Approximately Yours (North Pole, Minnesota #3)(13)

“You’re going,” his mom had said as she put on dangly emerald green earrings. “It’ll be a good distraction. What would you do otherwise? Stay here and play video games?”

Yes, that was what he’d do. Maybe video games were his new purpose in life.

“Maybe you’ll meet someone.” His mom waggled her eyebrows.

“Mom, I just broke up with Star.” And he didn’t trust his judgment. Or his ability to talk to girls. Every time he thought about meeting the two cute girls in Santabucks the other day and how he’d completely blown it with both of them, Danny’s whole body shuddered involuntarily. He was a total dork trapped inside a hot guy’s body. He would be single for the rest of his life.

At the dance, Danny perched himself at a table near the DJ booth, where Craig spun the Christmas tunes.

“Nice suit.” Craig pressed a few keys on his computer like he was the most important person in the room and his DJ-ing abilities were going to solve world hunger or something.

“Thanks.” Danny sipped non-alcoholic eggnog and tried hard not to watch Star and Phil dancing together in the middle of their circle of friends. Thanks a bunch, Mom.

“You look like an eight-year-old about to make his First Communion,” Craig said.

“Are you a fashion critic now?” Danny didn’t tell Craig that he looked like a stereotypical nerd, what with his hiked-up mom jeans and suspenders over a geeky Game of Thrones-themed Christmas T-shirt, because nerdy was the aesthetic Craig strived for. It was completely and utterly him. Danny was the one wearing a costume tonight. Danny was the one pretending to enjoy himself while being forced to watch his ex-girlfriend nuzzle her cheek against her new boyfriend’s neck.

“You should go dance.” Craig flipped to some Mariah Carey song from one of her Christmas albums and everyone in the crowd whooped with glee. Mariah was big around these parts.

This lousy, predictable town. “Crutches, Craig. Remember? You tried to keep me out of the laser tag room last night?”

“Yeah, so why are you being such a wimp now?” He feigned crying, rubbing his fists over his eyes. “‘Boo-hoo! My leg is broken and I’m sad.’”

Danny’s brother Brian came over with a small, unfamiliar blonde on his arm. Danny had never been so happy to see his brother and one of his flavors of the week. Anyone would be better than Craig at this point.

But then Brian said, “You should get out there and dance.”

Traitor.

“That’s what I told him.” Craig rammed a toothpick into one of the cocktail wieners he’d managed to get Dinesh to procure for him.

“Crutches. Cast.” Danny waved an arm toward his leg. “Also”—he pointed to his chest—“recently dumped.”

Brian waved him off. “All the more reason to get out there and work the floor. The Page girls are here.” Brian nodded toward the far corner of the room, where two girls in silly dresses and obvious wigs were heading toward the refreshments.

“The Page girls?” Danny asked.

“Mrs. Page’s granddaughters. They’re in town going through her stuff.”

Danny hadn’t noticed anyone over at Mrs. Page’s house, but then he hadn’t been paying attention. “She was always talking about her granddaughters.” His neighbor had been trying to set Danny up with one of them for years, but they never came back to visit, plus he’d been with Star the whole time.

“Yeah,” Brian said. “And they’re hot.”

The girls turned around, and it was like a spotlight landed on their faces. These were the girls from the coffee shop. “Oh, shit.” He ducked his head down and tried to cover his face.

“What?” Brian said.

“I know them. They came into Santabucks yesterday, and I was a total mess.”

“What did you do?” Now Craig leaned toward Danny and Brian, trying to butt into this conversation, because he was obviously so skilled with the ladies and had much wisdom to impart. Whatever, Craig.

“I don’t know.” Danny’s face warmed just thinking about it. “I thought one of them was flirting with me, so I blurted out that I had a girlfriend, and then the other one kind of looked at me like I was a weirdo.”

“Well, you don’t have a girlfriend anymore,” Brian said.

“And you are a weirdo,” Craig added.

“Thanks, guys.” Danny spotted Star on the dance floor with Phil, the two of them having a great time together, spinning across the floor like tops.

“You should go over and apologize for being a little off yesterday,” Brian said. “Tell them you were going through a breakup, and you didn’t know what you were saying, something like that.”

“Let them see how sad you are,” Craig said. “Girls love a wounded guy. They’ll want to help you. Seduction 101.”

Danny blinked at Craig. “What do you know about seduction?”

“I’ve seen a lot of movies.”

The girls were over by Frank from the hardware store now, talking and laughing with him and Nancy, who owned the bakery. The Page girls were both, objectively, really good looking. Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered them as kids, when they all used to enter the gingerbread contest. They’d been twins, almost, with their long, skinny legs and brown hair. He hadn’t been able to tell them apart back then. They were just Mrs. Page’s granddaughters. Interchangeable.