Christmas In Paradise (Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries Book 4) Read Free

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