Read Celebration for Free Online Page A

its plume of steam, the phone rang and the mailman tooted twice. Kris burst into tears while she struggled with the gas burner. She managed to pick up the phone and to say hello in a garbled voice she didn’t recognize as her own.
    â€œKristine, it’s Aaron Dunwoodie. You sound strange. Is everything all right?”
    â€œEverything is fine, Aaron,” she lied. “I think I might be coming down with a cold. What can I do for you today?”
    â€œI’d like you to come into the bank tomorrow if possible. I’ll be free all morning.”
    â€œIs something wrong?”
    â€œI believe so. I don’t like to discuss business over the phone. How does ten o’clock sound?”
    â€œIt’s fine, Aaron. I’ll be there. Do I need to bring anything?”
    â€œBring whatever Logan sent home with you. All the account information and your bankbooks.”
    â€œAll right. I’ll see you at ten.”
    â€œPerhaps we should make it nine instead. There’s a snow advisory tomorrow for midday. These weather people never get it right. Yes, nine is good.”
    â€œThen nine it is.”
    Kristine hung up the phone, a frown building on her face. What exactly did Aaron mean when he said bring everything Logan gave her? Logan hadn’t given her anything. She shrugged. Right now she had more important things on her mind. She beelined for the door, shrugging into her jacket as she raced out to the mailbox. She wanted to howl her misery as she withdrew two catalogs and a bill from Reynolds Propane. She slammed the door of the mailbox so hard it flopped open again. She gave the post a kick as she clicked the metal door to the fastener. “Well, I’ve had enough of this!” she stormed as she raced to the house to get out of the cold. Aaron was right about the snow. It felt like snow right now. She looked upward at the gray scudding clouds. She didn’t need a weatherman to tell her it would snow before the day was over. If she was going to go into town tomorrow, she had to find her father’s old set of chains in case the roads weren’t plowed. She also needed to gather some evergreen branches to make a new centerpiece. Later. Everything these days was always later. She also needed to think about making something for dinner, something that didn’t come out of a box.
    Back in the kitchen, Kristine sat down on the raised hearth, the searing heat warming her back and neck. She hated crying like this, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. Something was wrong. Logan should have been here by now. Morbid thoughts ricocheted inside her head as she sought for reasons why her husband was four days late in returning to the States. Did he have an accident? Was there one last mission? The thought was so stupid she bit down on her lower lip. Logan had never gone on a mission in his entire military career. Amnesia was a possibility. A plane crash. There had been nothing on the news. He stayed longer than intended to party with some of his fellow officers, most of whom he would never see again. That must be it. Maybe he simply lost track of time, missed his flight, and had to wait for a reservation to open up. He would pop in anytime now shouting, “Surprise!” at the top of his lungs.
    It wasn’t going to happen. She didn’t know how she knew, she just knew. Woman’s intuition along with good old gut instinct.
    â€œI’ve had enough of this,” she muttered. Within minutes she had what she called her global address book in hand. Upstairs she had three more just like it, each page filled with names, addresses, and little notes about the people she’d met during twenty years in the military. She flipped the pages to the section marked Germany, running her fingers down the list until she located the names she wanted. As she dialed the country code, she calculated the time difference in her mind. Not that she cared one way or the other.
    The