Free Welcome to Icicle Falls by Sheila Roberts Page B

brought along cute boys. Some of them even returned to stay, opening up shops. Like Dale Holdsworth, who opened Kringle Mart and imported snow globes and handblown ornaments from Germany to sell to people who came to check out the newly minted tourist village. And Andy Marks, who started a small wood-carving shop, and Gerhardt Geissel, who built Gerhardt’s Gasthaus. The Mountain Inn got a face-lift and a new name—the Bavarian Inn.
    By the time Muriel was in high school, the student body had nearly doubled in size. Now it was up to a whopping hundred and forty-eight students. Thirty-two of them, including Muriel and her friends, were seniors that year.
    â€œWe may have more boys than we used to,” Olivia said, “but most of them are underclassmen. Who’s there in our class to choose from?”
    For Muriel? No one matched the man of her dreams, the man she hoped would someday come into her life. Waiting for a perfect man seemed silly to her friends, but she was a big believer in true love. And in dreams. Her grandmother had dreamed an entire company into being, so Muriel had no doubt she could find the man she’d envisioned—someone dashing and romantic, who would make her heart skip a beat.
    â€œThere’s Arnie Amundsen,” Muriel suggested. For Olivia, not her. Arnie was skinny and wore glasses but he was sweet. Olivia could do a lot worse.
    â€œHe’s got a crush on you,” Olivia said.
    â€œEverybody’s got a crush on Muriel,” Pat added in mock disgust.
    â€œThat is a gross overstatement,” Muriel said.
    Pat complained about being tall. She hated her auburn hair and lamented on a regular basis that she wasn’t blonde like Olivia or a brunette like Muriel. Still, she’d had her share of invitations to the senior prom, which had taken place the week before. Muriel had gone with Arnie. Just as friends, she’d reminded him.
    She wished he’d asked Olivia. Olivia had ended up with Gerald Parker, who’d wanted her to go all the way. They’d come close but she’d chickened out at the last minute. Now she was regretting her decision because Gerald was ignoring her, making her last week of school miserable. He’d enlisted in the marines, though, and would soon be gone. Muriel was secretly relieved. Of course, she didn’t want anything bad to happen to Gerald, but it was best to remove temptation from Olivia.
    â€œThere’s Hank Carp,” said Pat.
    Muriel frowned. “He’s a hood.”
    â€œBut he’s a cute hood,” Olivia said.
    That was all Olivia needed, to get tangled up with Hank.
    â€œI’d take him,” Olivia continued, “except he likes Stephie.”
    â€œShe’s fast,” Muriel said.
    â€œThat’s probably why he likes her,” Olivia muttered.
    â€œAnyway,” Pat went on, “that man is going nowhere. You can do better.”
    â€œI don’t think so,” Olivia said. “Nobody wants a fat girl.”
    â€œYou’re not fat,” Muriel insisted. “You’re—”
    â€œCurvy,” Pat supplied. “And boys like curves.”
    â€œNo,” Olivia corrected her. “Boys like Muriel. I bet you’ll be married by the time you’re twenty.”
    Muriel shook her head. “Not if my father has anything to say about it.” She sighed. “He’s got my whole life planned.”
    â€œYeah, well, it’s tough having a family chocolate factory,” Pat said. “Poor girl. You’ll have to work there, get rich and eat all the chocolate you want.” She and Olivia giggled.
    â€œI don’t mind working there, doing fun things like helping with recipes or answering phones. I just don’t want to run the place. I want to get married and have a family.”
    â€œAnd be a famous writer,” Olivia reminded her. “Did you hear back from
Seventeen
yet?”
    The rejection letter for her article,