Approximately Yours (North Pole, Minnesota)

by Hammerle, Julie

  Tinka stayed in her seat for a moment, frowning. But then she leaned over and hugged Sam before trudging up to receive her award.

  “In second place…my goodness, our own Craig Cooper.”

  Craig’s jaw dropped. So did Danny’s. If Craig was in second place, that meant…what? That Brian hadn’t gotten Holly’s entry here on time? That’d she’d been disqualified for bringing in a late entry? He glanced over at the display table. His basketball court was great but couldn’t hold a candle to Holly’s house. She should not lose on a technicality. Danny was about to run up to the podium in protest, when the mayor started speaking again.

  “And in first place, winner of the coveted gingerbread trophy, the Stanley Cup of North Pole, plus a one-hundred-dollar gift certificate to Joyeaux Noel is…”

  Holly squeezed Danny’s hand tighter. “Get ready.”

  Danny would decline the trophy. He’d say, “Thanks, but no thanks,” and hand the prize off to Holly. She deserved it. Danny hated losing—absolutely hated it—but even more than that, he hated winning an unfair fight.

  The mayor opened the envelope, looked at the card, whipped off his glasses, and wiped them. Then he read the card again. “Well,” he said, after a moment, “this is unprecedented. We have a tie. The Page girls and Danny Garland!”

  Danny dropped Holly’s hand in shock. “We won,” he said. “We both won.” Holly handed him his crutches. Oh, yeah. He still had to go up and receive his prize.

  Holly tried to pull Elda up, but she wouldn’t budge. Grinning, she folded her arms and remained in her seat. “You go up alone. The prize is yours, not mine.”

  “It’s our family’s.”

  Elda shook her head. “You take this one. You earned it.”

  Holly helped Danny stand, and the two of them ascended the dais to receive their awards. Danny marveled at the one-eighty his life had taken in the past twenty-four hours. He’d gone from thinking Elda was his soul mate to accepting his life as a loner to kissing Holly. And now the two of them had won the gingerbread contest. As they stood together, taking pictures for the newspaper, Danny leaned down and whispered, “There’s only one trophy, you know.”

  “I know.” Holly smiled as a flash nearly blinded them. “Who gets it? I mean, me, obviously. You’ve had it before. This is my one chance.”

  “But you have to return it before the next competition. It’s a traveling trophy. You don’t get to keep it. And you’re never coming back to North Pole.” He tried hard not to think about that, but it was the truth.

  “Maybe I’ll have to make an exception.” She nudged him in the side. “You know, to preserve the sanctity of the gingerbread competition.”

  As they finished their photo op, Dinesh rushed the stage and grabbed the microphone. “Everyone,” he said, “I have something I need to do.” The entire crowd gawked at him. Dinesh wasn’t known for his loud proclamations. He usually let Craig do the public speaking, if not the karaoke. “I…” He trailed off as if seeing the crowd for the first time and remembering that microphones terrified him.

  Craig ran up and put an arm around his buddy’s shoulders. “What he wants to say is, Esmerelda—”

  Dinesh snatched the mic back. “I have to do this myself. Elda, I know we just met, but please stay here in North Pole. With me. I—” Dinesh got down on one knee.

  Holly gasped. “Holy shit.”

  “Indeed,” Danny said. Today would be etched in the North Pole history books—the first tie in gingerbread contest history, and now the first proposal.

  “Will you marry me?” Dinesh asked.

  The crowd cheered as Elda jumped up and ran to the dais. “Yes, yes, yes!” she squealed, pulling her new fiancé into a massive, smothering hug.

  “When Elda makes up her mind, she really makes up her mind,” Holly said, clapping for her cousin and Dinesh.

  Danny leaned down and whispered, “Looks like you’ll have a reason to come back here again.”

  Holly clutched the trophy hard to her chest. “Which means I am definitely taking this home with me.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Tuesday, December 26

  HOLLY: I’m on my way. I swear.

  DANNY: The movie’s about to start.

  HOLLY: I KNOW. The grownups are making Moscow Mules in honor of Grandma, and my uncle made Elda and me run to the store for limes.

  HOLLY: (gif of kids from Love, Actually saying “I hate Uncle Jamie”)

  DANNY: It’s fine. I’m keeping your seat warm…for now.

  HOLLY: Oh, no! If I don’t make it in time, who will you give my seat to?

  DANNY: Well, Craig’s been eyeing it.

  HOLLY: Damn it, Craig!

  HOLLY: I’ll be there in five. Ward him off.

  …

  12:15 AM, New Year’s Day

  DANNY: When can I see you again?

  HOLLY: I literally just left your house. I’m not even back at my grandma’s yet. I’m texting you from your front porch.

  DANNY: But you’re leaving in the morning.

  HOLLY: Not until lunchtime.

  DANNY: Have breakfast with me…before we part FOREVER. (sobbing emoji)

  HOLLY: Not forever. I’m coming back for Elda’s wedding.

  DANNY: Feels like forever.

  HOLLY: You know, my phone works in Chicago, too. We have cellular towers and everything. It’s a pretty big city.

  DANNY: You mean we can keep doing this whole texting thing?

  HOLLY: I mean…yeah. I’d like that. No pressure, though.

  DANNY: No pressure. But, like, if Craig did something silly that I just HAD to tell you about…

  HOLLY: You could text me.

  DANNY: Or if, say, I had a question about what to watch next on Netflix?

  HOLLY: Text.

  DANNY: I suddenly feel so much better about this whole “you leaving” thing.

  HOLLY: I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow morning!

  DANNY: Happy New Year! [heart eyes emoji] Good night!

  HOLLY: Good night!

  …

  Ten minutes later

  DANNY: Okay, what should I watch on Netflix?

  HOLLY: All right. Let’s figure this out…

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Thursday, January 18

  “You know I wouldn’t do this for just anyone,” Holly said, gazing deep into Danny’s beautiful blue eyes. She’d made sure to touch up her makeup and fix her hair after school. It had been snowing today in Chicago, and her cheeks were still pink and cold from the wind.

  “I know. You told me before you’d never, ever FaceTime for me. I thank you for loosening your rules just this once.”

  “Well, it is a special occasion.” Holly propped her phone up on the desk, perched on her chair, back straight, and waited.

  Via the magic of FaceTime, all the way from his house in North Pole, Danny lifted his leg and plopped it onto his kitchen table.

  “Danny, we eat there,” came his mom’s voice from off screen.

  “I know, but just for a second.” He peered into the camera at Holly. “Check it out. No cast.”

  She clapped as he removed his pale, skinny leg from the kitchen table. “How does it feel?”

  “Light,” he said. “And weak. I have to do physical therapy now, to strengthen it, but it’s coming along. I’ll be ready to walk the streets of Chicago soon enough.”

  He was coming down to Chicago for spring break, which had been planned pre-Holly. He wanted to check out Loyola, one of his top college choices, and maybe a few other schools, too. Holly wondered how much she’d get to see him when he was in town. She didn’t want to assume. But the way he talked about the trip, it sure seemed like he planned on hanging out.

  Danny was staring at something off screen now, and Holly tried to guess what it was. Soon, however, Danny’s eyes were back on her. He leaned in close to the screen, unselfconscious, because he was Danny Garland and of course FaceTime-ing was no big deal for him. He probably hadn’t fr
etted at all about how his hair looked or whether or not the angle of the phone made his face look fat. Holly had tried desperately not to worry about that stuff herself. Danny liked her as she was. Old habits died hard, though, hence the makeup. Plus, this was their first time seeing each other “in person” since Holly left North Pole on New Year’s Day.

  “Hey,” he whispered, “you look beautiful, by the way.”

  “Why are you whispering?” she whispered back.

  “My mom’s just over by the counter.”

  “And she can still hear every word out of your mouth,” came his mom’s voice.

  Holly grinned. He called her “beautiful” in front of his mom. Sure, it was kind of embarrassing, but it was also kind of awesome. “How are Elda and Dinesh doing?”

  Danny nodded toward the kitchen window. Elda and Dinesh, thanks to Dinesh’s sizable down payment from all the money he’d saved working at the arcade and living with his parents, had bought Grandma’s house. They’d moved in a few days ago. Elda had spent the weeks leading up to the move updating the plumbing. “They’re good. They’ve been sending Craig over to me whenever they want some alone time.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s not so bad. We play video games, and we’ve started watching Game of Thrones.”

  “Nooo! Traitor!” Holly squealed in mock horror.

  “You’d actually like it,” Danny said.

  “I probably would, but don’t tell Craig that.”

  Danny mimed zipping his lips. “I wouldn’t want him to suddenly decide he’s in love with you because now you know who Beric Dondarrion is.”

  Holly’s face flushed. He’d said “love.” “Who?”

  “Let’s keep it that way.”

  “What else is new?” Holly leaned back in her chair a bit. This FaceTime thing didn’t suck. It was kind of like she and Danny were chatting in the same room. And Holly had almost forgotten to worry about how she looked on screen. Almost.

  “Well, the basketball team is still in first place in our division, and Coach is finally letting me help out. I joined the engineering club at school, if you can believe it—”

  “I can.”

  “—but they’re hazing me right now, since I’m the newbie. How about you?”

  “I’m going to look at a few colleges in Indiana this weekend with my parents. Nothing too exciting. My friend Rebel and I are working on a new art show, too.” Holly had created several pieces for this one. And she planned to display them more prominently, instead of shunting them off to a dark corner somewhere. “You want to see what I’m doing?”

  “Of course.”

  Holly held up a mosaic of Christian Laettner she’d crafted out of tiny pictures of his, and Duke’s, biggest foes. It was quite an undertaking and had required a lot of research on her part. Thank goodness she now knew a Christian Laettner expert.

  “I want it,” Danny said, making grabby hands.

  “One million dollars.” Holly clutched it to her chest. She’d had an art awakening ever since she got home. She’d been seeing her surroundings with fresh eyes—picking up all kinds of debris and shiny objects on the sidewalk. Yeah, she was still going to study architectural engineering in school, but she’d keep going with the art thing, too. No reason she couldn’t do both.

  “Hey,” Danny said. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too.” They’d had a great week after Christmas. A perfect week. They’d made all kinds of plans to do the traditional North Pole stuff during the remainder of her visit, but opted instead to spend time together hanging out, only bothering to do stuff when they absolutely felt like it. They hadn’t made any promises to each other, and when she left on New Year’s Day, she questioned where they stood. It would’ve put too much pressure on their little baby relationship to make any big proclamations. They weren’t Elda and Dinesh, after all. They were still in high school, and they were making plans for college, plans that didn’t involve the other person.

  But then they’d started texting, and Danny called her, and then she called him, and suddenly it became a thing they did, not out of obligation, but because they wanted to.

  And, boy, did she look forward to those phone calls.

  “I can’t wait to meet Rebel,” Danny said. “You know, when I’m in town.”

  “Oh, yeah. You want to meet her?” A smile teased Holly’s lips.

  “Sure. I mean, as long as you’re there, too.”

  Holly shrugged. “I guess I can come.”

  “If you have time, of course,” Danny said.

  “Of course.”

  Danny checked his watch, and the air went out of Holly’s lungs. He must be looking for an excuse to get off the phone. That was the problem with video chatting, seeing all the stuff people tried to hide when they were just talking on the phone. But then he said, “Three…two…one.”

  Holly’s doorbell rang.

  “You should probably get that,” he said. “And take me with you.”

  A lump in her throat, Holly took the stairs two at a time down to her front door, which she flung open. Rebel stood there with a massive bouquet of pink roses.

  “These are from your…Danny,” she said. “I don’t know.”

  Rebel handed the flowers to Holly and stepped into the house.

  Holly, without worrying about how she looked, held the phone up to her face. “Oh my God.”

  “I’ve been doing some thinking,” Danny said. “This long-distance thing stinks, but it’s what we’ve got going right now.”

  “It does stink,” Holly said, relieved that he was the one who brought this up.

  “We’re seeing each other in March for spring break, and in June for Elda’s wedding, but I think we need one more visit in between, at least.” He smiled, but his eyes were unsure, nervous. She made Danny Garland nervous.

  “Like, so, would you be interested in coming up to North Pole in May?”

  “In May?”

  “For prom.” He winced, waiting for her answer.

  Holly hugged the flowers to her chest. “I’d love to.”

  Danny still smiled, but relief also painted his face. “It’s a date, then.”

  When she and Danny got off the phone, Holly went right to her day planner. She’d bought it when she got home from North Pole, and it was just like the one her grandma had used. Holly loved the fact that it was paper, tangible. She could run her fingers over the words.

  She skipped ahead to May and recorded the date of Danny’s prom. She’d ask him to hers, too, of course, and maybe to come down to Chicago sometime this summer. And when they were both in college—him here, maybe, her in Indiana, probably—they’d make plans to meet up whenever they could, for as long as they wanted.

  Life had no guarantees. Holly knew that. She’d seen that firsthand when she found her grandma’s journal. But the days, weeks, and months went by no matter what anyone did in the present. The future was a mystery, a big beautiful mystery. Hope lived inside these blank pages, and magic, and potential beyond Holly’s wildest dreams, as long as she stayed open to the possibilities.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  March

  DANNY: I’m stopping at Culver’s for lunch. Should I get a Butterburger or a grilled chicken sandwich?

  HOLLY: If you even have to ask…

  DANNY: Joking. [Sends picture of a double Butterburger with cheese]

  HOLLY: Phew. We can still be friends.

  DANNY: Friends? Aren’t we beyond that?

  HOLLY: [Insert blushing emoji]

  DANNY: I can’t wait to see you!

  …

  HOLLY: Are you lost? I hope you’re not lost.

  HOLLY: You know my house is off of NORTH Harlem, not South, right? You put the right address in Google Maps?

  DANNY: I’m driving! Are you trying to kill me with all these texts?

  HOLLY: No. Stay alive, please.

  HOLLY: You should’ve been here forever ago. Ugh. I’m sure traffic on the Kennedy is garbage. I
t always is. I’m not worried. Not worried at all.

  HOLLY: Remember you can hop off the Kennedy and take the Edens if that looks better.

  DANNY: You Chicagoans and your dumb expressway names.

  HOLLY: Not dumb, awesome. Just, you know, send me an SOS text if you’re in trouble.

  DANNY: Hey, Holly! Call off the search party. I’m here! :)

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  Airing of Grievances

  As this is a holiday book, I’d like to honor Festivus and take a moment to not thank the following people/entities:

  Any airline that refuses to hand over a full can of pop on a flight from Chicago to Seattle. Oh, really? This half a cup of liquid is supposed to sustain me for the next four hours? Thanks, buddy.

  The Sims and SimCity for being too much of a distraction. I HAVE THINGS TO DO.

  George R. R. Martin.

  Avocados for being so delicious and so expensive.

  Cheetos for being so delicious and so bad for me. (See also: cake, pie, Pringles, Take 5 bars, 100 Grand bars, cheese popcorn, etc.)

  My favorite nail clippers. Where have you gone?

  The Bulls for letting Jimmy Butler go.

  Mosquitoes.

  About the Author

  Julie Hammerle is the author of The Sound of Us (Entangled TEEN, 2016) and the North Pole, Minnesota YA romance series (Entangled Crush, 2017). She writes about TV and pop culture for the ChicagoNow blog, Hammervision, and lives in Chicago with her family. She enjoys reading, cooking, and watching all the television.

  Discover the North Pole, Minnesota series…

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