Approximately Yours (North Pole, Minnesota #3)(45)

“Maybe I’ve been making something out of nothing,” Danny said.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been worried that Elda doesn’t like me, but this kind of proves she does, doesn’t it?”

It proved nothing, because those were Holly’s sketches, not Elda’s. “It’s like I told you. She’s just awkward around the guys she likes.”

“Yeah.” Danny flipped through the book one more time, then shut it. “It’s just we have so much chemistry when we’re—”

“Texting.” She looked him straight in the eye.

Danny frowned as he held her gaze. Holly was tempted to look away, but she held on. God, was she really about to do this? She had done such a good job of avoiding embarrassment and hiding her feelings, and now here she was about to ruin it all by letting him see that maybe she enjoyed his company a little bit.

“Are you going to the skating thing later tonight?” she asked.

“The figure skating competition?” he asked. “Planning on it.”

“Well, so are we. I mean, so am I. I have to. It’s in my grandma’s day planner.” She played with another ball of marzipan, kneading it to temper her anxiety. “I don’t know. Maybe we can hang out.”

“You and me?”

“Yeah.”

Danny raised his eyebrows.

Holly squeezed the marzipan ball so hard, she squished it like a grape. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe you’re not so bad.”





Chapter Fifteen


Danny’s stomach was in knots, and he wasn’t sure why. He and Holly had made plans to meet here at the indoor ice rink for the amateur skating competition tonight. As friends. At least he thought they were meeting as friends. She’d basically only just admitted to him that she didn’t think he was abjectly terrible, so Danny was pretty sure she hadn’t jumped straight from disgust to desire. Still, he was excited to see her. He’d actually put on some of Brian’s cologne, which he was regretting.

Way to be obvious, Garland.

He rubbed his scarf against his neck, trying to wipe off some of the telltale scent.

Danny, sitting in the first row of the bleachers, watched as person after person flew by him on the ice—Dinesh, Sam, Tinka, Marcus, Kevin. Phil Waterston was skating hand in hand with some sophomore girl from the JV basketball team, while Star stayed near her girlfriends, talking a mile a minute and shooting dirty looks at Phil every chance she got.

Danny waved to Dinesh as he exited the rink and barreled toward the lobby, wobbling on his skates as he made his way across the padded floor. Danny glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter to eight. Holly should’ve been here by now. He was even more nervous about her whereabouts than he had been when Elda was late this morning. He would’ve been sad if Elda hadn’t shown up at Santabucks, but he’d be devastated if Holly blew him off tonight.

Someone held a hot cup of cocoa in front of his face. Danny spun around. Holly stood there, grinning down at him. He smiled back automatically, without even thinking about it, and the fog in his mind lifted. His entire body flooded with relief. “Hey.” He took the cup from her.

Holly sat next to him and dropped her rented skates to the floor. “Elda’s here, too. She’s talking to Dinesh.”

Elda? Who cares about Elda? Danny nodded toward the rink. “So, you’re going out there?” Say no. Don’t leave me alone here.

“Maybe for a minute before the competition starts.” Holly tucked some hair behind her ear. She was wearing dangly Christmas tree earrings.

Danny pointed to his own ear.

Holly blushed. “My grandma’s. Elda and I raided her jewelry box.” Holly glanced back at the lobby. “Where the heck did she go?”

“She’ll get here when she gets here.” He popped the lid off his hot cocoa and closed his eyes as he inhaled the heady, chocolaty aroma. “This is from Mags’s Diner, isn’t it?”

Holly nodded.

“She makes the best cocoa in town, but don’t tell my mom that.”

“Guess what.” Holly’s hands clutched her knees, and her face was bright with excitement. “You’re not going to believe this.”

“Try me.”

“Okay, what’s that thing called when you hear a new word and then all of a sudden it’s, like, everywhere?” Her glasses had slipped down her nose, and she pushed them up.

Danny shook his head. “I’ve heard about this, but I don’t know what it’s called.”

She waved him off. “I’d assumed the guy who had ‘philtrum’ on the tip of his tongue might know. Anyway.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a magazine. “After you left this afternoon, I went up to my grandma’s attic and started going through her old magazines. She and my grandpa saved everything, which at first I was kind of annoyed by, but then I started thinking about taking a bunch home to use in collages and stuff. So before tossing them in the recycling bin, I started flipping through the ones that looked interesting, to see if there might be anything worth using.”

Danny craned his neck to see what magazine she was holding.

Finally, she turned it around. It was a People from 1992. A kind of familiar-looking woman was on the cover, someone famous, he couldn’t remember who.