Approximately Yours (North Pole, Minnesota #3)(31)

She concentrated hard on her gingerbread house after that, and when the two hours were up, she folded her arms and stood next to her creation. This was why she was here. This was the whole point of everything.

Danny had taken the hint. He’d stopped trying to talk to her, as well. Holly kept her focus on the mayor and the judges as they worked the room, assessing every gingerbread construction.

The mayor cleared his throat, clapped for attention, and waited until all eyes were on him. The townies in the room knew to quiet down right away. The tourists took a moment to settle. “Wonderful work, everyone. You’ve made our job very difficult. My fellow judges and I can’t wait to see what you have to offer us in the way of showstoppers on Christmas Eve. Without further ado, in third place tonight…Tinka Foster.”

Tinka folded her arms, scowling, while her boyfriend tried to console her. He whispered something in her ear that made her smile. Holly had to look away. Her mind had pictured Danny doing the same to her, leaning close, the tip of his nose tickling her ear. A foolish pipedream. He liked Elda. Plus, she and Danny were polar opposites—the fun, sweet, popular guy and the introverted loner. Even if Elda weren’t in the picture, Danny and Holly could never happen.

“In second place…” The mayor’s eyes twinkled. “Santabucks’s own, Danny Garland.”

Holly checked on Danny out of the corner of her eye. He was frowning, disappointed. Danny Garland didn’t do second place. Holly fought the urge to lean over and whisper a joke to him—something about how it looked like Dinesh has slathered on his royal icing with a shovel, something she would’ve texted him if she’d had Elda’s phone—but she didn’t. Danny and Holly didn’t have that kind of relationship. To him she was just some random relative of the girl he liked.

Turning away from Danny, she lifted her chin. The mayor hadn’t yet announced first place, and Holly was definitely in the running. Though she’d been slightly distracted by Danny during the competition, Holly had done her best. The walls of her gingerbread house were straight, the decorations looked good, and her lines were clean. She crossed her fingers and sent a telepathic message to her grandmother, wherever she might be.

“In first place tonight, we have…” The mayor paused dramatically.

Holly crossed her fingers harder.

“Holly Page!” the mayor said.

Her knees went weak. She grabbed the lip of the table to stay upright as the room erupted in applause, Danny among them. He was eyeing her curiously. “Good job,” he said. “I guess I should watch out for you. If you were able to get that good at building a gingerbread house in one day…”

He trailed off into awkward silence. She battled the force pushing her toward him. This was a moment where it’d be totally normal to hug, for catharsis, in solidarity. They’d spent the past two hours working next to each other. They were friends…sort of. But Holly wasn’t sure she could survive a hug.

She started gathering her things, cleaning up her table, trying to look busy, and Danny did the same, all in silence. Just as she was finishing up, Craig came over. Holly never imagined she’d be so happy to see a guy who’d once tackled her over a box of candy bars.

“What’s up, Craig?” she asked cheerfully.

Craig stood in front of her and Danny in his shapeless, high-rise jeans and a geeky Christmas sweatshirt—some Dr. Who joke Holly only knew by osmosis. “A bunch of us are going to the arcade for pizza. It’s tradition. Wanna come?”

“I don’t know.” She’d been planning to work on her showstopper. She really needed to get started on that, especially now that she had a shot to win.

“Usually we only invite locals.” Craig folded his arms. “But we all agreed we should make an exception for you. Your grandma was one of us, and she was a great lady.”

Well, that did it. Holly pressed her tongue against the back of her upper lip for a moment to stop herself from crying. “That’s nice of you,” she said. “Really, really nice. Thank you. I’d love to hang out tonight.”

“Me, too,” Danny said, even though Holly wasn’t quite sure he’d actually been invited.

…

“Your grandma’d talk about you all the time,” Sam, Tinka’s boyfriend, said as he plated pizza for Holly later that night at Santa’s Playground. This was one of the North Pole places Holly had been super excited to return to. Santa’s Playground was like one of the clubs that Stefon on Saturday Night Live always used to talk about. It had everything—video games, laser tag, pizza. Tonight it even had karaoke.

When Holly and her cousins were kids, they use to beg their parents to take them here. The moms and dads would balk, but Grandma’d always cave, letting the adults have a night out on their own so she could take her grandchildren to this magical place. The kids would spend the evening shooting each other with light-up guns and winning prizes that cost way more than they were worth.

Tonight Holly wasn’t here with her cousins and brother; but these North Pole people, and the way they spoke about Holly’s grandma, almost felt like extended family. Sam, in particular, was super sweet and easygoing, and he and Tinka were so happy and in love. They were constantly finding little reasons to touch each other, but it wasn’t annoying coming from them. Well, other than the fact that it made Holly wonder if she’d ever have that, if she’d ever find someone to knead her shoulders after a grueling gingerbread contest or wipe pizza sauce from the corner of her mouth.