Page 25 of Evergreen Christmas

Jordyn glanced up, her eyes moving past Roxie and finding Nate’s. “We?”

Shrugging, Nate lowered his hands onto Roxie’s shoulders and smiled. “Roxie did. She insisted that you would need a little help getting settled for the competition this morning.”

Jordyn raised one eyebrow. “So you had no hand in it then?”

“Not a chance.” He grinned. “We’re friendly enemies now, remember?”

The teasing note in his voice sent a delicious shiver through her. Even now, in a town square full of men, Nate stood out among them. His impressive height, muscular body and charismatic grin enticed her even more than they had upon their first meeting.

The man was positively hypnotic!

“Well,” she said softly. “I’m grateful for Roxie’s help.” She glanced down once more and winked at Roxie. “Thank you very much for thinking of me.”

Roxie smiled even wider. “You’re welcome.”

Tucker, standing next to Nate, pointed to the empty spot Roxie had saved for Jordyn. “You best take up your position or you’re liable to fall behind before you even start.” He lifted his fists in front of his face. “And keep your dukes up! Competitors are ruthless around here.”

Jordyn issued a sly smile and narrowed her eyes. “Oh, I got this.”

Moments later, the Nanas began counting down and Jordyn hurried over to the empty space Roxie had reserved for her, ensured her gloves were still tugged snugly over her fingers, and readied herself for the competition.

“When I say go,” Carol Belle spoke into the mic, “you may begin building your snowman. The timer will be turned on and you’ll have twenty minutes to construct until time is called. Remember that snow is your material for this contest. You may utilize it in any way you wish to aid in building, defending, or preventing the creation of a snowman.”

Jordyn hugged her midsection and bounced in place with excitement. Here she was, in a beautiful new town with a beautiful new home and beautiful new friends, competing in her first ever Christmas competition. She couldn’t imagine today being any more fun or exciting.

And speed being a factor in who won this contest? Oh, she had this in the bag! Racing to a finish was her specialty.

“In three, two, one,” Carol Belle counted off. “Go!”

A flurry of activity broke out across the town square, bodies, warmly bundled, dashing from here to there, arms serving as shovels as they gathered up heaps of snow and gloved hands furiously assembling snowballs and snowmen.

Jordyn joined the fray and dug into the snow at her feet, clearing a spot for the base of her snowman and patting snow together to form the foundation of what she hoped would be the best snowman Noel had ever laid eyes on. She enjoyed the feel of snow in her hands, the satisfactory pat of snow upon snow and the laughter surrounding her as others worked.

She gathered a second armful of snow, patted it down onto the foundation she’d made, propped her hands on her hips and smiled broadly. Yeah! Things were going nicely. She had this in the ba—

Something rock-solid and cold slammed into the side of her head then crumbled into her right eye. “Ow!”

A black-haired boy around ten years of age faced off with her from several feet away, an evil grin spreading across his face. “She’s unprotected, Ma! Get her!”

A stout woman with the same black hair and fierce expression as the boy, picked up a snowball from a large stockpile that lay near the boy’s feet, pulled back her arm in tandem with the boy’s reloaded hand, and threw it in Jordyn’s direction.

Both snowballs slammed smack into Jordyn’s middle and she doubled over, clutching her gut and squeezing her eyes shut as a heavy barrage of snowballs continued to pummel her back.

Oh, boy! What in the world had she gotten herself into?

“Man! Jordyn’s getting creamed.”

Nate patted down a fresh scoop of snow into the second sphere of the snowman he, Roxie, and Tucker had been building, then glanced to his right. Jordyn was on all fours in the snow, cradling her middle with one hand and desperately tossing snow into a pile with the other while trying to avoid an onslaught of snowballs coming at her from every direction.

Though being snowballed was a given during the Snowman Fight contest, the majority of ammunition aimed at Jordyn seemed to be originating from the Stones, who were building their snowman directly opposite Jordyn. The four-member family was feverishly assembling their snowman and taking turns projecting hard snowballs at Jordyn.

Chester Stone was the main culprit. Young, but a veteran of Noel’s Snowman Fight, Chester was well-known to be the reigning serial snowball attacker. His younger sister, Angelina, was a close runner-up, however. The little girl, only two years older than Roxie, was a wiry little eight-year-old with good aim and a vicious hunger for domination.

For every snowball Chester threw, Angelina propelled two more in Jordyn’s direction. The little rascals aimed for her head, neck, back, and—more recently—her knees, forcing Jordyn into a defensive heap on the ground.

Just then, Chester picked up a particularly dense snowball, hefted it over his shoulder and hammered Jordyn right in the head. She yelped, dropped the snow she’d gathered in her arms and covered her head with both hands.

“That devious little snowball-throwing rascal,” Nate grumbled.

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