Page 12 of A Winter Thaw

Audrey leaned against the kitchen island, grinning, and then her attention was caught by the brightly colored flyer advertising the business conference. “Hey, what’s this?”

Elaine finished drying off Puddle and stood up. “I have a surprise for you too. How would you like to go to a conference in Boston, Massachusetts? I was thinking that Audrey and I could go and Michelle could man the fort, so to speak.”

“Sure.” Michelle smiled. “Good with me.”

“A conference?” Audrey looked thrilled. “Like a business conference?”

Elaine nodded. “Although that might be out of the question now that we have this spontaneous furry addition to our family.”

Audrey shook her head, clasping her hands together excitedly. “No, we should still go! I mean, you didn’t even notice Puddle was in the house last night, right Mom? She didn’t bark or whine too much or anything. She’s a little angel. You can manage her by yourself for a while, right Michelle?”

“Totally,” Michelle said, reaching for Puddle and scooping the puppy up into her arms. “Puddle and I are going to have a girl’s night every night, aren’t we, buddy?”

Elaine laughed, feeling a thrill of excitement.

I can hardly believe how lovely my life has become, she thought. We get to live here together, we get to run the hotel, we get to go to a business conference, and now we have this darling new addition to our family. I feel like I’m living in technicolor.

“We can talk about it all more while we make breakfast,” Audrey said. She glanced at the clock. “And I think we’d better get to it! We only have an hour before breakfast is scheduled.”

Together, they set to work scrambling eggs and mixing pancake batter. Puddle lay in the corner, gnawing on an old sock that Michelle had given her. Elaine’s heart was full as she looked out at the falling snow. Even if she wasn’t able to find Shep the perfect gift like she wanted to, it was going to be the best Christmas she’d had in a very long time.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Theo pushed open the door of Whiskers and Wags, Coral Sands’ pet shop and dog groomers, and was greeted by the nose-tickling scent of dog food. Overhead, bells jangled cheerfully.

He was holding a folder of posters in his hand, and he glanced at the front window of the pet boutique and noticed that there was still room there for a few more posters. He’d visited three local businesses already that morning, putting up posters for his band’s next performance, and all of those establishments had their windows and billboards stuffed with posters and flyers. Christmas was a busy time in Coral Sands, and there were many events happening. Still, he’d been able to find a spot for his posters everywhere so far, and he was hoping that Whiskers and Wags wasn’t going to be the end of that streak.

“Good morning, Jill,” he said, stepping up to the counter, where Jill, the owner of Whiskers and Wags, was jotting down notes on a tablet. “Would I be able to put this poster up in your window?”

Jill looked up and smiled. “Sure, if you can find a spot for it, that’s good with me. I hear your last show was a big hit. I’m hoping to make the next one.”

Theo grinned. “Thanks. We’ve got a new and improved set list, so it should be a great time.”

He went over to the window and was just starting to stick a poster to the glass when Harper walked up beside him.

“Hey, Theo! You could have taken my spot.” She laughed. “You’re putting something up and I’m taking something down.” She pulled off the brochure for the adoption event that she’d hung up in the window of Whiskers and Wags. “Looks like you’ve got the last little chunk of available space there.”

Theo chuckled. “There are a lot of posters here, that’s for sure. It’s thoughtful of you to be taking yours down right away to make space.”

“Eh, it’s good exercise for me, going around town and taking all the posters down.” She laughed. “Besides, obviously, shop windows are hurting for space these days. Coral Sands is quite the hopping place—we’ve got enough activities to go around for everyone.”

“No wonder we’ve got so many tourists even with the beaches closed.” He gestured to the posters. “Heck, I’d travel across the county to take this basket-weaving class too.”

Harper chortled. “Truly. I will say though, I think our North Pole Village is the cutest ‘Meet Santa’ experience I’ve ever seen.”

“Agreed. And Leonard is the perfect Santa Claus. He told me that the little kids like to pull on his beard, and they get all freaked out when they realize it’s real. They usually think he’s actually the real deal. He told me I did that when I was a kid, but I don’t remember it.”

“What, you don’t remember believing that Leonard was the actual Santa Claus?”

Theo clearly remembered a time when he’d thought that the jolly, rotund old man—whose long white beard was thick and curly—was actually Santa Claus. He’d seen him walking down the road in summertime and wondered why he wasn’t at the North Pole.

“Oh, let’s not bring up my past follies. Maybe just my present ones—I’m feeling a little disappointed with myself for not caving and adopting an animal at the shelter’s event the other day. It was really a fun day. I’m glad it worked out so well.”

“Hey, don’t change the subject—there’s still time to adopt an animal! We have two cats left and one dog. All angels.”

“Truce, Harper, it was a joke! That’s awesome that so many animals got adopted, though.”

“Isn’t it?” She let out a blissful sigh. “I’m still holding out hope that they’ll all be adopted by Christmas. This one older man keeps coming back to look at the cats and a family stopped in earlier today and they loved the dog. I think I might get my Christmas miracle for all the fur babies after all.”