Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
MATTHEW
“I’m here! I’m here!” Avery rushes toward our table, an oversized box in her hands.
I can barely see her over the cardboard, and I have no clue how she’s managing to dodge the tables as swiftly as she is.
“Phew, there were a few close calls there,” she says as I take the box from her and place it on our table.
“Traffic was that bad?” I start to open the top flap, but Avery swats it down, her eyes narrowing.
“No peeking. Not until all of it is in here.” She starts to pull off her coat and scarf. “And, yes, the highway was jammed up from an accident outside of town. Looks like black ice. Thankfully, everyone was fine.”
“That’s good. Wait, how do you know that?” I ask, watching as she casually drapes her jacket over the back of her chair.
“I stopped, of course. Thankfully, I had some extra candy canes on me. The kids in the backseat of one of the cars were pretty scared.”
“Did you just say the ‘double c’ word?” Betty Stafford gasps as she walks up to our table. Her white, tightly curled hair wet with snow. “You should be docked marks. Nay, you should be kicked out of the competition!”
“And the town!” Doris Whittaker adds, shaking her cane in Avery’s direction.
‘Nay?’ Who uses that anymore?
“Ladies, please. The treat was given outside of town lines and for a couple of children that were scared. Surely you can overlook this.”
“Hmph,” Betty says, eyeing our box wearily. “Fine, but only as long as there is not one red and white peppermint flavoured thing on your submission anywhere.”
“Noted,” I answer, watching as the two older women walk away.
“What was that?” Avery whispers, now standing at my side.
“That is what happens when you mention anything to do with the town’s arch nemesis within the town orders.”
“Does the town that shall not be named know about the rivalry yet?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Or, if they are, they’re being really quiet about it. Rumour is InsiderCookie57 is from there and just playing dirty.”
“Didn’t I suggest that to you?” she laughs.
“Maybe. I can’t keep up with all the gossip.”
“Look at you! In the thick of it with the small town life! Next thing you know, you’ll be joining town hall meetings and scheming with the rest of them!”
“I will not.” I can’t hide my eye roll as I move to the other side of the table and pick up the bags of supplies I brought, placing them on the table next to her box.
“Picture it. Sicily, 1922…”
“Is this another TV reference?” I suck in a breath, wondering if I’m going to have to dodge a flying piece of candy for not getting it.
“Golden Girls,” she sighs. “We’re going to have to get you caught up on all of these shows.”
“Is that necessary?” I put on a good front, but if it means I get to spend hours next to Avery while she laughs and provides anecdotes about her favourite shows, I’ll do it.
“Necessary? Absolutely. But let’s get back to you at the town hall meetings. As much as I love your button-up shirts and sweaters, I’m seeing more flannel and jeans in your future, maybe a backwards cap.”
“No way,” I protest.
“Fine, it doesn’t have to be backwards.”
“Shouldn’t we get started on this competition?” I start pulling out the candies and chocolates she had asked me to pick up. I’m not sure how they’re all going to come together, but I know Avery has a vision.
“Yes. I just have to go get the last box from my car.”
“There’s more?”
“Of course there’s more. I wanted to go bigger but I didn’t have the time.”
“I’ll get it for you,” I offer, feeling the need to be busy so I don’t dwell in my guilt about how all of this has essentially come down to her.
“That would be great. And then I can get started on getting this all set up.” She reaches into the pocket of her jacket and pulls out her keys, but another little white circle falls out with it. “What’s this?”
I hold out my hand to her and she drops it in my palm. Flipping it over my fingers, I shake my head. “It’s a tracking device.”
“A what?” she claims, drawing the attention from the people around us.
“A tracking device,” I whisper back. “I take it, it’s not yours.”
“No, it’s not mine,” she whispers back, staring at the device in my hand. “How did it get in my pocket? Who’s tracking me? Do you think it’s how all the other couples knew where we were during the snowball fight last night?”
Her questions fly at me as I try to process everything.
Someone is taking these games so seriously that they’ve planted a tracking device on Avery.
There’s likely one that was placed on me, too.
Patting my jacket, I thrust my hands in my pockets and come out with a device exactly like the one that she just found. “What…?”
“Okay, this has to be related to the games now. Why else would we both have the same device planted on us?”
“I don’t know, but these games are getting very…odd.”
Looking around the room, I’m seeing everyone in a new light.
Instead of them being people I started to think of as neighbours or even friends during my week here, I’m seeing people that might have ulterior motives.
I thought I had to leave my time not trusting people back in the city, but I guess Gingerbread Grove is just like any other place.
“I’ll go get the box. Maybe the sooner we’re done, the sooner we can get out of here. “
“Hey,” Avery says, placing her hand on my arm. “We’ll figure it out.”
I nod, accepting her keys and storming out of the room, making sure not to meet anyone’s eyes.
I don’t know what I was thinking, being under the impression that maybe the town had changed, and everyone was happy to see me back here.
There’s obviously someone, or someones, that aren’t.
I might be able to buy that it’s all someone from Candy Cane Creek if it wasn’t for the fact that the posts, the location devices, everything seems to be aimed at Avery and me.
Pushing the doors to open into the parking lot, the crushing pressure is back in my chest for the first time in a long time.
I start to rub it, until I notice I’m doing it with the hand that’s holding Avery’s keys, so it’s just a repeated circular motion of stabbing myself with metal mixed with impending doom.
“Hey, Matthew. Are you okay?” Eric asks, coming from between two parked cars.
“Yup, just fine,” I reply gruffly. I know it’s not his fault. Or, at least, I’m pretty sure it’s not his fault. He hasn’t been near all the events, and I didn’t see him last night at the snowball fight.
“Big day. It’s the final event of the games,” he says, shoving his hands into the front pocket of his jeans.
“Yup.” I look around, seeing if there’s anyone here with him. Is this an ambush? Is there someone watching? Waiting so they can make some other kind of move?
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks, placing his hand on my shoulder.
Before I can think better of it, I brush his hand off and take a step back. “Can I help you, Eric?”
He places his hands up, palms facing me. “Just a concerned friend.”
“Is that what we are? Friends?”
I hate how I’m acting right now. I hate that I’ve resorted to putting up the wall that I always have when I’m at home in the city.
I feel like I can’t trust anyone and everyone’s just out for themselves.
I’ve let myself fall into a false sense of security being here.
I let my guard down and now look what has happened.
“I thought we were. Or we were starting to be. I’m sorry if I’m mistaken.”
I huff, dropping my shoulders. “No, I’m sorry. There’s just been some…developments that have me on edge. That’s all.”
“Is it the posts?”
“You know about those?”
Eric laughs, dropping his hands. “Everyone who’s on the app knows about them. Knows that you’re taking over your dad’s store for good, too.”
“I’m…what?”
“Trish posted all about it. She said she overheard you and Avery talking about the big deal and how it was going to be finalized soon. Such a smart move, having your company based out of the store, too. Probably saves you a lot of money with the price of office space in the city.”
“Uh…”
Well, that got more of out of control than I expected. I just wanted to take some heat off of Avery and now I’m moving back to Gingerbread Grove, taking over my dad’s store, and moving my company here.
“You don’t look like someone who’s excited to do all of that,” he observes.
“It’s all just…a lot.” I scan the parking lot, no longer looking for a secret sleuth but for Avery’s car. Or a way to get out of this conversation.
“I get that. The town can be that way. Especially with new people.”
“What do you mean?” I snap my head toward him. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember him from growing up in Woodland Springs. He looks a few years younger than me, so I chalked it up to my poor memory or teenage selfishness. Now I know that’s not the case.
“Not only did I move here, but I moved from Candy Cane Creek.”
My eyes bulge wide. “And they let you in?”
“Not at first,” he chuckles. “It took a lot of convincing and pleading at the town hall meetings. There were bribes with baked goods. Being voluntold to be on coffee duty for every meeting. I did it all happily, but it still took a year. Or more like it took a year for the senior in town to stop calling me ‘Sugar Stick Softie’ instead of my real name.”
I wince. “Wow, that’s bad. Why did you do it? What made you want to be part of this town so bad?”
“I don’t know. I loved Candy Cane Creek. I co-managed an inn with my best friend, and I had the girl of my dreams, and I messed it all up. Around that time, Cal reached out and asked if I was interested in running an inn here.”
“Cal? Cal reached out to you? No offence, but why would he do that?”
“Cal would stay at The Mistletoe Inn often before the town made the changes. I didn’t understand it then, and I can only assume now, but I think it was to get ideas for Gingerbread Grove. See how the Creek was run. Experience the holiday season there.”
“Sounds sneaky to me,” I muse, finding confirmation that my immediate distrust of the mayor wasn’t founded on the fact he’s married to McKenzie.
“Something like that. I can’t prove anything, but during his last visit, he asked if I liked where I worked and if I had any desire to own an inn myself. Shortly after that, I lost everything keeping me in the town, so I left.”
There seems to be more to the story, but I don’t press him on it. Not on that aspect, anyway.
“What’s happening with the inn? I heard there’s a hold up.”
He sighs. “Paperwork keeps going missing right before the last steps are about to be approved. No matter how many times I submit or back it up, they say it has never been received by the deadline.”
“That’s frustrating. Wait, do you submit online? It’ll have a time-stamped record…”
“That would be nice, but no. Have you seen the town’s website? You can barely find out when your garbage is going to be picked up. It can’t handle online submission.”
“I did have the pleasure of navigating it,” I answer dryly, renewing my curiosity as to why the town has a fully functioning and carefully designed app, but not a website. “What about the people you handed the paperwork to? They must remember.”
“They all claim to ‘see so many people, they can’t remember anything.’”
“Inside job from City Hall?”
“To what gain? Cal was the one who asked me to open it, and it would bring money into the town. Right now, we don’t have a functioning inn.”
“That’s a good point.” I scratch my beard while I think, the cold wind picking up and brushing against my face. “What about your old connections in Candy Cane Creek?”
“Jacob and Cassie? I don’t think so. They were mad, but they aren’t the vengeful type.”
“Even with the feud?”
“Believe me, the feud isn’t a big deal over there,” he laughs.
I look back at the elementary school gym doors, thinking about how much the town has changed since I grew up here.
This wasn’t ‘Gingerbread Grove Elementary,’ it was ‘Woodland Springs Elementary.’ There wasn’t a feud with Candy Cane Creek.
It was a quaint little town that we all loved to take a drive to visit during the holidays.
The people were warm and friendly. They would never speak behind your back.
It seems that it’s more than just the name that changed.
And maybe that’s a little reflection of the way I’ve changed since moving to the city. Shutting everyone off. Being suspicious of everyone that’s not in my circle.
Before Avery, I wouldn’t have minded, or likely even noticed. But now I see that maybe, like the town, not all changes have been for the better. I’m seeing how it can affect people like Eric, who are just looking to find their place.
“I need to get back in there. Do you mind helping me carry something in?”