Read Mayhem in Christmas River: A Christmas Cozy Mystery (Christmas River Cozy, Book 2) for Free Online

of them and enjoyed taking in the fresh air while they pulled me along a trail.
    When I got to the little beige and yellow office, I was saddened to find out that Hubert, a St. Bernard mix that had wound up at the shelter when his owners left town, had been adopted out. Of course, the news made me happy. He was going to finally get the loving home he deserved. But Hubert had also been one of my favorite dogs to walk. He had a giant head with folding skin that made him look like an old man. He was one fuzzy, teddy bear of a dog. I had thought about adopting him at one point, but realized once I started down that road, dogs would be running wild all over my house.
    But it made me sad that I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him.
    Instead of walking Hubert like I usually did, I walked a scruffy Shih Tzu that the ladies working at the shelter had named Mr. Crawley.
    I could only imagine what Warren would have said if he saw me walking the small, scruffy-looking pooch.
    No doubt he’d shake his head at the creature and say something like, You call that a dog?
    But Warren wasn’t the one volunteering with the Humane Society. I was, so I took Mr. Crawley out for a long walk along a paved path that ran through the woods. He didn’t seem all that happy to have my company and he kept tugging on the leash.
    I stopped at the bridge for a while and looked down at The Christmas River, watching the late afternoon sun dance across the surface as it glided beneath the bridge.
    I thought of Daniel, and how we had met on that bridge once last year when he almost left Christmas River for good.
    And even though the harsh summer sun was beating down hard on me, I felt my skin break out in goose bumps.
    I picked up the pace and brought Mr. Crawley back to the office, and watched as one of the receptionists walked the tired Shih Tzu back to his cage.
    Then I drove home, calling Kara on the way. The call went straight to voicemail. I called John and left him a message telling him if she needed anything to call me, and that I’d swing by in the morning to see how she was doing.
    When I got home, Warren wasn’t there. He’d left a note saying he was down at the tavern, and that Larry would give him a ride home.
    I thought about walking down and joining him, but then decided against it.
    I wasn’t going to be good company tonight. Nobody would be able to put a dent in my bad mood.
    But a couple of glasses of white wine might.
     

Chapter 11
     
    I changed into a comfortable pair of shorts and a tank top, and went for the fridge. I poured myself a big glass of white wine and then put one of Warren’s old Johnny Cash records on. I only drank white wine on the few occasions when I was feeling miserable, and I only listened to Johnny Cash when I was feeling low.
    I hadn’t done either in a long, long time.
    I went outside to the patio, left the screen door open so the music would drift out, and took a seat in one of the Adirondack chairs that faced the woods bordering our yard. 
    Despite my depressed state, it was a lovely evening. Usually here in the woods of Central Oregon, it still got cold at night during the summers. But it had gotten so hot that day, the earth was still warm and kept the air a nice temperature, even as night fell around me. There was a warm breeze, too, and stars were beginning to pop out of the fading sky. 
    I took a big gulp of my wine, the first acidic taste hitting me hard. I looked out at the trees in the distance lightly swaying in the gentle breeze, and I listened to the sound of the crickets humming softly, and I tried to think about something else other than Daniel.
    But of course, that proved to be impossible.
    I couldn’t stop thinking about that look he had given me earlier. And I couldn’t believe how much things had changed just in the last 24 hours.
    We had talked after the fire, but about nothing much more than that. They were still investigating what caused it.
    I couldn’t find the right words or