Artificial Sweethearts (North Pole, Minnesota)

by Julie Hammerle

  Again, they gawked at her like she was an alien being. “Culinary school?” her dad said. “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “But Duke.”

  “Was your idea,” Tinka said quietly. “Not mine.”

  “You’ve been working toward a golf scholarship.”

  Tinka sighed. “I don’t want that anymore. I never really did, if I’m being honest.”

  “But the team, all the lessons, Florian’s—”

  “I did those things for you.”

  Her dad’s mouth was pursed, a vein throbbing in his forehead. Her mom was the one who spoke. “So you want to quit the team. Is that what you’re saying?”

  Tinka nodded. “I do. Yes.” Her eyes swung to her dad. “It’s not like I never want to play again. I do. With you. I…I just don’t want to be so serious about it. I found something else I love to do.” She pushed the plate of cookies toward them, but neither her mom nor dad grabbed one.

  Her dad massaged his temples. “Why weren’t you honest with us? When I think about all the time we wasted—and money. Do you know how much tuition at Florian’s is?”

  “It wasn’t wasted, though, Dad. I had a great experience at Florian’s. I made friends and got to have some independence for once. I figured out for sure that baking was what I wanted to do. I’m so grateful you sent me there.” She paused. Her father wasn’t convinced. “And, Dad, that time on the golf course with you was never wasted. Without it”—she had to take a second to compose herself—“we never would’ve spent any time together.”

  Both her parents fell silent.

  Tinka’s throat tightened into a ball that was threatening to dissolve into tears at any moment. She glanced at the door, willing Sam to come in and save the day, to rescue her from this conversation. But no. She was on her own this time. She had to do this herself. “My golfing has always been how you’ve kept Jake alive in your mind. I had no idea how to admit to you that it wasn’t what I wanted anymore. How would you look at me if I told you that? If I were the one who basically cut that last tether to him?” She blinked back the tears.

  Her parents’ faces were stone white. “That’s not our last tether to him,” her mom said. “There’s no last tether to Jake. He’s always going to be with us, no matter what.”

  “I get that…I mean, logically.” Tinka let out a long shaky breath. If she managed to get through this conversation without bawling, it’d be a miracle. Her complete exhaustion was not helping matters. “But you have to understand that I’ve been living in his shadow my entire life. I’ve been told—for as long as I can remember—that my job was to keep you two happy.”

  “Who told you that?” her mom asked. “I never told you that.”

  Tinka shook her head. “Aunt Marie. Grandma and Grandpa. It was something I felt for myself. I’d see you get sad, and I’d think, ‘It’s my job to not let that happen.’”

  Both her parents put their hands to their mouths.

  “And then…” Oh, now the tears were coming. There was no stopping them. “I flew home in June and you’d totally uprooted our family and moved here. And you’ve completely changed.” She waved a hand to indicate her parents. “Completely. You’re happy and lovey-dovey and you’re making friends and doing shots and I don’t even know. You seem like you’re fixed all of a sudden, and what was the catalyst? It was me going away—the girl who always felt it was her job to keep you happy.” She dropped her head into her hands.

  Her parents ran over and sat on either side of her, rubbing her back and smoothing her hair. Her mom kissed her head, then pulled Tinka upright. “That is not what happened.” She put her hands on Tinka’s shoulders and turned her so they were face-to-face. Tinka’s mother stared her straight in the eye. “We are not better because you were gone. We’re better because we’ve been working hard on ourselves and our relationship.”

  Her dad leaned closer to her and spoke softly. “When we found out that Karen’s”—he glanced toward the basement stairs to make sure she wasn’t there—“parents were having trouble, your mom and I saw ourselves in them.”

  “We didn’t want to get to that point,” Tinka’s mom said. “So we started seeing a marriage counselor.”

  “Carol,” Tinka said. “You mentioned the name before.”

  “Carol,” her dad said. “She helped us see how our lives were on hold and we were putting our grief and anxieties above everything.”

  “It’s why I was always such a helicopter parent,” her mom said.

  “And it’s why I…wasn’t.” Her dad wrapped an arm around Tinka’s shoulders. “Maybe you weren’t wrong when you said golf was the only way I related to you.”

  “I always got the sense that you kept me at arms’ length because you didn’t want to get too close to another kid you might lose.”

  Her mom hugged her harder.

  Tinka’s dad shared a look with his wife. “I’m so sorry I ever made you feel that way. The fact is, I love you more than you could ever know. And we should’ve included you in our counseling.”

  “Or at least let you in on our plans to move. I think we were embarrassed. I know I was.” Her mom closed her eyes for a second. “And you’ve always gone along with things without complaint. We definitely took advantage of that this year, which was not fair to you. Not at all.”

  “I think we were so excited that we were doing better and about the prospect of moving to North Pole, we assumed you’d feel the same way about it as we did.”

  Tinka had been right all along. They hadn’t considered her feelings at all.

  “We thought it’d be a fun surprise.”

  “I mean, I am starting to like it here. I really am,” Tinka said. “But that has nothing at all to do with you guys. I like it here in spite of you. You sent me away to boarding school without giving me a choice, then you sold our house and dragged me out to the middle of nowhere and this ridiculous Christmas village without giving me a say. You forced me into golf lessons I didn’t want and tried to set me up with a guy I didn’t like. You made me spend the entire summer working on this terrible house you bought. I’m…I’m mad at you.”

  “You have every right to be,” her mom said.

  “Damn right I do.” Tinka stood up. Her eyes scanned the room. “It’s like you don’t know me. You’ve never known me. And now you’re going to be shipping me back to Florian’s in six weeks, so what are we even doing here?”

  “You should come with us to see Carol—or another counselor, or you can see someone on your own, if you want. We can work this out. At least we’re talking now,” her dad said. “We’re finally being honest with one another.”

  “And maybe you shouldn’t go back to Florian’s,” her mom said quietly.

  Tinka’s eyes swung to her. “What are you saying? You’re going to pull me out of another school? I’m going to be subjected to another of your whims? I’ve been offered a job in South Carolina, you know. At a bakery.” She pulled Marge’s card out of her pocket and waved it at her parents.

  Her mom shook her head. “No. It’s your choice. I’m giving you the option. Go back to Florian’s, if you want. You have our blessing. Or stay here in North Pole so we can work things out.”

  “We’ll work things out either way,” her dad said. “I want to be clear. If you decide to go to Florian’s, we won’t be mad. We won’t hide things from you. We’ll still do the work to be better parents and a stronger family. We’ll just have to do it remotely.”

  Tinka glared at them. So now after years of telling her what to do, they were giving her exactly two options—go back to school where everyone probably hated her or stay here in North Pole where she didn’t know anybody. Great choices, Mom and Dad.

  Tinka grabbed the plate of cookies. She had been about to take them downstairs to Karen and Jane, but instead she tossed them onto the couch, to the spot between her parents that she’d just vacated. “Here,” she said. “Get to know your daughter.”

  She marched down to the b
asement and flopped onto the couch between Karen and Jane, who were in the middle of painting their fingernails.

  “Uh…” Jane said. “Are you okay?”

  “We heard the whole thing,” Karen said.

  Of course they had. Tinka wiped her eyes. “I don’t know what they expect me to do,” she whispered. “Like, if I choose to go to Florian’s, am I abandoning them? Is that me opting out of a better relationship with them? But if I stay here, I go to a school where I basically don’t know anyone, and I miss out on working with Sam’s dad’s friend.”

  Jane patted her knee. “I think you need to work things out with your mom and dad.”

  Tinka grinned at her mirthlessly. “Is this your way of getting rid of me at Florian’s?”

  Careful not to nick her fresh polish, Jane tossed a pillow at Tinka. “Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, and maybe that’s obvious because I did keep texting my ex-boyfriend for weeks after I knew he no longer wanted to be with me, but I’d miss you at Florian’s. I loved having you as a roommate.”

  “I loved having you as a roommate,” Tinka said. “I was so worried about being the new girl, but you welcomed me with open arms. You made me feel—after having been abandoned by my parents, basically—like a worthy human being. And I will never forgive myself for what I did to you.” She turned to Karen. “Or to you.”

  Karen pursed her lips. “You had a lot going on.”

  “So did you. I was a terrible friend. I will never treat anyone like that again. I will never treat you like that again, if you’ll let me be a part of your life.” She frowned. “We go way back, Karen. Way, way back. And, regardless of where our lives take us, I want you to know that you can always count on me. From this moment on. I am starting fresh.”

  “And I’m sorry I made you feel like I’d judge you if you were honest with me.” Karen nudged her in the side. “But the second you don’t text me back…”

  “Not even an issue. You are on my immediate ‘text back’ list. I’ll text back so fast your head will spin.”

  “I look forward to putting that to the test.” A reluctant smile played on Karen’s lips.

  Tinka turned to Jane. “Now you…”

  “I still think you should stay here with your parents.” Jane blew on her fingers. “Not because I don’t want you at school, but because I don’t think you want to be there.”

  Tinka frowned.

  “I’ve seen you at Florian’s, and I’ve seen you here. I used to think you were having fun there, that you were super carefree and loving it. But now that I’ve seen you here with Sam, and actually relaxed, I know that wasn’t the real you in South Carolina. What are you going to do when you go back and people expect fun, reckless Tinka?”

  “I’ll show them this Tinka instead. Besides, I’ve got a job there. I’m going to be learning about running a bakery.”

  “There are other bakeries in the world, is all I’m saying.” Jane patted her knee again. “You only have one set of parents.”

  …

  Under the arch of flowers on the Andersons’ beach, Sam tried to focus on the minister as she married Matthew and Hakeem, but he kept having to stop himself from glancing back at Tinka in the folding chairs on the groom’s side.

  Best man duties had kept him from her all day, and it was driving him to distraction. He’d seen her for a millisecond that morning when she’d come over with Jane, Karen, and—whoa—her parents to put the cake together and finish the decorations. He’d run over to her, but barely had time to plant a kiss on her cheek, before Matthew was dragging him into town to pick up flowers and their tuxes.

  Now she was sitting in the crowd, and he could feel her presence behind him. She was wearing this amazing strapless indigo gown that set off her eyes, and she had her hair done up in a braid-bun thing. She actually looked like Cinderella.

  And Sam felt confident that, even if he didn’t look like Prince Eric, he was Prince Charming to Tinka.

  After the ceremony, he walked with Hakeem’s sister down the aisle, and they were immediately dragged off to the house for pictures with the wedding party and both families. They posed in the living room, in the garden in front of the house, and on the deck.

  By the time pictures were done, dinner was starting. As they took their seats at the head table, he managed a quick wave to Tinka, who returned it with a big grin that sent his heart racing.

  Finally, after the salad course, Sam stood to find her, but his dad caught him and dragged him around to meet all his college friends and people he worked with. By the time Sam had been introduced to nearly the entire wedding reception, the main course—fillet and lobster tail—was already on the table.

  Then Matthew and Hakeem did their first dance (“At My Most Beautiful” by REM), the parents danced with their sons (to the Ugly Kid Joe version of “Cat’s in the Cradle,” because Matthew and Hakeem, as always, thought they were hilarious), and the wedding party was called up to bust a move en masse to “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie. Sam, wiped out and in desperate need of some water, left the dance floor to finally find Tinka.

  She was over near the pastry table talking to Elena Chestnut and her boyfriend, Oliver Prince. As he approached, Sam overheard Elena saying, “I hope you do stick around.”

  “Stick around?” Sam said, grabbing a bottle of water from a passing waiter.

  Tinka ran over and put her arms around him. “You’ve missed a lot over the past twenty-four hours.”

  “Apparently.”

  “When do I get to dance with the best man?”

  “After he catches his breath.” Sam opened the bottle and downed half of it. Wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, he said, “What?”

  Tinka was grinning at him. “I was thinking about the time we first met. When you gave me and Jane water after our run. I honestly thought you were going to murder us.”

  “Well, I was going to.” Sam screwed the cap back on his bottle. “I changed my mind when I found out you liked to bake.”

  “Baking saves lives.”

  “It does.” Sam gestured toward Elena and Oliver, who’d left them to talk to Danny and Star. “So, what was the sticking around thing about?”

  Tinka shrugged. “My parents and I had a chat…a fight…a chat-fight. They told me I had the option of going back to Florian’s or staying here in North Pole with them, so we could work on our ‘relationship.’”

  “Maybe not a bad idea,” Sam said.

  “Maybe not. They’re all of a sudden very interested in my future baking career. That’s why they came with me this morning to finish the cake. My dad’s been gathering information on everything from your dad’s friend’s bakery in South Carolina to culinary institutes around the country.” She shook her head. “They’re so embarrassing.”

  “They care.”

  “Too much, sometimes.” Tinka gestured toward the dance floor, where her mom and dad were dancing close. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Based on how in-my-face they’ve been today, going back to Florian’s isn’t sounding too bad.”

  “They’re excited. They’ll calm down. You can ask them to calm down.”

  “And I think they might actually listen, if you can believe it.” She sighed. “The thing with your dad’s friend is a legit great opportunity, though.”

  “But there are other bakeries in the world.”

  “That’s what Jane said.”

  “She’s very wise.”

  Tinka played with his right cufflink. “If I stayed here, you and I would only be half a continent apart, and you wouldn’t have to choose between coming to see me and visiting your family.”

  Sam’s heart sped up as her hands tickled his wrist. “But that can’t factor into your decision. You and I will work things out, no matter what.” He reached into his pocket for a box he’d been carrying around all day. “Tinka—”

  But then DJ Craig and his assistant Dinesh were calling for their attention. Matthew and Hakeem were about to cut the cake.


  “Eek,” Tinka squealed. She grabbed Sam’s hand and dragged him toward the dance floor. “It’s still standing,” she whispered.

  The cake was gorgeous. It was exactly like Hakeem’s picture. Three tiers stood on top of pillars surrounding a bubbling fountain, and a wedding party of plastic figures lined a winding staircase down to the bottom tier. But the cheesy ‘70s vibe didn’t distract at all from Tinka’s flawless piping work. “Wow. You did that.”

  “We all did.”

  “No.” He squeezed her hand. “Don’t get all humble now. That cake would be a wreck without you.”

  Tinka gazed toward the dance floor, where a few couples were intertwined. Danny and Star were out there, plus Oliver and Elena, Jane and Brian, Karen and Eric. She turned to Sam. “You want to dance?”

  “Yes, but first.” He reached into his pocket for the jewelry box, which he passed to her. “Please do not throw this back at me again.”

  She flipped it over in her hand. “What’s this?”

  “Remember the night we…broke up?”

  She winced.

  “I tried to give you this. I had Maurice pick them up for me while we were out on the town.”

  She opened the box. In it were the rainbow quadrangle earrings they’d seen at Mrs. Claus’s Closet that day.

  “You said they’d match your dress. You were right.”

  “Sam.” She handed the box to him while she put the earrings on.

  “I figured they can be a thank you for making the cake, plus, you know, I just really like you and stuff.” He blushed, shaking his head.

  She squeezed his hand. “I just really like you and stuff, too.”

  “Now, will you please dance with me before someone else drags me away for a photo op?”

  “You’re such a big deal,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his.

  “Don’t you forget it.”

  Epilogue

  “I’ve never done this before.” Tinka had barely slept all night in anticipation of what she and Sam were about to do today. She kept having nightmares about everything going horribly wrong.