Love Finds You in Frost Minnesota by Judy Baer Page B

relaxed affair until Merry glanced at the clock. “I’d better get going or I’ll be late.” She began to shrug into her winter coat and tucked her feet into her boots. “Relax. Take your time. There’s more coffee.”
    She wrapped a lengthy red scarf around her neck and grabbed her canvas bag. “See you tonight?”
    “Yes. If you’re sure, that is . . .”
    “Ancient history. Have a good day.” Merry scratched Peppy’s head and closed the door behind her.
    Whistling softly, she buckled herself into the driver’s seat of her car and turned the key in the ignition. Nothing.
    She tried again, paying more attention this time. Still nothing. Frowning, she glanced around the interior and her gaze settled on the passenger door. It was ajar. Her battery was dead.
    Merry raced back into the house at twice the speed she’d left it. Jack was still at the kitchen table drinking coffee and scratching behind Peppy’s ear. The dog appeared hypnotized as he rested his chin on Jack’s leg. More surprising was the fact that the cat was sleeping in the sun at Jack’s feet.
    “What’s wrong?” Jack straightened in his chair, and Peppy gave Merry a disgusted look.
    “I left my car door open last night. I was carrying groceries in and must not have closed it fully. I’m supposed to be at school in twenty minutes!”
    “I’ll drive you. Then I’ll come back and get your battery charged. Let me know what time you want to be picked up after school.”
    “You can’t do that!”
    “Why not? I know how to drive.” He sounded amused.
    “You’ve got work to do. You shouldn’t have to bother with me.”
    Jack put his hands on Merry’s shoulders to stop her from spinning around the room like a top. “I’ll drive you,” he pronounced each word slowly, as if speaking to an upset child. “Please. I’d like to help you. I’d feel better if you’d let me.”
    Merry grew still. That, she understood. “Well, if you’d feel better . . .”
    “I’ll get my jacket and my keys.”
    * * * * *
    Merry squirmed in her seat all the way to Blue Earth. “I’ll have a tow truck come out and jump the car. There’s no use having you bother with it.”
    “No bother. Don’t spend the money.”
    That seemed to register with her. Money, he’d realized, was fairly limited in Merry’s world. It never had been in his.
    “But how . . .”
    “Don’t worry. I was a teenage boy once. I know a lot about cars. I took a few apart and put them back together in my day.”
    She looked thoughtful, as if she were trying to imagine it. It struck Jack how attractive she was. He’d been turned inward so long that it really hadn’t fully registered earlier. Her features were delicate, her skin porcelain, like peaches-and-cream. There was a fragility about her that was easy to forget because of her outgoing personality. The sunlight filtered through her pale golden hair, and it haloed around her head. She chewed on her rosy lower lip. Jack found it very endearing.
    “It still seems like a lot to ask.”
    He pulled up to the sidewalk near the school. He’d gotten to know the town very well in the past few days. As Merry was about to swing her legs out of the car, a little girl with golden curls and remarkable blue eyes came dashing toward them.
    “Miss Blake, Miss Blake!”
    The child was a study in contrasts, Jack realized. Her face was truly lovely, the kind of child one sees on television commercials and print ads, but her clothing looked as though it had been worn too many times and by too many children. And her eyes were filled with tears.
    “What’s wrong, sweetie?” Merry asked when the little girl nearly crumpled into her lap.
    “My mommy and daddy are in trouble ’cause we don’t have a house to live in.” Pools of tears welled in the child’s blue eyes and began to leak down her cheeks. “I want to be with my mommy and daddy!”
    “Who says you can’t?” Merry’s voice was clipped and angry.
    “Miss Lori. She told