parents. If they want to come over, that will be two more. I think that’s it. At least for now,” Tj confirmed.

“What about Bren?”
Kyle asked about Jenna’s sister.

“I’m not
sure what she’s planning to do,” Jenna answered. “She mentioned something about making dinner for Pastor Dan and Hannah at one point.”

Tj knew that Jenna’s younger sister babysat part
-time for the four-year-old daughter of the pastor of the Serenity Community Church. Dan’s wife had died when Hannah was just a baby and the members of the close-knit congregation all pitched in to help out.

“Invite them to come to our dinner if you want,” Tj suggested. “
We can use the kitchen in the Grill and the big activities room for the dinner if we need to since the resort is closed.”

“Okay, I’ll ask her. If they want to come
, that will bring us to twenty-six. I can’t believe how fast the holiday season has snuck up on us. It’s going to be a busy month with the play, in addition to all of the usual holiday events we attend every year.”

“I saw they brought the tree in for the tree lighting next Friday,
” Nikki informed the group. “It seems like the town could just use one of the big trees in the park rather than cutting one and having it hauled into town every year.”

“They like to set it up right next to the gazebo
, but I see your point about using a tree that’s already growing in the park,” Tj said. “There are a few really nice ones near the children’s play area that would work well, and we could even buy extra lights and decorate the really tall white fir near the benches that overlook the lake. Of course, neither of those locations would provide as nice a platform for the choir to perform during the lighting ceremony.”

T
j turned to Kyle. “Which reminds me: did you ever manage to get any volunteers from the choir for the tree lighting?” Tj was the official choir director for Serenity High School, but Kyle, being much more musically inclined, had taken over as unofficial volunteer choir director.

“I have eight confirmed and three maybe
s,” Kyle informed her. “We’ve been practicing for the past few weeks, so I feel confident we’ll put on a show you can be proud of. Two of the freshman girls we recruited this year have volunteered to do solos. They both have fantastic voices, which makes me think we have a real chance to at least place in this year’s show choir competition. I got a few of the returning students to step up and take the lead for the tree lighting. I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised by the group.”

“Excellent
.” Tj sighed in relief. “And thanks for taking the lead on this. With everything that’s been going on, I haven’t had the focus to devote to the choir the way I should.”

Kyle shrugged. “You know I’m happy to do it. It’s not like I have a lot going on otherwise.”

“Of course you have a lot going on,” Tj countered. “You’re newly elected to the town council, which I might add was left in a bit of a mess after Mayor Wallaby resigned. Any luck finding someone new?”

“No
t yet, but we’re working on it. In fact, now that the position is open, we’re looking at the entire process. Wallaby was hired to fill the job a lot of years ago. There are several members of the committee who want a whole new system. I’m too new to both the town and the council to have much of a perspective, but at least Bookman decided not to resign. We plan to go ahead with some sort of recruitment after the first of the year; in the meantime, the council is handling the town business with Harriet’s help.” Harriet Kramer was the mayor’s secretary.

“It seems like Harriet
was happy to see Wallaby go,” Nikki provided. “I ran into her at the market and she made a comment that led me to believe there was more going on behind the scenes than anyone was willing to admit.”

Tj laughed. “While I agree that the man’s absence has made her life easier, I think it has also left a hole in the local gossip network. The mayor may have had multiple problems
, but he was a colorful man who always provided interesting tidbits for Harriet to ‘leak’ to the gals at the Antiquery.”

“It
has
been quiet of late,” Jenna admitted. “Which, in the long run, affects business. Nothing gets people to come in for coffee and dessert like a good bit of gossip provided by Mom and Bonnie.”

Tj looked out the window. “It looks like the storm is getting worse.
We should all head home while we can. You still up for some Christmas shopping tomorrow?” she asked Jenna.

“Maybe. I have the day off from
the Antiquery, so it would be a good day to go, but I don’t really want to make the drive down the mountain if the roads are bad. I guess we could postpone to next weekend if we have to.”

“The stores will be packed Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe the following weekend, although I hate to leave it so late. You remember what happened last year.”

The previous Christmas had been Ashley and Gracie’s first without their mother. Tj had done everything in her power to make it special, but she’d waited too long to start her shopping and hadn’t been able to find the doll Gracie swore her mother had promised Santa would bring her before she died. Tj had almost killed herself trying to track it down, driving hundreds of miles to every toy store in the state before Kyle had managed to pull some strings to get the doll directly from the manufacturer. Tj was pretty sure that Miss Daisy, as Gracie called her, was the most expensive doll on the face of the earth. It was a good thing her good friend Zachary Collins had left his very generous grandson his fortune when he died. Kyle seemed to always put the money to good use, while Tj knew there were others who wouldn’t.

“I need to buy a couple hundred toys for the toy drive at the church,” Kyle
said. “I’m putting in a huge order, so if there’s anything specific you need, I can probably get it for you at the same time.”

“Actually
, that would be very helpful,” Tj replied. “I’ll talk to the girls this weekend to see if I can get a list. When are you placing the order?”

“Monday or Tuesday.”

“Can I get in on this?” Jenna asked.

“Just give me a list and Santa Kyle will see what he can do.”

“Can I get you anything else?” The waitress, who had been tying red ribbons on the tree she was decorating, asked, noticing their empty pitcher.

TJ shook her head.
“No thanks. I think we’re about done.”

“I’ll get your check.”

“Are you going to give out the toys again?” Jenna asked as the waitress walked away.

Last year K
yle had dressed as Santa, borrowed a sleigh with four horses from Maggie’s Hideaway, and then personally delivered gifts to all the children on the list Pastor Dan had given him.

“Absolutely. I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun. Annabeth want
s to be an elf this year. I was hoping you could help with a costume,” Kyle said to Jenna, who not only was a great cook but a fabulous seamstress who usually made the costumes for the plays she and Kyle enjoyed putting on for the community.

“I’d be happy to make an elf costume for Annabeth. Bring her by so I can
discuss her preferences and get some measurements.”

“Thanks
. I really appreciate your help. My mom volunteered to do it, but she really doesn’t have a clue what type of costume a preteen might prefer.”

“She still trying to dress her in outfits
that might be better suited for a convent?” Jenna laughed.

“She tries
, and Annabeth is too polite to refuse to wear the clothes Mom buys her. I took Annabeth shopping myself when school started and we’ve been weeding out Mom’s old-fashioned dresses for something more decade appropriate.”

“Speaking of age appropriate,” Tj interrupted
, “did you see that young guy Frannie’s been parading around town?”

“It is a little odd that after all these years she’d choose him as her first serious boyfriend,” Jenna agreed. “What is he,
like thirty-five?”

“Seems about right,” Tj
said.

Frannie Edison was the never married
—and, as far as anyone knew, never dated—town librarian. She was in her midfifties and the man she had been seen around town with looked to be at least two decades younger.

“We don’t actually know that he
’s her boyfriend,” Nikki pointed out. “They’ve been spending a lot of time together, but I have yet to witness a physical exchange more intimate than hand-holding. Maybe he’s a nephew or the son of an old friend.”

“Maybe I’ll invite them to the
Thanksgiving dinner as well,” Tj decided. “I’d like to get a chance to chat with the guy to make sure his intentions toward our Frannie are honorable, if he indeed is boyfriendish in nature.”

“Intentions?” Kyle asked. “You aren’t her mother.”

“I know, but I am her friend and I don’t want to see her get hurt. She seems so vulnerable and untried in the ways of love. It would be easy for some guy to take advantage of her naïve and kind heart.”

“I’m not sure Frannie is as helpless as you make her
out to be, but it would be nice to invite her to dinner.” Jenna took out her notepad and added Frannie and friend to her list. “That gives us twenty-eight. I think we’re going to need at least two birds. Big ones.”

“I’d get three for this beast of a feast,” Tj
said.

“Look at all the lights,” Gracie screeched with delight as Tj drove her sisters to play practice. It looked as though the community volunteers
had been out in force over the weekend; every window on Main Street was framed with white lights and every lamppost sported a pine wreath tied up with a huge red ribbon. The fresh coat of snow that had fallen over the past few days gave the mountain hamlet the feel of an authentic Christmas village.

“Can we go loo
k at the windows?” Gracie asked as Tj began searching for a parking spot.

“Maybe after Thanksgiving,” Tj
said. “We have rehearsal tonight and tomorrow night and then a very busy couple of days making a huge feast for everyone we’ve invited for dinner on Thanksgiving.”

“Kristi wants to come over early to watch the parade with us,” Ashley announced.

“I’ll have to talk to Aunt Jenna about it, but I imagine she’ll come early as well since she’s making most of the food.”

“How come Aunt Jenna is making the food if it
’s at our house?” Gracie asked.

“
’Cause Tj can’t cook,” Ashley explained.

“I can
too cook,” Tj defended herself.

“Really? You burn
ed the toast we had for breakfast and the eggs were so runny that Grandpa had to make us pancakes.”

“Eggs are tricky,” Tj commented.

Ashley rolled her eyes in the condescending way only she could.

“Are we going to be able to go to the tree lighting
again like we did last year?” Gracie thankfully changed the subject.