“I know you haven’t,” Sam said. “But I have. Follow my lead.”
“Go slow.” She clenched her fists, digging her fingernails into her palms. Her entire body was tense. She needed a massage. Maybe they should do that instead.
He hugged her close, rubbing her back. “I promise, I will. Whatever you need.”
“I mean it,” she said, pushing him away and staring him down. “Like, if the sign says ‘Slow,’ go slow. I’m not winding up in another ditch.”
“I won’t let that happen to you. Now if a branch falls on the tracks or something, there’s nothing I can do about it.” He waved to some friend of his down Main Street, who was coming out of the barbershop.
“You’d better hope that doesn’t happen.”
Behind them, the door to Santabucks flew open and the rest of their crowd streamed out, carrying beverages. Jane handed Sam and Tinka their black coffees. Karen, Harper, Matthew, and Hakeem had cold drinks. “Ready for this?” Jane asked.
“Ready is such a strong word,” Tinka said.
Sam put his arm around her, kneading her shoulder, which did nothing to relieve the tension in her body. She touched the ring around her neck but that didn’t help either. “She’s going to do great,” he said.
Matthew and Hakeem were leaving on their honeymoon tomorrow and it was Jane and Karen’s last day in North Pole, so they were all going down Jingle Falls. All of them. Tinka was fairly certain this would be the end of her. At least she’d die happy.
Happy. In North Pole. Four short weeks ago, she’d been pretty sure she was living in actual hell, but now there was no place she’d rather be. She knew North Pole wasn’t magic—the magic, if she could even call it that, was in finally being true to herself, though she’d never say those embarrassing words out loud—but it felt that way today.
In the hot, bright July sunlight, the group headed down Main Street toward their cars. The Christmas in July festival had ended on Sunday, and most of the tourists had gone home to their lives and jobs. North Pole was calm and quiet. Some people were at work. Others had abandoned Main Street for pools and beaches.
“I love it like this,” Sam said.
“I kind of do, too,” Tinka agreed. “It feels like being in school after hours.”
As they walked past the bakery, Nancy Gold ran out and flagged them down. “Sam!” she cried. “Matthew! Harper!”
Their group stopped and waited for Nancy to catch up. She was wearing a lime green Cancun T-shirt that set off her new tan. “I want to apologize again. That mix up was unacceptable. I want to offer your family free birthday cakes for life. It’s the least I can do.”
“We have a new baker now.” Sam nodded to Tinka.
“Yeah,” Harper said. “Tinka made the cake. She saved the day after Dottie screwed everything up.”
Nancy glanced at Tinka. “I heard you stepped up. Maggie Garland told me the cake was to die for.”
Tinka grinned and Sam squeezed her hand.
“It was to die for,” Sam said.
“Absolutely,” added Hakeem.
Tinka nodded toward the store window, where Nancy had put up a sign. “I see you’re looking for help.” The idea had occurred to her the other night at the wedding. There were other bakeries. In fact, there was one right here in town, one that might be looking for a good, reliable, less vindictive worker.
Nancy frowned. “Well, I had to fire Dottie after this, didn’t I? She’d had it coming for a while. I’m looking for help around the store. Not only that, but I’d like to have someone I can count on to pick up the slack, baking-wise. Dottie was never good for that.” Her eyes widened at Tinka. “You’re not interested, are you?”
“I might be,” Tinka said. “I’m supposed to go back to school in South Carolina, but my parents kind of want me to stay here, and I kind of want to stay with them…maybe.” She’d been thinking about it a lot. The three of them were finally talking, finally being honest with each other. How would it help matters if she up and left them in a few weeks? They needed time to heal together, and to get to know each other for real, all cards on the table.
“Well, if you do stick around, I think this job would be worth your while. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I need someone talented to assist me. You’d have free reign to try new things.”
“What kinds of new things?” Tinka asked.
“Whatever you want. It’s hard for me to stay on top of new trends when I’m always trying to keep up with filling my regular orders. I want to bring Sugarplum Sweets into the future, but I need help with that.”
“Wow,” Tinka said. “That sounds…kind of amazing.”
“But if you do decide to go back to school, maybe in the summer, then. Or winter break.” Nancy said good-bye, waved, and turned around.
Tinka stared hard at her back. The decision was obvious, wasn’t it?
“Hey, Nancy!” she shouted. “I’ll call you, okay?”
Nancy turned back, grinning. “Okay.”
Sam and Tinka hopped into his truck, just the two of them. “Are you really doing this? Are you going to stay in North Pole?” He backed out of his parking spot.
“I don’t know,” Tinka said. “I kind of think maybe I am. Is that silly?”
Sam shook his head. “It’s not silly. It’s North Pole.” He let that one sink in. “But you need to choose what’s best for you.”
She stared out the passenger’s side window. The Christmas-themed stores flew by in a rush. “I’m not sure what’s best. You’d like it if I stuck around, right?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter what I’d like. And if you’re fishing for me to tell you what to do, not gonna happen. I am neutral. I’m Switzerland.”
She squeezed his wrist. “You’re a jerk.”
At the top of Jingle Falls, the two of them met the rest of their group. “Are we doing this or what?” Harper had a hand on her hip.
Tinka’s right leg was shaking hard like it was begging her to run the hell away from this foolishness. “We’re doing it.”
“Okay.” Harper held up her sled. “Let’s make it interesting. Whoever wipes out buys lunch at Mags’s afterward.”
“No one’s going to wipe out.” Sam glanced at Tinka as if he could see the words “wipe out” echoing through her head.
“Sure, sure,” Matthew said. “But this is an added incentive to stay on the track.” He nodded toward the slide and Hakeem followed him over. Matthew went first, then his new husband. Harper followed, then Jane and Karen.
At last, only Tinka and Sam were left.
“You ready?” he asked.
She nodded, then said, “No.”
“You can back out.”
She drew in a deep breath, and let it out. “I’m doing this. We’re doing it. Together.” She stepped up to the slide attendant and handed him her sled. Sam got in first, then he held out a hand to help Tinka in. She got in front of him and sat down, nestled between his legs.
“I will go slow. I promise.” He wrapped his arms around her, reached between her knees, and grabbed the throttle. The fact that he was holding her so tight in his strong, wonderful arms while breathing right next to her ear, almost made her forget about her impending doom. Almost. “Here we go,” he whispered.
The ride started easy enough, slow and gradual. After a few seconds, she leaned into Sam, relaxing a bit.
“See?” he said. “This is fun!”
“It is!” She squinted into the sun, feeling the warm air whipping at her face. This was safe. This was fun. This was perfect.
Then it happened. A squirrel or a chipmunk or something crossed the track. Tinka screamed as her life flashed before her eyes. Sam pulled hard on the throttle to stop, but it was no use. Their sled tipped over and they skidded on the track. Tinka landed in a patch of grass and pinched herself to make sure she was alive. She was.
Sam jumped up immediately and ran to her. “Shit! Are you okay?” He helped her stand. “Please don’t hold thi
s over me. I was going slow—”
She brushed herself off. “I think I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Sam examined her. Then, “Oh my God. Your knee.”
Tinka glanced at her right leg, the leg that had been warning her earlier with all its shaking. The crash had ripped a hole in her jeans, and her knee had been skinned raw. She hadn’t felt the pain until she saw her injury, but now it hurt like hell. “Just a flesh wound,” she said, hopping around to distract herself from the pain. “I’ll survive. I’m Walter, remember?”
“If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t escape this unscathed.” Wincing from his own injury, Sam held up his forearm, which looked a lot like Tinka’s knee.
She grimaced. “I guess we’re paying for lunch.” She glanced down at her leg again. Sam held out an arm, like he was ready to catch her if she fell. But she wouldn’t. She gritted her teeth and attempted to smile up at him. It didn’t go well. “I guess I’m a real North Poler now, huh?”
“You know, you didn’t actually have to injure yourself,” Sam said. “We would’ve let you stay anyway. I mean, Hakeem’s scar-free and we still like him.”
“I want to stay.” Tinka focused on the sky where big, white, fluffy clouds floated across the expanse of blue. “I really do, not because of my parents.” She glanced at him. “And, no, not because of you.” Tinka’s whole body warmed and even the pain subsided. “I think you’ve actually managed to convince me. This place is home.”
Sam took her hand and nodded toward the slide. “You know there’s only one way down from this point, unless you brought your rock climbing gear.”
“I was afraid of that.” She dragged the sled back onto the track and climbed in.
Sam got in behind Tinka and wrapped his arms around her. With wide eyes, she glanced back at him. “Don’t let me go.”
“Never,” he said, giving her one last squeeze before pulling on the throttle and sending them hurtling the rest of the way down the slide.
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Acknowledgments
Much love to Kate Brauning, Bethany Robison, the rest of the team at Entangled, and my agent, Beth Phelan.
I told Amy Henning, Rita Kerrigan, Annie Martinez, and Bridget Eaglin I’d thank them in a book someday, so here that is. Thank you, girls, for being such good friends for so many, many years. We all look great at our advanced age. I also want to throw a special shout out to Meg Kelly. Seeing my daughter make friends of her own reminds me of all the goofy stuff we used to do when we were kids and takes me back to when we were going to own our own Hallmark store. There’s still time!
All the love and thanks to my family, especially John and my parents.
Everything I know about baking (and life, basically), I learned from America’s Test Kitchen.
Thank you to you—yes, you!—for reading this book. You’re the reason I do this. Also the fame, but mostly you.
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.
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