Love Finds You in Frost Minnesota by Judy Baer Page A

bad, doesn’t it?”
    “You must have your reasons.” She eyed him steadily. “But I’d like company this morning. Will you break your rule just this once?”
    Saying no to Merry was almost impossible, he’d learned. He didn’t know how she managed it and hadn’t seen it coming, but he heard himself say, “Just this once.”
    It was worth it to sit through Christmas carols just to see her face light up.
    The church was a short walk from Merry’s house. As they entered, it seemed that everyone there knew her. They probably did, Jack thought. There were less than two hundred people in this town—he’d read it on the sign when he’d driven in.
    She greeted or hugged every person she met, and people seemed to gravitate to her like the sun. Merry was a people magnet, Jack decided. That was the last thing he’d ever wanted to be.
    It felt like old times sitting in the pew, listening to Pastor Ed speak. The music from the organ, the old songs, the wavering voices of the elderly women in the congregation, the smell of coffee brewing in the basement—it all brought Jack back to his childhood.
    He and Jamie had never been very well behaved in church, much to their parents’ chagrin. Fortunately it seemed to amuse those sitting around them, which only encouraged their misbehaving. More than once, one of them was forced to sit in the back pew by himself. Both couldn’t be sent back there. They’d have far too much fun. In spite of himself, Jack smiled.
    * * * * *
    “Let’s think of something entertaining,” Merry suggested when they returned from church. “Since neither of us works on Sundays, we might as well do something interesting.”
    Jack helped her out of her coat and hung it in the closet. “What did you have in mind?”
    Things were getting rather chummy, Merry thought. They were acting like old marrieds this morning. She wasn’t unhappy with the thought.
    “We can go through the attic. I opened the heat registers so it will be warm up there. What’s better on a snowy afternoon than going through old trunks and attic treasures? Today we’re eating leftovers, so I don’t even have to cook.” She glanced at him. “If you don’t mind, that is.”
    “Leftovers here are a gourmet dinner elsewhere,” Jack said graciously. “But the attic is yours, you don’t have to share it with me.”
    “It’s your family’s history. I’m sure there are things you’ll want once you see them. Besides, I’ll need you to interpret for me. Perhaps we’ll find photographs of your ancestors. Come on, it will be fun!”
    That’s how they found themselves a half hour later, in jeans, bending low over a large antique steamer trunk in a warm, dusty attic, intent on breaking their way into the first of many chests and crates the room had to offer.
    “Are you sure you want to break the lock? Maybe there’s a key around here somewhere. I could look for it,” Merry offered.
    “That might take all day. Besides, I think I can do it without damaging the lock.” Jack leaned his ear close to the padlock and began to move the dial to the right and then the left. In a matter of moments, the lock fell open in his hands.
    “How did you do that?” Merry gasped.
    “I learned it in my former life as a cat burglar.”
    She punched his arm and registered the strong, bunched muscles beneath his shirt.
    “Actually, it was a skill Jamie and I perfected so that we’d have the run of the entire house—ours and everyone else’s, for that matter.”
    “Naughty boy.”
    His smile was sad, as if there were no humor behind his thoughts. “I suppose you could say that.”
    She didn’t pursue it because she didn’t want to sound critical. They were comfortable with each other right now, and that had been something of a rarity during his stay. She wanted to discover who this Jamie was but liked this easy companionship they shared for the moment, so she decided against it.
    Jack lifted the trunk’s lid to reveal a wealth of