Any Boy but You (North Pole, Minnesota)

by Julie Hammerle

  Leaning on Jamison, Harper stood. “It’s time for the feud to end! Because of this stupid feud, Oliver and Elena spent most of the year hating each other instead of realizing they belonged together.”

  Oliver blushed, and the door to Prince’s opened. Elena stepped in. Her hair was a mess, but she was carrying a mangled bouquet of yellow roses.

  He took the mic from his dad. “Harper’s right,” he said. “I had been taught my entire life to hate the Chestnuts, that they’re not to be trusted. But you know what’s not to be trusted? The feud itself. The feud is toxic. The feud is the reason both stores are closing. The feud is the reason you two”—he pointed to his dad and Tom—“have to keep pretending you don’t want to let bygones be bygones. The feud is what has kept me from doing this.” He handed the microphone to the mayor and marched down the stairs, past the rows and rows of prying eyes. He stood in front of Elena, who had a smudge of dirt on her face and her damp hair clung to her cheeks.

  “I got all the flowers. Or, well, most of them. I saved them from the garbage truck,” she said, nodding toward the massive bouquet she was cradling in both arms. “Katie at the gun store gave me a rose and I was about to chuck that one into the garbage, too, with the rest, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to. I wanted the flowers. I want you.”

  Grinning, Oliver cupped her face in his hands, leaned down, and kissed her in front of his dad, her parents, and the entire population of North Pole, Minnesota.

  Chapter Sixteen

  All that mattered in the entire universe were Oliver’s hands on Elena’s face, his nose against her cheek, and his soft lips on hers. It wasn’t just the sensation of him touching her, but the melding of their breaths, his scent of clove and citrus, and the fact that, even through her parka, Elena could feel his heart beating, like it was trying its damnedest to reach hers.

  When he pulled away, Elena let out a tiny, accidental sob. She wasn’t ready for it to be over. She’d never be ready. But as the space between them grew, Elena remembered she and Oliver were not alone. Far from it. The entire town was there with them, having shifted in their seats to watch the show. And they were clapping, applauding her and Oliver, like this was a Broadway show they’d paid top dollar for.

  Sam Anderson let out a piercing whistle, and the mayor tap-tap-tapped on the microphone. “We’re all very happy for you, Oliver and Elena, but that hasn’t solved anything, now has it?”

  Elena was sure it solved plenty, and she reached for Oliver’s hand. He laced his fingers between hers and squeezed.

  “A-hem,” came a voice from nearby. The entire town swung its collective consciousness to the right of the front door. Elena’s mom stepped out of the shadows and raised her hand, in which she was holding something shiny. “I brought this with, just in case.” She marched to the riser and asked Regina for help with the computer. The PowerPoint disappeared and was replaced by a different document, one entitled “Plan for Prince’s and Chestnut’s.”

  “That’s the paper I saw,” Oliver whispered in Elena’s ear. She shivered from his breath. He should always speak to her like that—in a hot whisper, right up against her ear.

  Elena’s mom grabbed the mic from Mayor Sandoval and said, “I presented this plan to both my husband and Trip a few weeks ago, because I saw the writing on the wall. Our business wasn’t doing well, and I could tell that Trip’s heart wasn’t in his store. Back in college, like you said, Mayor”—she nodded to Mayor Sandoval—“Trip and Tom used to talk about taking over their dads’ businesses and recombining them into one store, which I thought was a great idea, but it wouldn’t solve one of their major issues.” She asked Regina to flip to another screen. “Neither store has enough space. There are too many sports with too much equipment taking up too much room. We’re not able to stock everything we need.”

  “It’s true,” said Craig. “Neither store carries my preferred brand of athletic cup.”

  “He’s not kidding,” Elena whispered to Oliver. “I have to special order them at least twice a year.”

  “If this plan goes through,” Oliver whispered, “we’ll stock the cups at Prince’s so you never have to think about protecting Craig’s junk again.”

  “How does he go through that many cups? What is he doing with them?”

  “I think it’s better if we don’t ask questions,” said Oliver.

  “Thank you, Craig,” said Elena’s mom. “So, what I’ve looked into, and not to get too bogged down in specifics, but what if we merged the stores and split the sports? Chestnut’s could handle winter and fall, because, come on, ‘Chestnut’s’ screams winter, and Prince’s could do spring and summer.”

  “Paying two rents on essentially one store?” asked Frank.

  “If we wanted to keep it one store, we’d have to rent a bigger space, and our current rates are rent-controlled. It makes more sense this way. Plus, we can focus more staff to either store, depending on the time of year.”

  The mayor grabbed the microphone back. “But the real question here is, would we, the people of North Pole, patronize both stores—one for winter, and one for summer? Would we help them stay afloat?”

  “Yes!” the crowd cheered.

  “It’s up to Trip and Tom,” said Elena’s mom.

  The two of them frowned at each other.

  Elena’s mom spoke again. “I’ve known you two for years. The mayor’s right. Tom loves me, but he misses you, Trip. He needs you. You need each other. Let’s stay here and fight for your families’ legacies. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but if it does—”

  Tom and Trip met each other in the middle and shook hands.

  …

  “You guys make me sick,” complained Sam. “All of you.”

  “Maybe find yourself a girlfriend and you won’t feel so vomit-y.” Harper grinned at Jamison, who was sitting on the couch next to her, one arm draped across Harper’s shoulders.

  The crowd had gathered in the Andersons’ basement for a trilogy of Sam-approved movies. Danny and Star were lying on the floor together. Regina and Stan Stashiuk had commandeered Mr. Anderson’s favorite recliner. And Oliver and Elena had attached themselves at the hip on the other end of the couch from Harper and Jamison.

  Oliver smiled down at Elena. It had been a heady day—seeing the end of Stash Grab, watching their fathers shake hands in front of the entire town, and then having to sit down for lunch to hash things out as a combined Chestnut-Prince unit. But the thing that saved him was the fact that Elena was by his side the entire time. He squeezed her knee and she rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Where am I supposed to sit?” Sam put his hands on his hips. Despite it being twenty degrees outside, he was still wearing his mesh basketball shorts. Feuds end, enemies fall in love, but some things never change.

  “You can cuddle with us, Sam,” Regina teased as she coiled Stash’s curls around her fingers.

  Sam shook his head and plopped onto the couch between Jamison and Elena, who scooted closer to Oliver. He pulled her in tight and kissed her hair, breathing her in.

  The movie was some subtitled Italian horror flick Sam had chosen, and there was no way Oliver was going to be able to pay attention to that, not with everything that had happened today, and not with Elena next to him, smelling like cinnamon gum and grapefruit shampoo.

  About twenty minutes in, he whispered, “This movie is terrible, right?”

  “The worst,” she said.

  “I can’t hear what they’re saying,” Sam warned, gesturing toward the television.

  “You don’t have to hear,” Harper said. “The movie is subtitled.”

  Elena grabbed Oliver’s hand and led him up to the kitchen, where she made them a plate of leftover cookies from the Stash Grab event. Oliver stood at the back window, looking out on the Andersons’ snow-covered backyard.

  Elena stood next to him, thoughtfully chewing a snickerdoodle. “I feel like we’ve done this before.”

  “The night of Harper’s birthd
ay party,” he said. “When everyone was out there hunting Stashes.” He nodded toward the pier.

  “And I was stuck standing here with you. That Stash could’ve put me over the edge for those plane tickets.” She nudged him in the side. “Curses!”

  “What about spring break?” he asked.

  “You know,” said Elena, “I think I made enough tutoring your ass that I’ll be able to go. You can teach me how to wrestle alligators. It’s only fair. I taught you how to skate.” She gazed up at him and her big brown eyes crinkled with laughter.

  “That’s debatable.”

  Elena nodded toward the backyard, where the Andersons had made a huge ice rink for Harper’s little sister Maddie to practice on. “Want another lesson?”

  They threw on their boots and coats and trudged through the drifts out to the backyard. Elena, who was much better in the snow than Oliver was, helped him navigate the high piles on the way to the rink.

  She turned toward the next-door neighbor’s house, a big abandoned log cabin. “Wow, it’s for sale,” she said. “No one’s lived there for as long as Harper’s been in her house.”

  “That’s cool,” Oliver said. “I hope whoever moves in isn’t part of a nasty, decades-long feud with anyone else in North Pole.”

  “Too true.”

  She led him over one final hill and onto the ice, where she clutched his mittened hands and dragged him to the middle of the rink.

  “So,” she said.

  “So.” He smiled, forgetting momentarily that his face was about to freeze off. “Are we gonna skate?”

  “We’re gonna skate,” she said.

  “Because I’m nearly a block of ice at this point.”

  She winced. “We can go back in, if you want.”

  He shook his head. “Frostbite can’t hurt me. I’m with Elena Chestnut.”

  “Pretty sure it can still hurt you.”

  He pulled off his mitten and caressed her cheek. She leaned into his hand. “Remind me why we hated each other?”

  “I never hated you,” she said.

  “Oh, you sure did.”

  “Eh, you’re right. I did.” Her eyes met his, and she pulled him in close. Oliver wrapped his arms around her and bent to kiss her. How he could’ve ever believed video games were a good substitute for this was beyond him. This was real. This was flesh and breath and cold winds and puffy, down parkas. He ran a hand down Elena’s silky dark hair, and a snowball smacked him right in the temple. Cold water dripped down his cheek and onto his coat.

  Oliver and Elena pulled apart and found Danny, Star, Sam, Regina, and Stan Stashiuk standing on the snowdrifts, ready to pelt them with snowballs. Jamison and Harper watched from the deck. Oliver pulled on his glove as Elena dashed toward their tormentors, firing snowball after snowball. “Avenge me, my Florida boy!” she called.

  “I’ve got your back.” He reached down, formed his own perfect snowball, and charged after her, ready to fight.

  Epilogue

  “The soccer display should go over here,” said Trip Prince.

  “You sure?” asked Tom Chestnut, stroking his chin. “I think it’s better over on this side where there’s a little more room. People want to test out the balls—”

  “In my store? They’re going to be kicking balls around my store?” Trip asked.

  “Around our store,” said Tom. “And, yes, sometimes people want to test out the merchandise. We should put up a goal—”

  The two men lumbered, still arguing, toward the back, and Elena gave her mom a smile. The four of them, and Harper, were working hard setting up the new stores—Prince’s Spring and Summer Sports and Chestnut’s Winter Sports Emporium. Since the last day of Stash Grab three weeks ago, both families had been working together almost nonstop to figure out their vision for the stores.

  Elena, who was tidying up behind the counter, glanced outside. Across the street at Chestnut’s, a man was hanging the store’s new sign. He kept wiping his face as the icicles on the roof melted into his eyes. The sun was shining today and the temperature had crept above freezing for the first time in recent memory. North Pole residents ambled down the street toward church, wearing lighter coats over their Sunday clothes. The Joyce family strolled by, sans Christmas sweaters. Spring was truly on its way. Thank goodness, because Elena was done with cold weather. She scratched a bit of peeling skin on her arm.

  “Don’t pick at it,” said Harper, from the stool next to Elena. “God, it’s like you’ve never had a sunburn before.”

  “Not for a while anyway. How come you’re not burned?”

  “Because I’m a professional, Elena.” The two of them had just gotten back to North Pole yesterday after spending spring break in Florida with Harper’s family. The girls spent the entire seven days lounging by the pool, and Elena made sure to run on the beach each morning. “When does your boyfriend get back?”

  Elena blushed. “Any minute.” She had chosen to work behind the counter mostly because it meant she could keep a close eye on the front door. While the Prince twins had originally planned to hang out with the Andersons and Elena on Captiva Island for break, they decided instead to visit their mom in Florida, since they both wanted to live in North Pole with their dad long-term.

  Oliver had texted Elena every night, and she sent him messages all day about what she and Harper were up to—swimming, eating, helping Matthew and Hakeem plan their wedding, which would be in North Pole this summer. It had been like she and Oliver were back playing Stash Grab, communicating only through texts. It was comforting, but Elena missed the real thing.

  Eventually, finally, the door to Prince’s flew open and in came Oliver and Regina. Elena flew out from behind the counter and grabbed Oliver in a big hug.

  “How’s your mom?” Elena asked, holding him at arms’ length.

  Oliver shrugged. “She’s doing fine. Good, actually. She, like everybody here”—he nodded toward his father in the back of the store—“seems a bit relieved that the divorce is actually happening and everyone can get on with their lives.” He lowered his voice. “We had a nice talk. She regretted all the pressure she put on me, and she’s glad I’m making friends.” His eyes sparkled. “And she bought me a new laptop.”

  “Look at you, reaping the rewards of parental guilt.” She nudged him in the side.

  “You know it,” he said.

  “Hey, Elena,” said her mom, checking her watch. “Can you go open up the store? It’s almost eleven.”

  Elena caught Oliver’s eye and nodded toward the exit. He followed her across the street and stood behind her as she unlocked the door to Chestnut’s. The inside had been transformed into a winter wonderland. When she flipped on the lights, a mechanical Santa began a chorus of “Ho, ho, ho.”

  Elena unzipped her coat. “My parents decided, with this being a cold-weather sports store and with their last name being Chestnut, they should really lean into the whole year-round Christmas thing.”

  Oliver brushed her long, wavy hair behind her ears, then he leaned down and kissed her. She’d been dreaming about this moment for the past week, but reality was so much better. She wrapped her arms around his parka, pulling him in as close as possible, looking forward to the day sometime soon when outerwear might no longer impede their romance.

  “We should’ve taken our coats off first,” she said.

  “I couldn’t wait.” He kissed her again, and one more time before she went back to the entrance and flipped the sign on the door to open.

  Within minutes, Craig had darkened their doorstep. Elena took her place behind the counter and Oliver fixed an errant string of Christmas lights on the window, as Craig perused the new store. “I was wondering what deals you might have going on right now. And is there going to be a grand reopening sale?”

  Elena snuck a quick peek at Oliver, who was trying hard not to laugh. Elena’s whole body warmed with cheer. She no longer needed to deal with Craig on her own. She no longer needed to worry about competing with Prince’
s for customers. Her family and Oliver’s family, they were all in this together. “I’m not sure, Craig,” she said. “Possibly?”

  Craig held out his phone and showed her the screen. “Because Amazon is offering hockey sticks at half off right now—”

  Before Craig could say another word, Oliver said, “Let me show you what we have.” Then he whisked Craig off to the back of the store—before Elena could scream or throw something at him or sweep him out of Chestnut’s with a broom.

  She busied herself behind the counter, tidying up, straightening pictures. Her parents had put up all kinds of Christmas decorations around the store; but through all of the hubbub, they must’ve forgotten about the photographs on this wall—the shots of the original Prince and Chestnut’s and the plaque that read, “We reserve the right to refuse service to any Prince.”

  Elena plucked the sign off the wall and dropped it in the garbage. She wiped her hands. The feud was over. She knew exactly what she’d put in its place—a picture of all of them together, Oliver and Regina and their dad, Elena and her parents, maybe even Stash and Harper and Danny and Dinesh and Craig and whoever else wanted to be in the photo. Because the merger of Prince and Chestnut’s was bigger than Elena and Oliver, and it was bigger than their two families. These stores belonged to the town, and the town belonged to everyone.

  “Elena?” Oliver and Craig stepped out from the hockey aisle. “Did you know there’s been a recall on these balaclavas?” Craig held up an open box of winter accessories.

  Elena counted to ten in her head, struggling to conceal her annoyance. Then she realized she didn’t have to do that. She could look at Oliver’s laughing brown eyes instead, and let the calm wash over her. Well, that was much easier.

  “Show me, Craig,” she said. “And thank you so very much for bringing this to our attention. We live to serve.”

  Craig frowned. “You’re mocking me again.”

  “Never.”

  Craig paused a moment, then decided to just go with it. “Well, if that’s the case. I notice you’re carrying last year’s hockey sticks from--”