The girls paid for their stuff, then they stopped at the grocery store and the bakery. By the time they’d gotten through all of Main Street, they had at least twenty pounds of candy. The girls brought it all back to Grandma’s garage, which they were going to use as a workshop. It was the most secluded place available, since the actual house was teeming with people and littered with boxes and garbage bags of Grandma’s old stuff.
While Elda swept the floor, trying to clean up the garage as best she could, Holly retrieved the Take 5 bars and arranged them on a sheet, which she’d draped over a few chairs like a photography studio backdrop. The dark brown wrappers popped against the stark, white fabric. She stood back and admired her work. Holly could arrange a kickass still life. She motioned to Elda. “Give me your phone.”
Elda handed it over, and Holly took the photo, which she sent to Danny. “I know these used to be your favorites.” She added a candy bar emoji for good measure.
As they waited for him to respond, Holly and Elda took inventory of their candy, spreading an old bed sheet over a banquet table. While Elda stared at her phone, Holly walked around the perimeter of the table, turning bags of Skittles and M&Ms over and around in her hands, feeling the pieces whoosh from one end of the bag to the other. She stood multi-flavored candy canes on end in a World’s Best Grandma mug. Then she separated the gumdrops by color into bowls—red, green, orange, yellow, purple, and white—popping a few into her mouth here and there for quality control. Once she had everything unbagged and organized the way she liked and had written a threatening note to her cousins and brother to stay away from their stash “OR ELSE,” she sat on a folding chair in front of the display with her raggedy old sketch pad and a pencil.
Holly drew in a deep, calming breath. Now was the time to brainstorm. She touched the tip of her pencil to the paper.
“Oh my God! He wrote back.” Elda tossed Holly the phone like it was a bomb.
Holly dropped her pencil and caught the phone. The moment for inspiration had vanished. She looked down at what Danny had written. “You remembered that?” the message said.
“Oh my God. Oh my God.” Elda paced the garage floor, as she unwrapped one of the rainbow-colored lollipops from the bakery.
“We need that, Elda,” Holly said.
Elda shoved the lollipop right into her mouth.
Rolling her eyes, Holly turned her attention back to the phone. What to say to Danny? Did he think it was weird or cool that she remembered his candy preferences? Holly decided to play coy. “Of course I remembered. I have a dossier on every single North Pole gingerbread competitor. I’m very thorough.”
“Oh, really,” Danny said. “What else do you know about people?”
“I know Craig handles disappointment poorly and that his friend Dinesh has to calm him down.”
“Well, everyone knows that.” Danny kept typing, and Holly had to stop herself from grabbing her own piece of candy to distract her while waiting. Finally, his message popped up. “I think it’s sweet that you remembered. Get it? Sweet? Candy? I was trying to make myself look like less of a dweeb by pointing out that pun, but I think it backfired.”
Grinning, Holly wrote him back. “It definitely backfired. And you may think it’s ‘sweet’ that I remembered, but I’m only trying to lull you into a false sense of security. I want you to trust me. Then I’ll pounce.” And a cat emoji.
“Consider me lulled,” he said. “What are you doing now?”
Holly’s heart slammed against her chest. Her second text conversation with Danny Garland was no less exciting than the first. “Hanging out in the garage,” she said. “Want to come over?” Oh my God, she’d just asked him over. Who was she?
“I’ll be there as fast as my crutches can carry me.” He punctuated that with a winky face.
Holly tossed the phone back to Elda. “There you go. He’s on his way here.” Holly had reeled him in, and now it was time to let her cousin do some of the work.
Elda stared at the phone. “He’s…coming here?”
“Yeah. He wants to see the girl who remembered his favorite candy bar.” Danny was probably grinning big right now, loping over here on his crutches. For Elda. Not for Holly. It was important to keep remembering that.
“What do I say to him?” Elda asked.
“Talk about our day. Tell him about all the battles we fought in town.”
Elda grabbed another lollipop, but Holly batted it out of her hand. They needed every ounce of that candy. “It’s too much pressure.” Elda started pacing. “All I can think about are those scorpion suckers we found at the gift shop and the chocolate-covered crickets.”
“Do not talk about the crickets.” Holly placed her hands on her cousin’s shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. “You can do this. Tell him we went to Santabucks, and that we missed seeing him there. Say he’s way better at making coffee than his brother.” All day Holly had been watching for Danny out of the corner of her eye, practicing what she’d say to him if and when she saw him, assuming she was someone who looked like Elda and had the confidence that went with all that genetic good fortune. “Tell him you were hoping to see him around town, that you imagined running into him in the M&M aisle at the candy shop, that you were distracted all day because, as much as you want to win this competition, you realized somewhere around the Lemondrops that you wanted to see him more.”
“Wow…” Elda’s eyes got all dreamy and glassy. “That’s way better than the bug thing.”
“He’ll love it coming from you,” Holly told her. “Believe me.”
Chapter Six
Danny’s judgment with girls was totally faulty. Today just proved it.
Elda was hilarious. She was smart and sweet, and she remembered that his favorite candy bar was a Take 5. He’d gone all gaga for Holly in person, but Elda…she got him. She understood him. That was way more important than some stupid tattoo. Anyone could get one of those.
He grabbed his crutches and booked it next door to Mrs. Page’s garage. He’d ask Elda to hang out. The bakery was sponsoring an event tonight—the Sugarplum Sweets competition. Some of his friends from school were competing in it, and he promised he’d watch. Besides, it’d be a low-pressure first date—not much talking required.
When he opened the side door of the garage, he found Holly and Elda sitting on chairs flanking a table, staring at a mound of sweets that covered an entire king-size sheet. Holly slammed a sketch pad shut and shoved it under her seat when Danny walked in.
His heart skipped a beat when he saw Holly with a pencil stuck behind her ear. He knew it couldn’t be the case, but it almost felt like she was mirroring him. Ever since the accident, he always had a pencil over his ear. Maybe she’d noticed.
Oh, who was he kidding? No, she hadn’t. It wasn’t like he was the first person to ever put a pencil behind his ear.
Danny gripped the handles on his crutches, focusing on Elda. Elda was the one who liked him. Elda was the one who’d sent him gif after gif of people wagging their fingers. Elda was the one who knew he loved Take 5 bars. And she was very, very pretty. Like, no one would debate him on that.
“So here’s where all the candy went.” He’d just returned from driving around town with Jamison, hunting for ingredients to make his gingerbread showstopper. North Pole had been cleaned out. The only stuff left at the sweet shop had been brown Sixlets and discounted items from Halloween and Thanksgiving—like white chocolate turkeys and those gross peanut butter things in the orange and black wax wrappers.
Elda jumped up and fetched him a chair, which was super nice. “We’d be happy to share some of our candy with you.”
“Elda,” Holly said, eyeing the candy stash, “stop giving away our stuff.” She nodded to Danny. “Though you can have the Take 5 bars, obviously.”
“It’s all right.” Danny sat down and put his leg up. The garage was musty and smelled of mildew, but at least it wasn’t too cold. “I don’t need your charity. What are you guys buil
ding?”
“It’s gonna be amazing!” Elda said. “We’re build—”
Holly stomped on her cousin’s foot, keeping her from spilling the beans. “Nice try. Like we’d tell you.”
“So, um, Danny.” Elda faced him, sitting on the edge of her seat. Her hands were folded in her lap, and she stared at him with big, brown doe eyes. “I was hoping to run into you in town today.”
“Yeah?”
“I just…I kept peeking around every corner, waiting for you to pop out”—her hands turned into claws, like she’d been imagining Danny as a bear or something—“and surprise me. Grrr!”
Holly kicked Elda in the shin.
“Ow!” Elda rubbed her leg. “I mean, our texting…wow. And I found the Take 5 bars, so.” She shrugged.
Holly buried her face in her hands.
“Um, so…” Danny said. It was time to do it, even if only to put an end to the abomination of a conversation the two of them had going right now. He was going to ask out Elda Page. He hadn’t asked a girl out in six years, basically. His mouth went dry. “There’s this thing tonight.” His voice definitely squeaked. Wow, he was pathetic at this.
“Holly!” a boy’s voice boomed from outside. “Where are you?”
Danny’s throat clamped up. Who was this dude yelling for Holly? Maybe she had a boyfriend. It was entirely possible. Maybe that, and not some other reason, was why Holly was so completely uninterested in him.
“Garage,” she shouted.
A guy about Danny’s age walked in, and, wow, this dude was competition. He was tall and muscular with dark, wavy hair and chiseled features. And he was looking for Holly. No wonder she didn’t like Danny.
The guy’s eyes went right to Elda. “Oh, there you are. You’re the one I’m looking for, actually.” He rubbed his bare arms. “What the hell are you two doing out here? It’s freezing.”
“Try putting on a coat, Sal. It’s Minnesota,” Holly said.
Elda gestured toward the guy. “Sal, Danny. Danny, Sal. My little brother.”
“Oh, hey.” So, he was Holly’s cousin. Danny’s stomach dropped even harder than before. Since Sal wasn’t Holly’s boyfriend, she was definitely rejecting Danny for reasons that had everything to do with Danny himself.
Sal grinned sheepishly at his sister as he ran his fingers through his hair. “I was looking for you, because I need some help…?”
Elda’s shoulders dropped. “Dude.”
A snicker escaped from Holly’s lips, but she covered her mouth and kept her eyes on the mountain of candy. It was the first time Danny had heard her laugh. It was cute, musical, more girly than Danny would’ve expected.
Sal winced. “Sorry.”
“You’re seventeen,” Elda said. “You’re fully capable of handling this yourself.”
Danny’s glance bounced between Elda and Sal. They had their sibling shorthand down pat.
“Obviously, I’m not,” Sal said.
“Well, you need to learn.” Elda raised her eyebrows.
“So, teach me.” Sal pointed to the door. “No time like the present.”
Groaning, Elda hoisted herself from the floor and said, “Be right back.”
Once they’d left the garage and were back in the house, Holly let out the giggle she’d been holding in. The whole garage filled with the tinkling sound of her laughter.
Danny eyed her warily, trying hard not to grin himself, which was hard. Her laugh was infectious. “What? What’s she doing for him?”
Holly clamped a hand over her mouth, and her skin went pink to her hairline. “God, ugh. I shouldn’t be laughing. It’s not funny.” She took a deep breath to calm herself. “There. Okay. Never mind.”
“What?”
She pressed her lips shut again, and her eyes started watering. But despite all her effort, another laugh escaped her lips. “Damn it.” She chuckled again, which made Danny start laughing. He couldn’t keep it in anymore.
“I don’t even know what we’re laughing about,” he said.
“And I’m not going to tell you.” She stood and shook her arms out, centering herself. “It’s gross.”
“Well, now you have to tell me. My mind has gone to some very dark places.”
Holly covered her mouth, and a wayward snort escaped her. “It’s not funny. I laugh when I’m uncomfortable.” She leaned down and grabbed a handful of orange gumdrops. She handed a few to Danny, her soft fingertips touching his palm. Danny’s whole body shivered.
“It’s the plumbing here,” Holly said, putting a few feet of space between them. “It can’t handle Sal’s…” She held out her hands and shrugged. Her face went pink again.
Danny felt his own face flush. “Ah. Some little cousin got a hold of Elda’s phone last night and mentioned something about this. I thought it was a joke.”
“No, not a joke. Like, forever this has been a thing.” Holly’s breath made clouds in the chilly air. “Sal’s too embarrassed to ask anyone but Elda for help. She’s the toilet whisperer.”
So, the girl he’d come here to ask out was known to her family as “The Toilet Whisperer.” Okay. “Well, if you’re going to have a superpower…”
Holly nodded in agreement. “I mean, the fact that she has one at all is impressive.”
This bathroom conversation could be over, as far as Danny was concerned. “Do you have a superpower?”
Holly popped another gumdrop in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “Invisibility.”
Danny winced playfully and straightened up taller to whisper. “I hate to break it to you, but I think your power has worn off. I mean, I can see you.”
She squinted. She was wearing lime green eye shadow behind her thick, red plastic glasses. “But do you? Do you really? Or is your mind just playing tricks on you?”
“Wow. Now I’m starting to think your actual superpower is playing mind games.”
The two of them glanced out the garage door to the house. No Elda.
“Does this usually take a while?” Danny asked.
“Depends.” Holly bit her upper lip for a moment. “Elda’s awesome. I mean, who do you know who can fix a clog, while being so discreet about it?”
“No one,” he said. “Absolutely no one. And she remembered I like Take 5 bars.”
Holly flushed. “Yeah, see? Awesome.”
Danny checked his phone. The Sugarplum Sweethearts competition started soon. “Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“Elda. Is she just this nice to everyone, or does she actually like me?”
Holly looked him right in the eye. The lights above glinted off her chartreuse eye shadow. “She likes you. Honest.” She bit her upper lip again. “She remembered your favorite candy bar for eight years. I’d say she’s liked you for a while.”
Danny glanced at the door again. He used to sit by his front window around Christmastime and wait to see if Mrs. Page’s granddaughters were coming to visit each year, ever since his family moved into their house next door. Now they were here, and one of them had remembered his favorite candy bar since they were ten.
He was going to ask Elda to hang out. That was how these things went. Girl likes boy, boy likes girl, boy asks girl out. Right?
Danny’s mouth went dry again. He hadn’t done this kind of thing for a while—not since the early days of his relationship with Star. That was his main problem. He was nervous. He was scared of rejection, so his body was reacting negatively to asking Elda out.
He glanced at Holly, who’d sat down again and was looking over her candy supply. Her back was to Danny, and he couldn’t help but notice the smooth slope of her neck, and her short, soft hair. He wanted to run his fingers through it, against the grain. He wanted to kiss up, up, up her neck to the rounded spot right behind her ear. He wanted…the wrong girl.
Danny picked up his crutches and stood from his chair. He had to get out of here. “Hey, tell Elda I had to go. I’ll text her later, okay?”
Holly raised a hand
in a silent good-bye. She didn’t turn around as Danny left the garage.
…
Tuesday, December 19
“On your marks,” the mayor said. “Get set… Decorate!”
Holly grabbed a gingerbread figure from the ornate Christmas-themed platter in front of her. “You ready for this?” she whispered to Elda.
Hands shaking, Elda picked up her own cookie and placed it carefully in front of her, like it was a baby bird she was trying not to smoosh. “I think so.”
“Just follow my lead. We’ve got this.”
The first round of the gingerbread competition—cookie decorating—was taking place at the fancy French restaurant in town, Joyeaux Noel. All the contestants had their own round tables, spread throughout the dining room. Last night, Holly had sent a silent prayer to Grandma that her team’s table would be situated far away from Danny Garland’s, but no such luck. He was right next to her and Elda.
Holly’s task for the next hour was to make Danny believe she was a bumbling fool and Elda was the master decorator, all while trying to win the dang thing. Tall order.
Holly snuck a peek at Danny. He was working from a chair with his leg elevated and was loading his piping bag with royal icing. He shot the girls a smile—a gorgeous, happy smile—and a thumbs-up. Holly nudged Elda to smile back at him as Holly pursed her lips and stared at her cookie. Her joints had turned to jelly.
She picked up her own piping bag and started dictating the assignment in her mind, trying to force out all thoughts of Danny Garland. First, she snipped off the corner of a plastic bag. Then she stuck a decorating tip through the hole and filled the bag with icing. Each person had to decorate twelve gingerbread humans in a half hour—yes, teams of two had to complete twenty-four cookies.
She handed the bag she’d prepared to Elda, who’d never done it before. Without a second thought, Elda started piping icing onto the cookie in a jagged pattern. Parts of her line were way too thick; parts were too thin. In some spots, the line had been broken. This wasn’t going to work. If Holly left the decorating to Elda, they’d be in last place when all was said and done.
Approximately Yours (North Pole, Minnesota) Page 7
