our shop doors, we now have an indoor and an outdoor security camera, and I’ve set up a neighborhood watch. I’m not going to let anyone steal away our Christmas!”
A NDI ROSE AT the crack of dawn and rushed to the grocery store for some extra food coloring, candy canes, sugar sprinkles, and cinnamon red-hots. Next, she rushed to the post office to mail her Christmas cards, only to remember it was Sunday, and the post office wasn’t open. Then she rushed to the variety shop on the corner to pick up a few last-minute gifts to add to the ones in the Cupcake Mobile.
She was beginning to see why Guy thought Christmas was the season of stress with all the shopping, buying, wrapping, decorating, baking, not enough time in the day, rush, rush, rush. To add to the craziness, someone backed into her in the parking lot and dented her car. How cliché.
She and the other driver exchanged phone numbers and insurance information, but the experience took her out of her “Joy to the World” mood.
“Merry Christmas!” Andi muttered under her breath, as her car’s assailant drove away.
Beside her, Mia put her hands together in a clap—clap, clap, clap—clap rhythm and chanted, “Who let the Grinch out? Who! Who!”
Andi recognized the tune, although the words had been changed. “Are you implying I sound like a Grinch?”
Mia nodded, and Andi resolved to change her attitude. If she and Jake decided to move, she didn’t want to remember this Christmas in a negative way. No, she wanted to hear the “resounding joy” as the children opened their packages and see the look of wonder on their angelic faces.
However, “angelic” would not be the word she’d use to describe the expressions of Mike, Rachel, Stacey, Jake, and Kim when she drove up to the Cupcake Mobile. They were all there.
But the gifts were not.
Chapter Seven
----
Christmas is a time when you get homesick—even when you’re home.
—Carol Nelson
“H OW COULD THE gifts be stolen?” Andi demanded, circling the truck. “How did they break in?”
“Through the passenger side window,” Mike pointed. “Whoever did this smashed the glass to smithereens.”
Rachel handed her a piece of paper. “Look what he left.”
“ ‘Compliments of the Grinch,’ ” Andi read. She spun around and glanced at the big, green, hairy Grinch cartoon painted on the front of their shop window. “He must have got the ‘Grinch’ idea from us! Kim, why didn’t you wash that off?”
“People like it, and besides, whoever vandalized the shop and stole the gifts is probably the same person.”
“A person who thinks he’s funny,” Rachel said with a frown and glanced at Stacey.
Stacey’s eyes widened at the silent accusation, but she didn’t say a word. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip.
“Did the security camera pick anything up?” Andi asked.
Mike shook his head. “The camera we installed outside the shop faces the front of the building, not the street.”
“What about Guy?” Andi looked at each of their faces. “Did you ask if he saw anything? Or if any of the other local business owners noticed anything odd?”
“No,” Kim told her. “No one saw anything.”
The full impact of the situation hit Andi with brute force, and she suddenly felt sick. “What are we going to do? I can’t let all those kids down.”
Jake closed the open doors on the back of the Cupcake Mobile. “We can start collecting new presents.”
“Ask everyone to donate again? How can I guarantee they’ll be delivered?” Andi thought of all those poor foster kids without a gift on Christmas day, and she ran and threw up in the bushes.
This was all her fault. She’d been too confident when telling Ian that no thief would be able to steal from them. Why, anyone who had overheard her would have considered it an open invitation.
I’m not going to let anyone steal away our Christmas!
Mia was right. All this holiday craziness was turning her
A NDI ROSE AT the crack of dawn and rushed to the grocery store for some extra food coloring, candy canes, sugar sprinkles, and cinnamon red-hots. Next, she rushed to the post office to mail her Christmas cards, only to remember it was Sunday, and the post office wasn’t open. Then she rushed to the variety shop on the corner to pick up a few last-minute gifts to add to the ones in the Cupcake Mobile.
She was beginning to see why Guy thought Christmas was the season of stress with all the shopping, buying, wrapping, decorating, baking, not enough time in the day, rush, rush, rush. To add to the craziness, someone backed into her in the parking lot and dented her car. How cliché.
She and the other driver exchanged phone numbers and insurance information, but the experience took her out of her “Joy to the World” mood.
“Merry Christmas!” Andi muttered under her breath, as her car’s assailant drove away.
Beside her, Mia put her hands together in a clap—clap, clap, clap—clap rhythm and chanted, “Who let the Grinch out? Who! Who!”
Andi recognized the tune, although the words had been changed. “Are you implying I sound like a Grinch?”
Mia nodded, and Andi resolved to change her attitude. If she and Jake decided to move, she didn’t want to remember this Christmas in a negative way. No, she wanted to hear the “resounding joy” as the children opened their packages and see the look of wonder on their angelic faces.
However, “angelic” would not be the word she’d use to describe the expressions of Mike, Rachel, Stacey, Jake, and Kim when she drove up to the Cupcake Mobile. They were all there.
But the gifts were not.
Chapter Seven
----
Christmas is a time when you get homesick—even when you’re home.
—Carol Nelson
“H OW COULD THE gifts be stolen?” Andi demanded, circling the truck. “How did they break in?”
“Through the passenger side window,” Mike pointed. “Whoever did this smashed the glass to smithereens.”
Rachel handed her a piece of paper. “Look what he left.”
“ ‘Compliments of the Grinch,’ ” Andi read. She spun around and glanced at the big, green, hairy Grinch cartoon painted on the front of their shop window. “He must have got the ‘Grinch’ idea from us! Kim, why didn’t you wash that off?”
“People like it, and besides, whoever vandalized the shop and stole the gifts is probably the same person.”
“A person who thinks he’s funny,” Rachel said with a frown and glanced at Stacey.
Stacey’s eyes widened at the silent accusation, but she didn’t say a word. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip.
“Did the security camera pick anything up?” Andi asked.
Mike shook his head. “The camera we installed outside the shop faces the front of the building, not the street.”
“What about Guy?” Andi looked at each of their faces. “Did you ask if he saw anything? Or if any of the other local business owners noticed anything odd?”
“No,” Kim told her. “No one saw anything.”
The full impact of the situation hit Andi with brute force, and she suddenly felt sick. “What are we going to do? I can’t let all those kids down.”
Jake closed the open doors on the back of the Cupcake Mobile. “We can start collecting new presents.”
“Ask everyone to donate again? How can I guarantee they’ll be delivered?” Andi thought of all those poor foster kids without a gift on Christmas day, and she ran and threw up in the bushes.
This was all her fault. She’d been too confident when telling Ian that no thief would be able to steal from them. Why, anyone who had overheard her would have considered it an open invitation.
I’m not going to let anyone steal away our Christmas!
Mia was right. All this holiday craziness was turning her
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