Angels in the Snow Read Online Free Page B

didn’t seem to take offense, for she laughed also, then tried again.
    On a whim Alex decided to get out of the car. It was probably as cold inside as it was outside, so he might as well stretch his legs. He tossed his smartphone onto the seat, then opened the door and climbed out.
    All around him the small parking lot was hemmed in by towering pines and birch trees. Aside from the occasional car passing on the highway and the laughter of the children by the van, it was amazingly quiet. A good place to play music. Then he remembered that he didn’t have his amp, and his mood fell again.
    Why did his father always have to spoil things? Why did they always have to do what he wanted to do? Go away to the stupid mountains. Leave his amplifier behind.
    Miss the Metallica reunion concert.
    Angry once more, he hopped onto the trunk of the car, feet on the bumper, not caring whether the studs on his jeans might mar the Mercedes’s finish, as his father always claimed.
    He scowled down at his hands, then turned to stare at the noisy kids. The little one was hitting the ice-covered water with a stick. He—or she, Alex couldn’t tell, the way it was bundled up in an old brown hooded coat—gripped the stick with two hands and pressed the pointed end against the ice. In a moment the ice broke and the child’s hands plunged into the water.
    Stupid kid , Alex thought as he watched the child jump back, shaking water from the now-wet ends of the coat sleeves. When the child looked around, as if to see if anyone was watching, Alex realized it was a girl. When she caught him watching her, she grinned, then picked up the stick again. Once more she poked at the ice, but carefully, so as not to get wet again.
    Alex looked away, but at a triumphant shout, his eyes veered back to the kids. The hacky-sack game had taken a different turn, it seemed, for it was the older boy who leaned down to pick up the leather toy.
    â€œI got you that time!” his sister crowed. “What do you think of that, Robbie?”
    The boy grinned and said something, but Alex couldn’t make it out.
    â€œHi.”
    Alex turned his head to find the younger girl standing right in front of him.
    â€œHi.” She was a little bitty thing, with messy curls around her face, and cheeks bright red from the cold. Her hands were red, too. They must be freezing after getting wet.
    â€œWanna play with me?”
    â€œNo.” He stared down at her. “You better go dry off or your fingers will freeze and fall off.”
    She stared at him skeptically but nonetheless glanced down at her hands. Once she was sure all her fingers were there, she stuck one of her hands in her pocket. The other still clutched the stick.
    â€œThey won’t fall off.” She swung the stick aimlessly around her.
    â€œNot now. But after you go to sleep tonight they might.”
    She stopped swinging the stick. She didn’t seem so sure. “How do you know?”
    Alex stifled his smile and forced himself to look grim. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. Bending two of his fingers back, he held his left hand up. “That’s how.”
    With a gasp she jumped back. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and her face lost some of its rosiness. Then she threw the stick away, turned, and ran toward the yellow van.
    â€œHey, watch it!” Alex yelled when the stick hit the trunk next to him. He jumped down from the car, but as she barreled away, his irritation turned to chagrin. “Stupid kid,” he muttered.
    Across the lot the other two children stopped their game at the youngest one’s sudden approach.
    â€œMy fingers!” Alex heard her cry. “They’re gonna fall off!”
    The boy knelt down before her and wrapped her in his arms. Alex couldn’t make out their muffled conversation, but he saw all three of them turn to stare at him.
    Stupid kid, he thought again. Can’t even take a joke. He bent down