Snowmen In Paradise (Book 2 Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries) by Kathi Daley Page B

it interferes with my timing. I’m thinking about ditching it when we get to the competition.”
    “As you r coach, I am indisputably telling you not to ditch the brace. You may be off your personal best, but your times are good, and we wouldn’t want to risk another injury.”
    “ Okay.”
    Tj knew Jilli was disappointed that her knee was holding her back, but the last thing she needed to do was risk a much more serious injury. Tj had seen too many careers destroyed before they ever got started due to an overzealous rehab schedule.
    “ Let’s go over our schedule for tomorrow, and then you’re all free to go home and get a good night’s sleep.”
    “Aw, come on , Coach,” Gary whined. “It’s the weekend and Valentine’s Day. There are a couple of parties around town. A bunch of us were planning to hang, maybe try to pick up depressed girls who find themselves dateless on the ultimate date night.”
    “We’re meeting at the base of Grizzly Run at nine,” Tj reminded him . “If you use up all your energy ‘hanging,’ you’ll be worthless tomorrow.”
    “Coach is right,” Conn or added. “We can party after we win this thing.”
    “Look who’s a teacher ’s pet,” Gary teased.
    “Dude, I have a scholarship on the line. My parents don’t have the bank yours do. If I don’t get a free ride, I’m working for my dad in the grocery store.”
    “I agree with Conn or,” Brittany chimed in. “I need a free ride as badly as he does, and we need your help to get the points, so how about it?”
    “Yeah, okay,” everyone muttered .
    Tj knew she’d made a good choice when she’d made Conn or and Brittany team captains. Not only were they the strongest athletes but they had the respect of the entire team and, more often than not, were able to make headway when Tj couldn’t. She was going to miss them both when they graduated and went off to college. Being a teacher inevitably meant annual good-byes, but over the years there had been a few students who managed to worm their way into Tj’s heart just a bit more than the others.
     
    By the time the county plow service had finished clearing the roads, walls of snow almost six feet in height lined the narrow mountain road connecting Maggie’s Hideaway, on the west bank of Paradise Lake, to the town of Serenity to the north. As Tj turned onto the private road leading up to the resort, she slowed to navigate the icy conditions. Making a slight right-hand turn toward the lodge, she swerved to avoid a pair of coyotes that had run in front of her and then disappeared behind the embankment. She slowed as she made her way through the village, which consisted of a general store, an ice-cream shop, a bike and ski rental shop, and a single-pump gas station. If you included the marina and horse stable, Maggie’s Hideaway was the largest resort on Paradise Lake.
    Tj loved Maggie’s Hideaway . She’d gone off to college, like most of her friends, but unlike many of them, she’d returned to Paradise Lake, where she intended to live out her life, hopefully with her prince charming, who had yet to make himself known. Although Tj loved her job at the high school, she knew in her heart that one day she’d fulfill her destiny and take over the reins of the resort, the way her dad had taken over from her grandfather. But her dad was young and healthy, affording her plenty of time to do what she loved best: coaching and mentoring Paradise Lake’s youth.
    Parking her 4Runner near the back service entrance, she pulled on her fuzzy blue mittens and stepped out into the clear night air. There was nothing quite as beautiful as the night sky after a storm. Billions of stars twinkled brightly as the moon shone down on the glassy lake beyond the lodge. Her grandfather had first purchased the land where the resort now sat more than fifty years earlier. He’d never been one for the hustle and bustle of the big city, so after his dad died, he’d taken the money he’d inherited