Read Online Sleigh Ride (Minnesota Christmas Book 2) by Heidi Cullinan - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Heidi Cullinan
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to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his MLS, but he’d come home to Minnesota as soon as he was finished. He was courted all over the country and especially in the Midwest, but he ignored the offers because the North Woods was where he wanted to be. He wanted to help small libraries, and he was good at it. He’d taken the Logan Public Library from the edge of extinction back to a functioning hub of the community. Stocking its shelves and keeping it solvent was another juggle altogether, but it wasn’t any worse than he expected.
It was, however, lonely.
The day after his evening with Arthur was a typical one. Story time happened every morning. Today was the day the preschool from the Lutheran church came over, so he was bursting at the seams. Today’s lesson was on sharing, but when he saw a familiar pinch-faced grandmother in the back of the room, he got ready for a talking-to after because he’d chosen to use a book with an African-American girl as the protagonist. He could already hear the complaint. “You always pick colored stories. Logan isn’t urban like that.”
Which was exactly why he read so many stories with non-white protagonists. But it was a discussion which never resolved. At the end of the day, Mrs. Gordman and Gabriel disagreed on what was important for a child to learn.
He had the argument with her after story time right on schedule, ending with her once again promising to talk to the board, which he encouraged her to do. Once she left, Gabriel had to endure twenty minutes of aimless chatter from his widowed volunteer before he could escape into his office to do an interlibrary loan comb through while he ate his lunch and chatted with Alex on instant messenger during naptime. After she signed off, he did a tour of the shelves, disinfected the play area and added the new snowflakes made by visiting children to the bulletin board. He had just started putting up the wish list Christmas tree—a little early, but the shopping season would be short this year—when Marcus Gardner came in.
“Hey there.” Marcus looked harried and cold, his cheeks red, his dark hair on end from being run through with his fingers. He wore a suit beneath his wool coat, which was unusual for him. He must have had a trial. “Wanted to talk to you for a minute. Are you free?”
“Of course.” Gabriel turned away from the tree with a smile. “Do you want to go into my office or sit out here?”
“Here’s good.” Marcus pulled out a chair from a table and sat on the edge of it. “I wanted to go over some of this fundraising with you. Frankie’s a little bit excited about the gala idea, and I know Corrina would be down with whatever, but I wasn’t sure what your actual goals were. And then there are the grants.”
Gabriel blinked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What gala? And what grants?”
Marcus ran a hand over his beard. “Yeah. This is what I was afraid of.”
Marcus detailed an elaborate Christmas fundraiser, Santa-driven sleigh rides included, yes, but with dinner and hairstyling and ballroom dance lessons. “I don’t know what you’re looking for, though. I assume this is a generalized attempt to boost the bank account, but I thought it’d be worth checking to see if you had specific goals. Because we’re thinking of inviting some of our friends up from the cities, and Frankie’s parents could get a lot of traffic from Duluth. Did you want to do some kind of book drive? Get more movies? I know you’re pretty much the DVD rental hub now. We could tailor this in a million ways. I wanted to know your preferences before Frankie got his teeth in something.”
Gabriel dragged himself out from the onslaught of possibility. “Can I do a little research and get back to you?”
“Oh, absolutely.” He looked rueful. “Sorry it’s taken us all this long to do our civic duty. Can’t believe it was Arthur who started it all up. What’d you do to him?”
Gabriel beat
It was, however, lonely.
The day after his evening with Arthur was a typical one. Story time happened every morning. Today was the day the preschool from the Lutheran church came over, so he was bursting at the seams. Today’s lesson was on sharing, but when he saw a familiar pinch-faced grandmother in the back of the room, he got ready for a talking-to after because he’d chosen to use a book with an African-American girl as the protagonist. He could already hear the complaint. “You always pick colored stories. Logan isn’t urban like that.”
Which was exactly why he read so many stories with non-white protagonists. But it was a discussion which never resolved. At the end of the day, Mrs. Gordman and Gabriel disagreed on what was important for a child to learn.
He had the argument with her after story time right on schedule, ending with her once again promising to talk to the board, which he encouraged her to do. Once she left, Gabriel had to endure twenty minutes of aimless chatter from his widowed volunteer before he could escape into his office to do an interlibrary loan comb through while he ate his lunch and chatted with Alex on instant messenger during naptime. After she signed off, he did a tour of the shelves, disinfected the play area and added the new snowflakes made by visiting children to the bulletin board. He had just started putting up the wish list Christmas tree—a little early, but the shopping season would be short this year—when Marcus Gardner came in.
“Hey there.” Marcus looked harried and cold, his cheeks red, his dark hair on end from being run through with his fingers. He wore a suit beneath his wool coat, which was unusual for him. He must have had a trial. “Wanted to talk to you for a minute. Are you free?”
“Of course.” Gabriel turned away from the tree with a smile. “Do you want to go into my office or sit out here?”
“Here’s good.” Marcus pulled out a chair from a table and sat on the edge of it. “I wanted to go over some of this fundraising with you. Frankie’s a little bit excited about the gala idea, and I know Corrina would be down with whatever, but I wasn’t sure what your actual goals were. And then there are the grants.”
Gabriel blinked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What gala? And what grants?”
Marcus ran a hand over his beard. “Yeah. This is what I was afraid of.”
Marcus detailed an elaborate Christmas fundraiser, Santa-driven sleigh rides included, yes, but with dinner and hairstyling and ballroom dance lessons. “I don’t know what you’re looking for, though. I assume this is a generalized attempt to boost the bank account, but I thought it’d be worth checking to see if you had specific goals. Because we’re thinking of inviting some of our friends up from the cities, and Frankie’s parents could get a lot of traffic from Duluth. Did you want to do some kind of book drive? Get more movies? I know you’re pretty much the DVD rental hub now. We could tailor this in a million ways. I wanted to know your preferences before Frankie got his teeth in something.”
Gabriel dragged himself out from the onslaught of possibility. “Can I do a little research and get back to you?”
“Oh, absolutely.” He looked rueful. “Sorry it’s taken us all this long to do our civic duty. Can’t believe it was Arthur who started it all up. What’d you do to him?”
Gabriel beat
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