Free Welcome to Icicle Falls by Sheila Roberts

Prologue
    Love and BFFs
    W HO DIDN ’ T LIKE A COOKIE EXCHANGE ? Well, other than a surly teenager.
    Muriel Sterling-Wittman’s little house was filled with friends and the aroma of hot chocolate. And every inch of space on her dining room table was covered with plates of cookies—cookies smothered in frosting, cookies oozing chocolate, cookies with gumdrops peeking out like colored gems. Scented candles added to the good smells, and the room buzzed with conversation as three generations of Icicle Falls residents swapped recipes and gossip.
    In one corner Olivia Wallace was making a face over some cheeky remark her friend Dot Morrison had just made. Muriel’s daughters were gathered around the punch bowl, which was full of eggnog punch, while Janice Lind, the grand old dame of Christmas baking, was holding court on Muriel’s sofa with Muriel, her friend Pat Wilder and Pat’s daughter Isabel keeping her company. Some of the younger girls were hovering over the table, sneaking cookies.
    Normally Pat’s fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Clara, would have been with them, but right now she sat in a chair with her back to the group, scowling like a miniature Scrooge in drag. This was a first. Pat had been bringing her granddaughter to Muriel’s cookie exchanges ever since she was five. And she’d always been excited to be there, happy to play with the other little girls whose mothers had deemed them worthy of the privilege of attending. Instead, here she sat, the expression on her face as dark as her hair.
    â€œWhy don’t you go hang out with the girls?” asked Pat.
    â€œNo, thanks.” Clara shot a dagger glare over to where the other girls were gathered in a giggling clump. All except for one, who was sneaking anxious looks in Clara’s direction.
    Pat and Muriel exchanged glances.
    â€œShe and Aurora are having issues,” Isabel, her mother, explained.
    Muriel’s daughters Cecily and Bailey had joined them now, leaving Samantha in charge of the punch bowl. Cecily helped Muriel’s oldest daughter, Samantha, run Sweet Dreams Chocolates, the family’s chocolate company, and Bailey owned a successful tea shop in town. All three of them were happily settled with the right man now and busy with work, and Cecily was expecting a baby in February. But they always gave the cookie exchange top priority.
    â€œI need this recipe,” Bailey announced, holding up a chocolate cookie filled with candied cherries. She smiled at the scowling Clara and said, “You look like you need chocolate.”
    Clara shrugged.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Bailey asked.
    â€œNothing,” Clara muttered.
    Now one of the other girls had drifted over, a pretty girl with strawberry-blond hair and freckles, Clara’s best friend, Aurora.
    Make that former best friend, judging by the way Clara turned her back. “Go away. I’m not talking to you.”
    Tears sprang to Aurora’s eyes. “Please don’t be mad, Clara. It’s not
my
fault Garth likes me now.”
    â€œYes, it is. You stole him. He liked me first.”
    â€œAnd so now you’re not speaking to her,” Bailey deduced.
    â€œShe stole him,” Clara hissed, in case they’d missed that piece of vital information the first time.
    â€œWe’ve been down that road,” Cecily said, and put an arm around her sister. “It was a dumb road. Especially considering how well things worked out.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Aurora asked, settling onto the couch next to Muriel.
    â€œI mean Bailey and I both wanted the same man. But in the end, we each got the person we were meant to be with.”
    â€œWell, I was meant to be with Garth,” Clara said, her scowl deepening.”
    Pat smiled. “Yes, I understand those feelings. You know, I thought I was meant to be with someone once and my best friend got him.”
    â€œWho was that?” asked Clara, forgetting