Read Online Christmas In Snowflake Canyon by RaeAnne Thayne - Free Book Online Page B

accident that had actually resulted in the death of one of his friends, William had been unable to prevent him from pleading guilty. Charlie had served several months at a youth corrections facility, and Laura hadn’t spoken to her husband for weeks.
Now both of their children had been embroiled in legal difficulties. She imagined Laura found it much easier to pretend the whole thing hadn’t happened.
    “I don’t believe it’s that simple, Mother,” Gen said. “It’s court-mandated. I have to show up or I could go to jail.”
    Laura pouted. “Well, what am I supposed to tell Clarissa? She’s expecting us.”
    How about the truth? That you see the world only the way you want to see it?
    “Tell her I have another obligation I couldn’t escape. I’m sure she’ll understand.”
    Laura gave a frustrated little huff. “I was looking so forward to finding a moment to catch up with you. We hardly talk when you call from France. I can’t say I agreed with your father’s decision to cut you off financially. I tried my best to talk him out of it. I told him you were having a wonderful time in Paris, that you needed this time and why shouldn’t you take it? As usual, he wouldn’t listen to me. You know how he can
    be when he’s in a mood. Still, I told myself at least this would give me the chance to spend a little more time with you, darling.”
    Her parents drove her crazy sometimes…she couldn’t deny that. These past two years away had helped her see their failings more clearly, but she still loved them.
    “I’m sorry. I wish I could go,” she said, not untruthfully.
    “I understand. You have to do what you must. I’ll see if I can reschedule for tomorrow.”
    “Mother, I’ll be going to the center tomorrow, too. And the day after that.”
    “Every day?”
    Laura obviously didn’t quite grasp the concept of a commuted sentence. “I have a hundred hours of community service to complete in only a few weeks. Yes, I’ll probably be going every day between now and Christmas.”
    “This is what happens when you decided not to have your father represent you. He could have had the whole misunderstanding thrown out.”
    Like Charlie’s little “misunderstanding” that had killed one girl and severely injured another? William had been helpless to fix that situation. Charlie had taken full responsibility for his actions and had come out of his time in youth corrections a different young man, no longer sullen and angry.
    “It’s done now,” she said. “I’m sorry, Mother, but I really need to go or I’ll be late for my first day.”
    “Well, will you come back to the house instead of staying in this horrible place? Then I would at least have a chance to catch up with you in the evenings.”
    Again, her mother saw what she wanted to.
    “I can’t. My evenings will be spent here, trying to do what I can to prepare this house for sale. Dad didn’t give me any other choice.”
    “He has your best interests at heart, my dear. You know that, don’t you?”
    “He might have thought he did. We have differing opinions on what the best thing for me might be.”
    Not that anything was new there. Her father had notoriously found her lacking in just about every arena. He thought she had been wasting her time to obtain a degree in interior design, nor could he see any point in the sewing she had always loved or the riding lessons she tolerated.
    The only time either of her parents seemed to approve of her had been during her engagement.
    “Will you at least go to dinner with us this weekend? With Charlie back in California for his finals week, the house is too quiet.”
    “I’ll try,” she promised. She ushered her mother out with a kiss on the cheek and firmly closed the door, practically in her face.
    After Laura drove away, Genevieve hurriedly grabbed one of the totes she loved to make and headed out the door, fighting down a whirl of butterflies in her stomach.
    For two days, she had been having