Chapter 16
On Monday, Winter Wonderland was jam-packed with people as soon as the gates opened. Cora showed up dressed in a pair of tartan cigarette pants and a fluffy white sweater with a pair of cute snow-boots to deal with the weather conditions.
“Morning.”
A frosty glare was the only response Nick received.
She was pissed and he understood why. After their snowball fight, she had asked him to stay but he’d felt too guilty about not telling her the whole truth about who he was.
Things couldn’t get serious between them until she knew everything.
Cora was way softer than she wanted the world to see, and she would consider his omission a betrayal.
He’d spent a lot of time last night staring at her knot in the Yearweave, which was still just as tangled and dark. The wins he’d had with the Magic Coffers were great but hadn’t moved the needle as far as Cora was concerned.
“Where do you need me?” She directed her question to Buddy instead of Nick.
“Uh, wherever the boss decides. We’ve mostly been busy fielding questions and taking orders for the WonderHaus so far,” Buddy explained.
“Let’s go in the backroom and I’ll give you a brief overview,” Nick said.
“I think I can handle it. I’ll take the left side.”
Cora’s cold shoulder was leaving him with frostbite, but his bestie was Jack Frost so he was used to the cold. What he wasn’t used to was her rejecting all his attempts to smooth over this tension between them.
Bari Toys had pride of place in the toy village and theirs was the largest shop. He’d set it up much like his shop in Hearthvale. His elves blended nicely with the mortal employees he’d recruited to help with sales. It didn’t escape Nick that everyone was giving him and Cora the side-eye.
“Cora—” She stiffened. “Cora, I need a word.”
Her lips tightened but she joined him in the backroom where he’d taken time to install a portal back to Hearthvale so his elves could get to the workshop for more stock if needed.
There was a seating area where people could take breaks, a line of desks against one wall, and a coffee station stocked with freshly baked cookies.
“What?” she demanded as soon as they were alone.
“I’m sorry about last night.”
She looked everywhere but in his direction. He admired that about her. Cora might be icing him out but there was no way she’d make a scene. She was too controlled for that. “There’s nothing to apologize for. Is there anything else?”
“No, just that. And I do need to apologize. I hurt your feelings—”
“Ask around, Bari, I don’t have any.”
“But you do, Cora. Despite that thick layer of ice you like to wrap yourself in, you care. A lot.”
Her eyes fluttered closed and her face looked even more stern. “So what? That has nothing to do with us working together. I’m not going to discuss my feelings with you, so could you please just ignore them the way I plan to?”
Except he couldn’t. Oh, he wanted to, but it was too late for that. His emotions swirled all over the place where she was concerned. It would be better for everyone in Hearthvale—for all of humanity, in fact—if he could ignore them, but he couldn’t.
She had her arms crossed under her breasts, her hip out to one side as she waited for his response. Frustrated with himself, with her, and with the entire situation, he stalked over to her, put his hands on her waist and slammed his mouth down on hers.
That frustration melted away the minute their lips met. The anger that had driven him was really just a mask for his own guilt—the shame of making her hurt so badly that she’d pulled that thick coat of ice back around herself.
She met him with the same energy, sucking his tongue deep into her mouth and biting his lower lip as he pulled back.
“This is going to be a problem. Lust and anger aren’t exactly conducive to a peaceful work environment,” she said, but the heat was gone from her tone. Even her face was more relaxed.
“Have a lot of experience with it?”
“Only from watching Moonlighting.”
“What’s that?”
“A really old, sexy, workplace romance TV show that my neighbor Sarah got me hooked on when I was a teenager.”
He rested his forehead against hers.
Her arm snaked around his waist, hugging him close before she let out a long sigh and stepped back. “I’ll be nicer out there, but we can’t keep doing this. Every time you kiss me, I think … well, I think things I shouldn’t.”
“Why shouldn’t you?” he asked.
“You want to get married and I don’t.”
“What else?” Maybe he could use her reasons to help himself too.
“I’m really bad at relationships—even friendship. As much as I want to be a good friend, I don’t believe I ever am.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
“You could let me out of this arrangement,” she suggested. “Make it easier on both of us.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
She gave a shout of laughter. “True. What do you propose?”
“You be yourself and I’ll do the same.”
“I’m a bit much.”
“Doubt it. Seems to me that you’re just enough. Maybe the people in your life weren’t up to it.”
“And you are?”
He hoped he was. Hope was such a powerful thing it lit up the darkness. He needed it to do that now. Because there was no walking back from the affection that had taken root for her. He was going to get her back on the Nice List, no matter the cost to him.
The day flew by. Nick had an ease in talking with all of his customers, especially the children, and she admired that greatly.
Every time she glanced around for him—and she did it far more often than she probably should—he was crouched down next to a child, talking to them at eye level and demonstrating what the house could do.
Her gut had been right about the toy. They had a line out the door for most of the day and staff kept emerging from the backroom with more stock as the day went on.
When Buddy came up to her, informing her it was her turn to take an hour for lunch, she was surprised how hungry she was.
Nick waited for her in the break room, standing over the shoulder of someone she hadn’t met and showing them something on the computer.
For a moment she hesitated, not wanting to interrupt.
Work was sacrosanct to her, so she decided to leave him to it.
Instead, she stepped out into an alleyway shared by all the toy vendors.
It was clean and cobblestoned—another of Nick’s touches that made the toy village feel like a real place and not just a booth in a convention hall. He’d really worked his magic.
Hannah sat on a bench across the way, a bento box in her hands.
“Hello.”
Cora smiled at her. “Hi. How’s it going?”
“So busy today. I’m glad Nick gave me a hand with production. I’d never have kept up with demand,” Hannah said. “Want to join me?”
Cora’s instinct was to say no but she’d had some time to think about what she’d said to Nick. She was bad at relationships because she didn’t ever want to risk being hurt. She’d never actually given Hannah a chance—probably because she had been envious of Hannah’s happiness.
“I need to grab some food first, but, if you don’t mind, I’ll bring it back here,” Cora said.
“I’ll be here for”—Hannah looked at her wrist—“twenty-eight more minutes.”
“If I miss you then maybe we can have a drink later,” Cora said.
“I’d love that. My parents are in town for the entire month so I don’t have to rush home.”
“I don’t know how you run a successful business on top of being a mom,” Cora admitted. Her mother certainly hadn’t been able to hold down a job and be there for her daughter.
“It’s tough most days, but I love being a mother. I know it sounds so clichéd, but those kids are the best of me,” she said.
Cora didn’t cringe. “I like that for you.”
“Me too. See you soon.”
Cora walked through the alleyway, greeting many of the other vendors who offered hesitant smiles.
It took her almost forty minutes just to get through the alleyway.
Every vendor thanked her for inviting them back.
It had surprised her how much this event meant to them.
Sure, she’d had an idea of the financial ramifications, but that wasn’t what most of the vendors mentioned.
The head of Daniel and Sons had been clear that for them it was about being around other toymakers and having a community again.
Nick caught up with her where she waited in line at the sandwich cart. “I thought you’d be finished already.”
“Me too. Took some time to chat with everyone in the alleyway. That was a great idea, creating a communal space for all of the retailers.”
“Thanks. I figured everyone needed some quiet space.”
“I never considered that,” she admitted. Glancing at her watch, she realized she had fifteen minutes before she needed to be back on the shop floor. The line wasn’t moving quickly enough for her to make it.
“I’m going to skip this. I’ll see you back at the shop,” she said.
“You can take time to eat,” Nick said.
“That’s not fair to your staff. They deserve a break as well.”
“They’ll get one. You have a role as director of the entire festival. We always knew your time would be in demand. Stay and eat with me.”
Her stomach rumbled.
He laughed.
“Um, okay.”
“What do you want? I can get our order if you grab us a table,” he said.
“Are you sure you want to eat here? It’s very busy,” she said. The festivalgoers were all making their way to the food court. The din of conversation was loud and intermingled with screams of laughter and some cries from kids.
“Nowhere else I’d rather be.”
She told him what she wanted to eat and then winked at him. “This will probably annoy me—might help me win our bet.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
Making her way through the tables, a lot of locals stopped her to tell her how much they were enjoying this year’s festival, especially the toy village. She recorded a couple of video testimonials from people who agreed to share their views and she sent them to Fliss to post on their socials.