Read Snow Falling on Bluegrass for Free Online Page A

warm and fed until this blows over.”
    â€œI never thought I would say this, but God bless bureaucracy,” Sadie said with a sigh.
    â€œUh, Sadie, we work for the state government. We are the bureaucracy,” I reminded her.
    â€œYeah, the functional, subversive part,” she insisted.
    I glanced down at the multichapter, color-coded binder Sadie was clutching like a lifeline. “Oh, yeah, you’re a rebel.”
    Sadie’s no-doubt scathing retort was cut off when our multimedia historian, Bonnie, and her boyfriend, Will McBride, came stomping through the front entrance, shivering. “We’re here! We made it!” Bonnie saw me and winced. “And I forgot to return your text. I’m sorry. But hey, as you can see, we’re okay!”
    I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and rushed to Bonnie, throwing my arms around her. I heard Josh tell Sadie, “When we get back to the office, I think we need to have a remedial session on appropriate employee cell phone use and etiquette.”
    â€œSorry, I suck.” Bonnie sighed. “I owe you a Maple Bourbon Bacon cupcake from Sweet Eats.”
    â€œDarn right you do,” I said, squeezing her before making a sour face at Will. “And you brought a stray.”
    â€œNice.” He chuckled, slinging an arm around my shoulders. “You know you love me.”
    â€œI am mildly fond of you, but only because you make this one happy.”
    Bonnie pinked up prettily, while Will pressed a kiss to her temple. I rolled my eyes. The truth was, I liked Will, a lot. He was just irreverent and no-nonsense enough to balance out Bonnie’s cockeyed optimism. He and Bonnie had a courtship almost as tumultuous as Sadie and Josh’s. Bonnie had journeyed to his dying backwater town, Mud Creek, to salvage museum pieces from his family’s music and dance hall for one of her multimedia exhibits. But when she found evidence that a historically significant blues song had been inspired and written about a local girl right there in the music hall, she overstepped ever so slightly and had the hall declared a landmark. The location’s landmark status derailed Will’s negotiations with a company that was interested in building a factory there, which would have been a major employer. Losing a potential large source of jobs for the town was something Will did not appreciate in the slightest. Thanks to some clever maneuvering on Bonnie’s part, she’d managed to convert the music hall into a museum while drawing in the much-needed factory. And now, because it seemed she could function only when he was within a ten-foot radius, Bonnie spent her time commuting between the Frankfort offices and Will’s place.
    Sadie was blurring the lines in inviting Will to participate in the KCT retreat. She justified what was obviously a favor to Bonnie by saying he could provide valuable “municipal insight” from the perspective of the government officials in the communities where we staged events. Personally, I think Sadie knew Bonnie was far more likely to actually get to the lodge if Will drove. His “not having trucks burn up on the side of a rural interstate” record was far more impressive than Bonnie’s.
    Like Sadie, Bonnie was unaware of my separation from Darrell. Like Sadie, she hated Darrell as much as her Disney-princess ass was capable of hating anyone. But also like Sadie with Josh, she was wrapped up in a love burrito with her handsome backwoods politician. She wouldn’t be a lot of help.
    â€œWow, it’s really coming down out there,” Bonnie said, shuddering under her heavy denim jacket.
    â€œIt’s just a little sleet,” Gina scoffed. “I don’t see why everybody’s making such a big deal out of it.”
    â€œNo, it’s freezing rain, which is worse, in terms of road conditions and strain on power lines,” Charlie noted, stepping