Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
MATTHEW
I’m kissing Avery. Right now.
She’s in my arms and I’m kissing her.
Again.
Since getting to the hill, my only thoughts have been on not falling off the toboggan and seriously injuring myself—or worse.
Standing at the top of the hill, I thought of the headlines that would read, ‘Fatal Toboggan Race on Gum Drop Hill’ or ‘Two Seriously Injured in Gingerbread Grove Not-So-Yuletide Games.’
But instead…I had fun.
And now I’m kissing Avery Geller at the bottom of Gum Drop Hill.
And we won. Without crashing into a tree.
And instead of dwelling on the scathing look Cal sent our way that normally would have made my chest burn, I focus on the feel of Avery in my arms instead.
I normally wouldn’t be this forward, but I just reacted.
My gut instinct was to take Avery into my arms and kiss her, and that’s when I noticed everything else start to fade away.
The roar of the crowd is nothing but a whisper now; even the heated glare from McKenzie and Cal no longer feel like laser beams on my back.
The only thing that exists is Avery.
“Matthew! Avery! Congratulations!” Trevor gives me a hard pat on the back, making me break my kiss from Avery. “Matthew, I never thought I’d see the day you moved down a hill so fast!”
“Yeah, well, things change, I guess.” I’m speaking to Trevor, but my eyes are only for Avery.
I take in the way her short breaths make little white puff clouds in front of her mouth and the way her cheeks are an adorable pink colour.
“Come on, let’s get you over to the table and claim your prize. It’s an edible replica of the toboggan. They’re writing your names in icing on it as we speak!” he exclaims excitedly before running off toward the crowd.
“You did it!” Avery says with the brightest smile I’ve ever seen on her, gripping onto my arms.
“We did it,” I correct, unable to get the dumbfounded smile off my face.
“Maybe, but you got on that toboggan and rode it like a real elf! You got out of your comfort zone, and if I heard you correctly, you were even having fun while you were doing it!”
“I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say that I had fun, but it was…an adventure.”
“I heard you laughing, Matthew. Don’t you dare try to pretend that didn’t happen,” she laughs, giving my arm a squeeze.
Her smiling face draws me in again, making me almost forget that we’re expected at the winner’s table to accept whatever gingerbread monstrosity they have waiting for us.
“I admit nothing.” The corner of my mouth ticks up into a smile.
Movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention, only to find Trevor staring at us with a knowing grin on his face, which only looks more ridiculous with the green and red toque on his head with a big fluffy pompom stuck on the top.
Moving Avery’s hand to the crook of my elbow, I start to lead her toward the crowd when a loud—and unwelcome—voice stops me in my tracks.
“Matty! I didn’t know you liked to toboggan! Is that some new skill you picked up in the big city?” McKenzie asks as she walks up to us on Cal’s arm. His sneer is gone, and in its place is the fake politician’s smile.
“No, definitely not a skill or anything I’ve picked up from the city,” I grumble, trying to suppress the cringe over the use of my childhood nickname. Again.
“Maybe not, but he sure did amazing! Didn’t you, Matthew?
” Avery asks, emphasizing my full name. “I mean, it was such a surprise when you practically begged me to sign up. That Christmas resolution list of yours is sure making us do a bunch of new things, isn’t it?
” To anyone else, the look on her face would be pure excitement, but I know that it’s really a plea to play along.
“Uh, yeah.” Once again with the two word answers when she’s saving me.
“Christmas resolutions?” McKenzie asks, her eyebrow raised.
“Oh yes, Matthew here couldn’t wait for New Year’s, so he decided to make some Christmas resolutions. New things to try over the holiday season,” Avery answers, patting me on the chest.
“Right,” she answers, drawing out her syllables in disbelief.
“That’s actually a good idea,” Cal chimes in.
“We could market that for the town. I bet those people over at Candy Cane Creek don’t have anything like that.
It could be unique just for Gingerbread Grove.
” Cal’s eyes grow wide as he sucks in a breath.
“We could be trendsetters. Say, you don’t mind if we use this, do you, Matty?
I mean, Matthew. It would be awfully good for the town. ”
I’ve never met someone in this century that has tried so hard to speak in a transatlantic accent, but Cal is sure fighting hard to bring it back.
“Uh, yeah, go for it.” I shoot a look at Avery to see if she caught Cal’s antics. Her stifled laugh tells me she did.
“What other things have you been trying, Matty?” McKenzie asks, shooting a glare at Avery.
“Yes, what other ideas do you have that might give us an advantage over those blasted Creekers?” Cal adds.
Blasted? Was this guy for real?
“Oh, well, let’s see…” Avery taps a gloved finger from her free hand on her lips.
“Road trips,” I add. Thankful that I was finally able to contribute something to this conversation. “We’ve started going on road trips.”
“I’ve even taught him the importance of getting the best gas station candy. And which ones have the worst coffee, isn’t that right?” She adds with a giggle.
McKenzie’s face puckers. If things were still the same, which the look on her face tells me they are, she hates anything that comes out of a gas station and would never think to eat or drink anything that came from one. Not even if it was a Tim Horton’s attached to it.
“And now we can cross tobogganing off our list,” Avery finishes with a smile, looking up at me.
“Yeah.” Again, one word is all I can get out, especially when she’s smiling at me like that.
“Anyway,” Avery says, turning back to McKenzie and Cal, who are currently watching us as if we’ve both grown extra heads. “We should get over to that winner’s table. Collect our prize and all that. Right, Matthew?”
“Yup. Trevor will be waiting.”
Ha. Five words.
With a nod, we leave the other couple with their fake smiles as we get lost in the crowd.
We receive a few ‘congratulations’ as we pass through, but make sure not to stop and talk. Only providing a quick ‘thank you’ as we continue on our mission to the winner’s table.
I don’t know if Avery can sense that my meter for tolerating crowds is quickly dwindling, but she picks up her speed as we dodge well wishers.
“Matthew! Avery!” Trevor exclaims the closer we get to the winner’s table. “Congratulations on winning!” He clasps my shoulder so hard I stumble forward a little. “And just in time. We are about to make the announcement.”
“Oh joy,” I mutter under my breath.
Avery squeezes my arm reassuringly as she smiles up at me. The vice in my chest lessens a little, but the need to get out of here is still pressing.
“Thank you, everyone, for joining us at our annual Gum Drop Hill Toboggan Race!” Trevor announces into the microphone in his hand. We are excited to announce our winners Matthew Roberts and Avery…” He looks at Avery with a questioning look.
“Geller,” she whispers.
“Avery Geller!” He gives the crowd a moment with their applause before continuing. “You won a romantic dinner for two at the Gingy’s Grill!” The crowd cheers again.
I nod to Trevor as I accept an envelope from his outstretched hand.
“Gingy’s Grill?” Avery whispers.
“I’ll explain later.” Looking around at the crowd, and seeing the faces of the people that are rushing to congratulate us, I feel the vice returning in my chest. I appreciate the well wishes, but it’s a lot when half the town is rushing all at once.
“Hey, do you want to get out of here?” She gives my arm another squeeze while smiling up at me.
I can’t express how much it means to me that she understands my desperation to escape this crowd.
The only other woman to get how much I really don’t like crowds or being bombarded was Emily.
That’s why I let it last as long as I did.
She knew when I’d reached my limit and needed to leave a party or an event.
She had no problem taking me by the hand and making up some excuse to leave when my mind would go blank.
The only difference is that I didn’t have the overwhelmingly strong feelings for Emily that I do for Avery.
“Hey, are you okay?” Avery asks, leading me by the hand through the crowd. A smile is painted on her face, but I can tell it’s one just for the crowd surrounding us.
“Yeah. This is just… a lot.”
She pulls us off to the side, somewhat shielded by a pine tree that has been decorated with over-the-top tinsel and lights to the point it’s almost unrecognizable as a tree.
My attention is drawn back to her when she places her gloved palm on my cheek, guiding me until my gaze meets hers. “What do you need?”
Her voice is low, almost as if she’s worried someone will hear us and uncover our little hiding spot.
There’s nothing blocking us from the view but the trunk and a few low-laying branches, but it feels like we are in our own little world. I can hear ‘O Holy Night’ mixed with the chatter of the crowd, but they seem more distant than close.
“This. This is what I need,” I whisper back.
I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face as I realize she understands I don’t just mean us hiding behind this cedar tree, with its low-hanging branches and twinkling lights. I mean us. Here. Together.
“So, tell me about Gingy’s Grill. Please don’t tell me they cook steaks with gingerbread seasonings. I love my holiday treats, but not mixed with my meat.” Her eyes widen in fear. “They don’t grill gingerbread men, do they?”
I can’t help but chuckle at the thought.
“No, thankfully. Or at least, not that I’m aware of.
I think it’s more just to keep the theme of the town.
I know my mom and dad like going there. She’s talked about it non-stop since it opened.
It used to be a chain restaurant when I was growing up, but they decided to leave when everything was turning…
well, Christmas crazy. That’s when Gingy came in and opened the restaurant. ”
“Wait—that’s their actual name?” Avery’s eyes widen to the size of snowballs.
“Yup. Well, actually, his name is Sven, I think, but we’ve always called him Gingy. He’s a big lumberjack of a man with shockingly red hair and a matching coloured beard that has somehow never gone white. The man has to be in his sixties, at least by now.”
Gingy was a staple in Woodland Springs my whole childhood. At the time, he worked as a head chef at a restaurant a couple towns over, if I remember correctly, but he was always the first to help with church lunches or town events that had food and it was always amazing.
“We have to go there now. I want to see what this Gingy’s is all about!
” The excitement on her face is remarkable.
Looking down at her, I wonder why I was hesitant to show her around.
More importantly, I feel a spark of excitement that maybe this town isn’t as bad as I remembered it to be.
Aside from being obsessed with the holiday and in a feud with Candy Cane Creek that seems to be one sided on our side, maybe it’s not all so bad.
“We do have the gift certificate now. I mean, it would be a shame for it to go to waste. But just keep in mind this is a small town, so it won’t be like all the fancy restaurants you might get anywhere else.”
Avery chuckles. “I don’t need fancy, remember? That’s not me. I much prefer a town like Gingerbread Grove to the big city, anyway.”
“That’s good.” I feel a sense of relief, even though deep down, I never thought that going to a fancy restaurant for dinner would have appealed to her.
Even from the moment I met her in that ridiculous elf costume, I knew that she wasn’t like most women I’ve ever known.
There’s still something that stops me—makes me hesitate in believing that this is something that could be real or that I need to be concerned with.
Looking over her shoulder to see the crowd through the branches, I add, “then we’ll go. Just maybe not today.”
“Whenever you’re ready.”
Her words are soft but draw me back to her.
I don’t know how to thank her for that. For knowing what I need and when I need it.
There aren’t enough words to express what I’m feeling, so I do the only thing that makes sense to me right now.
I bend down and kiss her on her temple before lacing my fingers with hers.
“Do you want to go somewhere? I don’t want to stay here, but I’d like to keep hanging out with you, if that’s okay?” My heart beats in my chest as I wait for her answer. I want to keep reminding myself that this is fake, but it’s getting harder and harder the more time I spend with her.
“That’s more than okay.” And the smile on her face tells me she means that with her whole heart. “Where do you want to go?”
“I think I know just the place.”