When the heir to Christmas falls for a girl who hates the holiday, he risks losing his birthright to a trickster cousin unless he (and his magical friends) can melt her bah-humbug heart.
* * *
With his pet reindeer, grumpy...
"Caaaaaaaaandyyyyyyy," Avery yelled, reaching a frequency worthy of dog's ears as they arrived at stall number five. Labeled on the map with a gingerbread figure, it did indeed have various delicacies made of the spiced dough in different shapes decorated with colorful sprinkles and icing, along with a mouthwatering array of other sweets.
Marzipan balls, toffee bark, marshmallow pops, coconut truffles, and gumdrop nougats also filled trays lining the counter. Rock candies in the colors of the rainbow, licorice strands, and candied nuts—pecans, almonds, and peanuts covered with sugar and spices—were stuffed into jars on the shelves. And just like the others, this shop owner was also waiting for them.
"Good morning, ladies," the bearded man said. Without wasting time, he reached for two, large heart-shaped gingerbread cookies hanging from the ceiling on red ribbons. "This one is for Miss Avery," he said, handing the girl the shrink-wrapped delicacy. "And this is for Miss Noelle."
After taking their newest gifts, the girls compared designs. Avery's dinner plate sized heart cookie was decorated around the edge with white sugar icing and had the town's name written in neat cursive in the middle in light blue. Snowflakes dotted the empty spaces. Noelle's on the other hand was edged with red icing and had "Minä Uskon" written on it.
"What does this mean?" Noelle asked the shopkeeper, holding up her cookie heart.
"I believe," he said with a wink.
Noelle smiled. This was definitely meant for her. After the revelation in the cave last night, she had no reason not to believe in any of the magical things this place threw at her. "Thank you." Turning to Avery she said, "These are way too pretty to eat. Do you want to get anything else?"
After loading up on two of everything else, they were ready for the second to last stop. Although Noelle was still anxious to get to Nick, she was almost sorry that there were only seven things on the map for them to do. This was actually really fun.
"What do you think it'll be?" Avery asked, munching on a chewy, white chocolate square filled with red and green gummy candy. "You've gotten shoes, a toy, and a cookie knick-knack, so I hope it's nothing cheesy like a peppermint scented candle. Jewelry would be nice. Ooh, what if it's jewelry?"
"I doubt it's jewelry," Noelle said, checking the map again although she knew exactly which way they were going and also that the icon next to the number six was still an angel. Unless Nick was giving her a winged brooch or something, her bet was on an ornament hop. Angels were common tree toppers, after all.
But Noelle was once again mistaken. Because spot number six wasn't even a stall at all, but rather an open space with an Instagram-worthy backdrop of lighted angel wings.
"This is so cool," Avery gushed, dropping her bags into the snow, handing her cell phone to Noelle and fluffing her hair as she rushed over. Standing in front of the wings, she posed her little heart out. "Your turn."
Noelle shook her head. "I'm good, thanks."
"Come on. It's so cute. Plus Nick sent us here so won't he be disappointed that you didn't even take one picture?" she asked with a pout.
Noelle sighed. "Fine. Just hurry up."
They switched places. At least it wasn't one of those 'stick your face through a hole' picture screens where you looked like a snowman or one of the reindeer. Avery snapped a few pictures and would have probably gotten more if Noelle hadn't moved. She was definitely ready to find Nick. Even her palms in her mittens were sweating.
"Where exactly is he meeting us?" Avery asked as they left the alley connecting the two squares. There were no market stalls here, just the perimeter of houses, the Christmas tree in the middle, and several snowmen.
"I'm not—" Noelle's response was cut short by a snowball to her left shoulder. "Oww." She looked around for her attacker before noticing a familiar-looking hat sticking out from behind a snowman. "You!"
With a giggle, she dropped her bags and scooped up a handful of snow, huddling down to be a smaller target. After forming the white powder into a dense ball, she ran around the snowman and aimed for Nick. She got him in the middle of his back.
As if on cue, a slew of snowballs flew out from all directions and pummeled Noelle.
"Hey! Who's on what side?" she asked with a laugh, ducking in beside Nick as the projectiles broke apart on against her coat, sending soft snow flying.
He pulled her in for a kiss. "It's every man—or woman—for themselves," he said as he pulled away. "But since we're now even, we can team up."
"Deal."
And so the biggest snowball fight that Noelle had every taken part in began. Half the town must have been there, turning the square into a winter war zone that was filled with laughter and exclamations of amusement instead of cries and shrieks of pain. The battle only wound down when the church bells began to toll at mid-day.
"Surrender! I declare a surrender," Nick yelled, coming out with raised hands from behind a snow bank.
As people took notice and emerged from their hiding spots, the frequency of throws decreased until the fight ended completely. Soon, everyone began to disperse.
"Well, that was unexpected," Noelle said, shaking snow off her collar. A handful had managed to slip inside her coat and was now cooling her neck as it melted.
Nick leaned down to kiss her. "I hope that didn't preclude you from having fun."
She shook her head. "Not at all. Thank you. We had an awesome morning. Oh, god. Avery! Have you seen her?" she asked, realizing that she'd lost sight of her colleague after the first shots were thrown. That must have been almost an hour ago.
"Right here." Avery's voice came from the Christmas tree. As the branches shook, a figure crawled out from below. "I had a less than favorable experience with a snowball fight as a kid, so I hope you didn't mind me sitting this one out," she said as she approached, her hands full of all their bags. At least she'd had the forethought to grab those out of the way.
Noelle plucked a stray pine needle out of Avery's hat before taking half of the load. "You're a gem." Turning to Nick, she frowned. "And you are a mystery. Or rather, your choice of presents are," she said, holding up the bag in emphasis. "I have questions."
He smiled. "And I have answers. But how about we get out of the cold. Is anyone hungry?"
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This is my #NaNoWriMo2019 project and while I absolutely love all of my silent readers, I would LOVE to get your encouragement while writing this story. So please, please, please add it to your libraries, vote on the chapters (updates daily!) and leave me comments. <3
Yesterday was the first time this month that I didn't have enough newly written content to post a new chapter. The mid-book slump is definitely kicking in, but I'm trying to push through!
