Snowmen In Paradise (Book 2 Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries) (2 page)

“Don’t worry
, Coach,” the tall blonde repeated. “I’ll get everyone rounded up.”

Tj watched Bri
ttany jog away. The poor girl had had a rough year with the breakup of her parent’s marriage, but in spite of the turmoil at home, she continued to be Tj’s most reliable student. Tj was going to miss her when she graduated in the spring. One of the hazards of being a teacher was that every spring you said good-bye to the seniors you’d grown to love during the four years you’d coached and mentored them. A few of the students chose to stay on in Serenity rather than going to college, a handful more came back afterward, but the vast majority were never heard from again.

Tj waved to
Leslie Grayson, her sister Ashley’s third-grade teacher. Ashley had begun the year on a rocky note, but things seemed to have calmed down as the sensitive little girl had finally accepted the death of her mother and the subsequent changes to her life. Still, Tj tried to keep an open dialogue with Leslie in the hope of avoiding trouble in the future.

“I’m glad I ran into you
.” Leslie smiled as she approached Tj. “I was going to call you later this afternoon.”

“What’s wrong now?” Tj
asked. Calls from Leslie were never good news.

“Ashley got into a fight with Loretta Baldwin during second recess.”

Tj felt her heart sink. “I thought she was doing better.” The first couple of months of school, Ashley had gotten into a number of fights with the students in her class, but after what had seemed to be a breakthrough the previous October, things had gotten much better.

“She was,” Leslie confirmed. “She’s been happy and agreeable and making friends. I have to admit I was as shocked as anyone when Loretta
told me Ashley had ambushed her while she was waiting in line for the monkey bars.”

“Do you know what caused the fight?”

“Neither girl is talking, but I have a hunch it has something to do with Loretta’s birthday party.”

“Birthday party?” Tj asked. “Ashley hasn’t mentioned anything about a birthday party.”

“That’s because she wasn’t invited,” Leslie admitted. “To make matters worse, Loretta invited the entire class with the exception of Ashley. It’s going to be a big event, with a bounce house, a magic show, and an ice-cream bar.”

Tj wanted to say that she didn’t blame Ashley for punching Loretta
, but for once she held her tongue. Siding with Ashley when she acted out had hurt rather than helped the girl’s case in the past. “Do we know why Ashley was excluded?”

Leslie began sorting through the mail in her own staff mailbox. “I suspect it has to do with the incident during the field
trip to the zoo.”

Tj knew that
Ashley had pushed Loretta into a pile of camel droppings after Loretta made a comment about the fact that Ashley’s mother had died because she was an irresponsible drunk. Tj didn’t condone what her half sister had done, and their mother
was
an irresponsible drunk who had lived a life filled with bad choices that eventually led to her death, but to rub it into Ashley’s face was uncalled for. Tj suspected that Loretta’s stuck-up snob of a mother had filled Loretta’s head with this information in the first place. Serenity was a small town, and although her mother hadn’t spent any significant amount of time in the area for over twenty years, her deficiencies as a mother still tended to be part of the local gossip playlist.

Tj sighed. “I’ll talk to her. Will there
be other consequences?”

“I talked to Loretta’s mother. She wants Ashley to be suspended but has agreed to settle for an apology
because Loretta wasn’t really hurt. Ashley has been given detention and will need to remain inside the classroom with me during recess for the time being. Did you ever look into that counseling we talked about?”

“No,” Tj admitted. “Ashley seemed to be doing so much better. I’ll talk to Sheila and see what she recommends.” Sheila Remington
, the wife of the school principal, was the guidance counselor for both the elementary and high school.

“I think that would be best.”

Tj felt like crying as she continued down the hall for her meeting with the principal. The last thing she needed was for the behavior of one mean little girl to unravel everything she had worked for over the past several months. The previous July, Ashley’s world had been turned upside down when her mother and her third husband were killed in an automobile accident, leaving her in the care of a half sister she barely knew. At the time, Tj had been living in her own apartment in town and involved in a semiserious romantic relationship with her boyfriend, Tyler. After Ashley, eight, and Gracie, five, came to live with her, she’d broken up with Tyler and moved back to the resort, where she had the help and support of her father, Mike, and Grandpa Ben. The first few months had been difficult, as everyone tried to adapt to the change in circumstances, but in the past few months, it had seemed like they’d turned a corner and settled down into a comfortable routine. She knew she needed to sit Ashley down and talk to her about channeling her anger into nonviolent outlets, but first she needed to deal with the impromptu meeting her boss had called just as she was getting ready to leave for the day.

Tj knocked on
Greg Remington’s office door. It seemed odd that he’d ask her to stop by when he knew she had downhill practice, but then again, Greg didn’t always understand the importance of what it was she did for the school and the kids who had dreams of making it big in their sport of choice. To most of the kids on her downhill team, snowboarding was an after-school activity, but to serious boarders like Connor and Brittany, it was a future they had worked hard for their entire lives.

“Tj
, have a seat,” Greg instructed.

“If this is about the fight Ashley had
with Loretta, I’ve already talked to Leslie,” Tj said, attempting to head him off. Tj knew that Greg tended to be a bit of a talker, but she figured the quicker they could get to the point of the conversation, the quicker she could get to the mountain and all that wonderful powder.

“This meeting is
n’t about Ashley and Loretta,” Greg informed her. “I’ve spoken to both Leslie and Loretta’s mother, and I believe we’ve come to an agreement. Sheila will be contacting you about counseling.”

“If this isn’t about
the fight, can whatever it is you’d like to discuss wait for another time? I have downhill practice,” Tj reminded him. “The kids are already at the mountain. They’ll be waiting.”

Greg
was a thirty-five-year old transplant from a much larger school district in the Bay Area. He had big-city plans for their little school, and while Tj generally supported big dreams, it seemed at times that Greg’s ideas translated into a bunch of extra work for her and the rest of the staff at the high school. The previous summer he’d hired a consultant to offer suggestions that would make them more viable in the competitive grant arena. One of the suggestions had been that the school offer more extra-curricular activities in order to diversify their offerings, resulting in mandatory adjunct duty for all certified teachers. Tj had messed around, and by the time she’d gotten around to picking her adjunct duty, the choir had been all that was left. Eventually, she’d grown to enjoy her adjunct duty, but initially she’d been less than happy with the assignment.

“I’
ll make this quick. I guess you’ve heard that Travis Davidson is in town for the winter carnival.” Greg ran his hand through his thick brown hair in a nervous gesture.

Tj shrugged
. “Yeah. So?”

Travis might be a big shot to the downhill community as a whole
, but here in his hometown, he was regarded as more of a snake. When Travis had grown up in Serenity, he’d been a young man with oodles of talent but a lack of resources. Local promoter Barney Johnson, who everyone just called Johnson, had taken him under his wing, lined up sponsors, hired him a private coach, and helped him follow his dream. Travis had promised his coach and sponsors that if he made it big, they’d all make it big. After winning last year’s X Games, it looked like his dream of going pro might become a reality. The problem was, fame had gone to his head, and he’d quickly dumped the people who had gotten him where he was today.

“It seems that
after his exceptional showing at the X Games, Mayor Wallaby has decided to make him the master of ceremonies for the winter carnival opening event. One of his stipulations for accepting the honor was that he be given creative freedom over the entire process.”

“Creative freedom?”

“In a nutshell, he wants to have input in the songs your group will be performing.”

“You can’t be serious
.” Tj’s blue eyes flashed in annoyance. The guy wins a couple of downhill events and suddenly he’s telling her what to do? “We’ve been practicing for months. The opening ceremonies are in less than two weeks. There’s no way we have time to change anything at this point.”

“I understand your dilemma
, but Mayor Wallaby insisted that you meet with Travis to discuss the matter. I set up a meeting for you tomorrow, during your prep period. I’m sure with your persuasive skills you can convince Mr. Davidson that the songs you’ve prepared will work just fine.”

“Oh
, I’ll persuade him all right.” Tj got up from her chair and began to pace back and forth across the room. “The guy blows into town at the last minute and expects everyone to bow down to his ridiculous demands.” Tj was a tiny thing at five foot two, but she had a reputation for being a redheaded spitfire when someone crossed her or someone she cared about. “The kids have spent hours perfecting their acts. They’ve poured their hearts and souls into creating something spectacular. There’s no way I’m going to ask them to make any changes at this point.”

“I’m ju
st asking you to talk to him,” Greg pleaded. “Go to the meeting and convince him to go with the songs you already have picked out.”

“
I’ll talk to him all right.” Tj stormed out of the door.

By the time Tj
had finished working with her downhill team, the snowstorm had intensified to a blizzard. Driving slowly through the tiny alpine town, she was thankful for the extra illumination provided by the thousands of white lights draped in every tree and wrapped around every doorway and window on the north side of Main Street. The normally busy two-lane road was mostly deserted in spite of the fact that the clock on her dashboard indicated it was just a few minutes after six. Serenity, originally founded to support a large lumber operation, now boasted a charming downtown district consisting of a single main street lined on one side by Paradise Lake and on the other by a myriad of cozy shops displaying their wares in artfully decorated windows. The downtown strip was bordered to the north by a narrow stone bridge built more than seventy years earlier to allow a dry crossing of the Paradise River and to the south by a recently developed community park where summer concerts and local events like the annual snowman building competition were held.

Turning into the parking are
a behind the Antiquery, the cafe/antique store owned by her best friend, Jenna Elston, with her mother, Helen, and mother-in-law, Bonnie, Tj pulled up behind the back door leading from the kitchen to the alley. During the summer, visitors from the beach across the street were lined up out of the door from opening to closing, but during the off-season, the place felt more like a gathering in someone’s kitchen, where locals congregated in booths, sharing a meal and discussing the latest news. The coffee shop served both breakfast and lunch but closed at 3 p.m., affording Jenna time to spend with her family. More often than not, however, she could be found working in the cozy kitchen until well past dark.

“It’s really coming d
own out there,” Tj commented as she walked from the storm into the kitchen, where Jenna was baking something that smelled like heaven. She slipped off her boots and left them to dry near the rack Jenna had set up for just that purpose. Walking across the spotless tile floor in her wool socks, Tj slid onto one of the tall stools lining the counter. “Three feet and counting. If this keeps up, we’re going to exceed the four feet the National Weather Service predicted.”

Unlike many restaurants, the kitchen at
the Antiquery was warm and inviting, with colorful accents and decorative touches. Large copper pots hung from wrought-iron hooks, and baskets of seasonal fruits and vegetables were arranged on the green-tile countertops lining every wall of the large industrial space. While the appliances were commercial, the decor included cheery wallpaper and colorful curtains that were homey and welcoming.

“I’m betting th
ere’ll be a snow day tomorrow,” Jenna replied as the strong wind rattled the ice-covered windows. “Dennis has a shift, so I guess I should talk to Bonnie about watching the girls.” Jenna’s husband, Dennis, was a firefighter for the Paradise Lake Fire District. While his shifts comprised either thirty-six or forty-eight hours, he had a lot of time off between them and was often home to help out with their two daughters. When both parents were stuck at work, doting grandmothers Helen and Bonnie were ready and waiting to step in.

“
Bring Kristi and Kari to the resort,” Tj suggested. “I’ve already confirmed that Grandpa will be around to watch Ashley and Gracie. He won’t mind a couple more. In fact, it’s usually easier to have all four girls. They tend to keep one another entertained.”