Page 58 of Evergreen Christmas

“What?” Tucker craned his neck, glancing at Roxie’s table. “Is that mean old Angelina Stone bugging her?”

“Tucker,” Nate chastised. “You shouldn’t talk about a little girl that way.”

“That little girl,” Tucker said, pointing at Angelina Stone, “tripped me, then kicked me in the gut two years ago during the Terrible Tinsel Triathlon. And she was only six years old back then—same age as Roxie is now. If that don’t warrant being called mean, I don’t know what does!”

Nate watched as Angelina Stone rolled her eyes and plopped her ingredients on a table near Roxie. “Looks like Angelina’s trying to psych our baby girl out a little bit.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” Tucker chewed a bit of apple. “That kid right there,” he said around the apple in his mouth, “she’s a little hellion.”

Roxie looked up from her gingerbread then, her eyes searching the crowd frantically, widening with fear as they met Nate’s.

“Oh, man,” he said. “Looks like she’s about to cave. I might have to—”

But then, Jordyn strolled up, set a few bags on the table next to Roxie and smiled down at her.

Roxie perked up immediately, spinning toward Jordyn, throwing her arms around her waist and hugging her tight. Jordyn hugged her back, squatted down beside Roxie and whispered in her ear. Moments later, Roxie, smiling, nodded and returned her attention to her own table, unpacking the rest of her ingredients with a steady, confident hand.

“Would you look at that?” Tucker laughed. “Ms. Jordyn to the rescue!”

Nate smiled, his eyes meeting Jordyn’s across the crowd. Recalling her words to him when he’d helped her during the Snowman Fight, he lifted his chin and mouthedthank you.

Her smile widened and she winked at him before turning her attention back to the table in front of her.

Soon after, the contest officially began at the peal of Carol Belle’s whistle.

Participants began frantically assembling their gingerbread houses, standing up sheets of gingerbread and gluing walls together with icing. Roofs were added next, then decorative doors and shutters made of icing, then more decorations to make each house unique.

Five minutes before time was called, over three-quarters of the contestants’ houses had broken, one or more sheets of gingerbread crumbling beneath their hands or accidentally snapping under the pressure of their movements. Most participants took it in stride, laughing at the destruction, breaking off pieces of their broken houses and popping them into their mouths, enjoying the spicy sweet gingerbread.

By the time the last sixty seconds of the contest arrived, there were only three gingerbread houses left standing: Angelina Stone’s, Jordyn’s, and Roxie’s. All three were well constructed and each had impressive decorations, but Jordyn’s stood out—the complex decorations she’d added with icing outmatching the skill of the two little girls on either side of her. It was clear she was in position to take the win.

Chuckling, Tucker clapped a hand on Nate’s back. “Looks like our new neighbor’s gonna win again. Just another loss we can chalk up for the team.”

Nate grinned. “She earned it, fair and square. And Roxie still did a fantastic job.”

And she had. Even Jordyn seemed to notice how well Roxie had done as she eyed the gingerbread house sitting in front of the little girl. Then Jordyn returned her attention to her own gingerbread house, picked up a gumdrop, placed it on the seam of the roof, and at the last second before time was called, pressed it down hard, causing the entire gingerbread house to split into pieces and crumble onto the table.

Groans and shouts of disappointment rose from the onlookers in the crowd, but Jordyn just smiled and shrugged, picked up a broken piece of gingerbread and took a bite, issuing a sound of enjoyment as she sampled it.

“Well, how about that?” Tucker drawled, having seen exactly what Nate had.

“She wanted Roxie to have a shot at the win,” Nate said softly, his gaze finding Jordyn’s again.

Smiling back at him, she wiggled her eyebrows flirtatiously and popped another piece of gingerbread in her mouth.

Carol Belle’s whistle echoed across the town square again.

“All right, folks!” she shouted. “Time’s up. Step away from your gingerbread houses.”

Roxie and Angelina Stone, the only two contestants with gingerbread houses still standing, stepped back from their tables and waited anxiously as a pair of judges sauntered over, bent close to each house and scribbled notes on a piece of paper they held.

Shortly thereafter, the judges returned to the stage and handed the papers to Carol Belle, who returned to the microphone and smiled.

“We have a unanimous winner for this year’s Gingerbread Architect contest,” Carol Belle announced. “Noel’s newest Gingerbread Architect is Roxanna Reed!”

Roxie, surprised by her name being called, squealed then jumped with joy. Her whole expression lit up at the energetic applause from the crowd and she spun around and hugged Jordyn again, a look of pure bliss crossing her face.

Nate stood there, watching as Jordyn hugged Roxie closer and smiled down at her affectionately. Even as the crowd began milling around him, Nate remained perfectly still, savoring the beautiful—and unexpected—moment.

---