Snowmen In Paradise (Book 2 Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries) (24 page)

Tj watched as Sarah trotted back toward Brittany and Jilli
. She was glad everything had turned out well. Being a teenager was hard; a lot of adults forgot how hard. Tj might have lost points on her evaluation for being too much of a friend to her students, but in the end, she’d take the ding on her review if it meant her students felt comfortable confiding in her when they needed help.

“That Sarah
?” Ben walked up behind her.

“Yeah.”
Tj watched as Sarah looped her arm through Jilli’s as they continued toward the auditorium.

“How’s she doing?”

“Better. So what’s the big secret?”

“The
ice princess pageant.”

“Oh God
. You didn’t enter me, did you?”

“No
.” Ben chuckled. “As you already pointed out, you’re much too old. Today’s competition is the junior princess category. The minimum age to enter is eight, so Ashley and Kristi decided to give it a try.”

Tj
and Ben walked together toward the building. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that Helen is the one who talked the girls into doing this.”

“Good guess,” Ben
said with a laugh.

“Does Ashley have a dress?”
Tj was certain she didn’t have one, if the decision to enter the contest was little more than a whim.

“Helen took the girls shopping and bought them both new dresses
. And she took them for manicures and haircuts as well.”

“I thought Helen was working
today.” Tj hadn’t actually seen her at the Antiquery when she’d been there earlier, but she’d made the assumption she was in the front, where the antiques were displayed and sold.

“Bonnie covered for her.”

“I can’t believe Ashley is doing this,” Tj commented. “Was Gracie jealous?”

“No
. The boys and I took the two younger girls out to lunch and then to a movie. Jenna brought them special ‘little sister’ corsages for their wrists. They seem pretty happy.”

“Is Jenna here?”
Tj asked. Normally, the café didn’t even close until three.

“
They closed early. She’s with the girls and Helen in the back. Dennis is around somewhere. He has his camera and is taking photos.”

“And
Dad?”

“He’s already insi
de with the others. They’re saving us seats.”

Tj looked around as they entered the crowded auditorium
. She hoped Ashley didn’t suffer from a case of stage fright at the last minute. Of course, she’d been taking dance classes for a while, and she’d recently signed up for community theater, and she wasn’t really shy. Tj began to relax as she realized her sister would most likely do just fine.

“Good
, you made it.” Mike lifted his jacket off the seat he’d been saving for her. “They’re about to start.”

“Is Rosalie here?”

“Stan Rinehold’s dog got hit by a car. Rosalie’s patching him up. She said she’d meet us here if she got a chance.”

“Is he going to be okay?”
Tj wondered. “The dog?”

“Rosalie says yes
. Look, here they come.”

Twenty-seven girls between the ages for eight and eleven walked
in single file onto the stage. Each was wearing a beautiful dress and had elegantly styled hair. They really did look like little princesses, Tj thought. Ashley waved as she took her place on the stage. Helen had done a good job picking out the perfect dress to go with her light red hair, which was styled into a twist on the top of her head. She looked beautiful, and happy, and mature. Tj frowned. The little girl she’d come to know over the past six months was gone, and in her place was the hint of the beautiful young woman she would become. Tj was surprised to find she wasn’t quite ready for Ashley to grow up. When the sisters had first come to live with her, she hadn’t known what she was going to do with two little girls. Now she didn’t know what she’d do without them.

“She looks so old,” Mike commented.

“I was thinking the same thing,” Tj whispered back.

“Is she wearing makeup?”

“I think so.”

“She looks beautiful
, but I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”

“Preaching to the choir
.” Tj leaned her head on her dad’s shoulder. She remembered how he’d resisted her growing up. Each milestone had been accompanied by a sad discourse about how his little girl was no longer his little girl. At the time, Tj had rolled her eyes in disgust, but sitting in the crowded auditorium, watching her own little girl take her first step toward womanhood, she knew exactly how he’d felt.

“Kristi looks nice too,” Mike offered.

“I love her dress.” Helen had picked a royal-blue velvet that looked lovely with Kristi’s long blond hair and bright blue eyes.

“Shhh
. Ashley’s next for her speech.” Mike beamed like a proud grandpa.

Each girl was asked why
she wanted to be the junior ice princess, and what her talent would be. Ashley said that she didn’t really want to be an ice princess but preferred to be an ice queen, since queens had more power and got more respect than princesses. This had everyone laughing, which she didn’t seem to mind. She announced that her talent would be to sing a song.

Kristi announced that she wanted to be princess so she could ride
on the float during the Kick Off to Summer Parade, which was held in June. And her talent was going to be to dance her favorite ballet.

By the time the girls began to come out for the talent portion of the competition
, Tj’s stomach was in knots. After years of coaching the area’s youth and dealing with anxious and opinionated parents, Tj had sworn that if she ever had kids of her own, she wouldn’t stress over every little thing. Yet here she was with butterflies in her stomach as she worried about whether Ashley knew a song, and if she’d sing off-key, and if she’d be mortified if she messed up or tripped as she walked onto the stage.

“I’m so nervous,” Tj confessed
. “How do parents do this day after day?”

“You get used to it,” Mike promised
. Ashley began the long walk onto the stage when it was her turn. “Or not.” Tj noticed he was holding his breath as she made her way up the stairs in her new shoes.

Tj laced her fingers through her dad
’s as they both forgot to breathe as the stage lights dimmed. Ashley looked confident and happy as she began to sing a ballad Tj had no idea she’d ever even heard.

“She’s good.”
Tj let out her breath.

“Thank
God.” Mike let his out as well.

“Who would have though
t?” Tj was stunned.

“Our baby is going to be a star.”

In the end, Ashley and Kristi
both were fantastic, but neither girl placed, which wasn’t surprising; almost every year, the princess and her court were eleven-year-olds competing for the last time before moving up to the twelve- to fifteen-year-old category.

“That was fun
.” Ashley bounded up and hugged her sister. “Can we stay and watch Aunt Bren?”

“The
girls sixteen to twenty-one won’t get started for a couple of hours. How about some dinner?” Tj suggested.

“Can we
get tacos?” Ashley asked.

Tj glanced at Jenna
, who had just walked up with Kristi.

“Tacos are good,”
she agreed.

“We’ll need a table for
thirteen,” Tj calculated.

“Helen, Bonnie,
and the boys and I,” Ben said, referring to Doc and Bookman, “are going to head over to Murphy’s for a cold one.”

“Okay, make that
eight.”

“I think I’m going to see how Rosalie is doing,” Mike added
.

“We’re down to
seven. I assume Dennis is coming with us?”

“He ran into Josh
. I told him I’d just meet him back here for Bren’s pageant,” Jenna informed her.

“Okay, six it is
. Beach Hut Taco okay?’

“Sounds good
,” Jenna agreed.

Beach Hut Taco was a taqueria on the edge of town. A bit nicer than fast food, the menu was simple and inexpensive. After ordering their meals, Tj and Jenna settled down with their blended margaritas while the girls played video games.

“So Gracie tells me you have two new members of the family,” Jenna began.

“We do,” Tj confirmed. “A black kitten named Midnight and a white one named Snowy.”

“Uh
-oh.” Jenna grimaced. “You’ve named them. You know once you name them, you’ll never be able to give them away.”

“I figured
. At first I thought the last thing we needed were two more mouths to feed, but let’s face it, the house is a zoo already; what are two more residents? Once the babies get older, Ashley wants to have Snowy sleep in her room, and Grandpa said he’d take Midnight.”

“Really?”

“I was surprised too, but he said it’d be nice to have a warm body to cuddle up with after all these years.”

“I guess I understand that
.” Jenna smiled.

“Yeah, Cuervo’s a grouch and Echo is a pillow hog
, but I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have them to come home to every night.”

“Not much room left for a man,” Jenna teased.

“Who needs a man when you have a cat that snores and a dog that sleeps in the middle of the bed?” Tj laughed.

“Speaking of men,
tell me about your lunch,” Jenna encouraged.

“It was nice.”
Tj took a sip of her drink. “We mostly talked suspects and alibis, but it was cozy and romantic and, most importantly, I think we cleared the air about a few things. He got an upsetting call from his sister that ended things on a sour note, but I’ve decided I’m not going to worry about that right now. He texted and said he needed to work late, but he’s going to meet us at the auditorium at eight for Bren’s pageant.”

“I’m sure
Mom and Bonnie will come back to watch Bren, but I doubt we’ll see your grandpa and his posse again.”

“I think one princess pageant
a day is their limit. You mentioned that Dennis ran into Josh. How’s he doing?”

“Dennis says okay
. It seems Travis’s death hit him hard. The guy was a jerk, but he was his brother. His dad is doing better. If nothing else, I think this whole thing brought them closer together.”

“That’s good.”
Tj watched as Sean Wright walked past the restaurant on the sidewalk outside, Dolly following right behind him. There was no way Sean didn’t notice her.

“Dennis said Josh is going to see to Travis’
s funeral once the investigation is complete. His mom is in rehab and isn’t really able to deal with things. According to Dennis, the woman has OD’d so many times she’s barely coherent.”

“That’s nice.”

“Are you even listening to me?” Jenna asked.

Tj looked away from the window
. “Sorry. I saw Sean walk by with Dolly less than twenty feet behind him and I got distracted.”

“That whole thing is
really odd,” Jenna said. “I guess you can just ask one or both of them what’s going on.”

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it
. Not that it’s any of my business, but I have to admit the situation has me intrigued. It’s almost like the woman is tailing him, but she’s being so obvious about it that you’d think Sean would tell her to get lost.”

“I know I would,” Jenna s
aid. “It looks like our order is up. I’ll get the girls.”

When Tj and Jenna got back to the auditorium, Dylan and Dennis were waiting outside. Tj groaned when she noticed that the line to get in was twice as long as it had been earlier in the day.

“Wow, what a huge turnout,” Jenna commented after kissing her husband
. “We’re never going to get seats.”

“
Our mothers are already inside,” Dennis informed her. “They saved seats, but they want us to hurry. They’ve already had a handful of people argue that saving seats isn’t allowed when there’s a full house.”

“Okay,” Jenna
said, grabbing Kari’s hand. “Let’s go.”

“We’ll take the girls inside,” Dennis offered
. “Dylan has something to discuss with Tj. We’re near the front, about five rows up from the stage. Saving two seats with eight people should be easier than saving eight seats with two people, but you still might want to hurry.”

“We will,” Tj promised.
“What’s up?” she asked the handsome deputy, who was dressed in dark brown cords and a forest green and tan sweater rather than his uniform.

Dylan took a hand
-drawn sketch from his pocket. “Do you recognize this woman?”

Tj bit her lip as she scrutinized the portrait
. She didn’t think the woman was anyone she knew, although she looked oddly familiar. Based on her slim face and delicate bone structure, Tj bet she had a petite frame. She had almond-shaped eyes and long black hair that hung to the middle of her back. After running a mental scan of all of the women she knew who fit this basic description, no one came to mind.