Page 27 of Santa Loves Curvy Girls

Belle looked like she was ready to make up an excuse and keep going on with her day.

I nodded at her basket. “Do you like to bake during the holidays?”

Now a smile came on her face. “Yeah, I guess it’s my thing. I make tons of cookies every year.”

“Cool,” I replied. I indicated the piles of snow nearby. “I shovel a lot of snow.”

“I bet it’s a workout,” she said, a little more friendly now.

I nodded again. “For sure. But it keeps me busy, and it helps out Mr. and Mrs. Bowman, who can’t really do it anymore.”

She glanced around. “You should start a business or something.”

I grinned. “You’re probably right. Although snowball fights are way more fun.”

“Oh really?” she asked. “Aren’t you a little old for snowball fights?”

She was teasing me in a way I was now familiar with, and I liked it.

It almost felt like our other conversations.

“You’d be surprised. I think they get way more fun when you’re older.” I held one finger. “For one, you can bring teams and strategy into it.” I held up another finger. “And your aim is better.” I held up a third finger. “And no one ends up crying. Usually.”

That got a laugh out of her.

“My friend Kane actually has a whole business selling snowballs for snowball fights. You’d be surprised how popular it is.”

She raised her brows. “Wow, really?” She paused. “I can’t say that would be my go-to, but it sounds fun.”

“What would be your go-to then?” I asked, shifting my weight on the shovel.

“Hot chocolate for one, inside,” she said, shivering almost on cue. The tip of her nose was pink, and part of me wanted to brush her curls out of her face, but that was a no go. “And either a good book or a good movie. Or,” she said, holding up her basket, “a couple of hours of baking with holiday music in the background.”

“That sounds fun too,” I said with a smile.

She smiled back. “It is. You should try it sometime.”

“Maybe I will,” I said.

I liked Belle. Every time I spoke to her, even now, it was like she didn’t care about all the external stuff that everyone else in school cared about. She just saw me for me. She didn’t treat me any different. And she was herself too.

For once, I couldn’t wait until Christmas was over so I could be myself around her once and for all.

16

BELLE

Nick St. James had never said one word to me before, and now here we were, having a whole conversation.

He was nice, with a nice smile to boot.

I just didn’t understand how I’d ended up here, talking with him. He was the quarterback of the football team and probably one of the hottest guys at Garland High. But he’d always been the type to date cheerleaders and run in those circles.

His blonde hair peeked out from under his hat as he leaned on his snow shovel. He sure was built like a star football player, and he was handsome too.

“Drinking hot chocolate sure beats being out here and shoveling snow,” he said. “Where are you headed now?”

“Into town to drop these off to a few people I know,” I said, showing him my basket. “I bake so many that they’d go to waste unless I gave some away.”

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