“Thanks.” He grinned at her as he hoisted his leg up. “What are you up to?”
“Practicing.” Elda stood next to Holly at the table and grabbed a bowl of icing. “Now put that wall here, Holly.” She took Holly’s hand and moved it exactly where she wanted it to go. “I’m teaching Holly how to make a gingerbread house.”
“I was just the water girl back when we used to enter the competition with our grandma,” Holly said, shifting her hands slightly to make sure the walls were at a perfect ninety-degree angle. “I used to be the gopher. I didn’t do any of the gingerbread work.”
Danny’s eyes met Holly’s, but she pulled hers away fast. If she allowed herself to linger on him for any meaningful length of time, he’d see right through her.
“You two are never going to catch me in the second round,” he said.
Holly was trying so hard to keep her cool, to show him that she’d barely noticed his existence, but he looked so cute sitting on that chair, and he kept smiling at her like she was a real person or something. Maybe he was just trying to throw them off their game by being so charming. He had to know he was a beautiful human specimen who made otherwise smart and clearheaded girls lose their cool. That couldn’t be a mystery to him.
Holly doubled down on her glare, just to throw him off the scent.
“Where’s your showstopper?” he asked.
“Like we’d keep it out here for you to spy on.” Holly fought hard against a smile and lost.
Danny beamed at her like her smile was the one gift on his Christmas list this year. God, this guy was good at making a person feel like the only girl in the room. “Good point.”
Elda nodded toward Danny’s chair. “I’m working on some sketches now. My book’s right under you.”
“Elda,” Holly warned.
“Holly, it’s fine. Danny already knows what he’s doing for his showstopper.”
“It’s true,” he said. “I do.”
Holly was usually very shy about showing her work to people, especially in rough draft form. Whenever their school had an art show, Holly’d make sure to grab an inconspicuous spot in a dark corner near the fire extinguisher. But showing her work to Danny was different. She wanted him to see it. He’d understand what she was going for. He’d be impressed. She needed him to see it.
“Okay, fine. Whatever.” She shrugged, hands still on the gingerbread walls.
Danny reached under the chair and picked the sketch pad up. “You sure this is okay?” he asked, slowly opening the front cover.
“Totally fine,” Elda said. “We trust you.”
Holly’s heart sped up as he opened the cover. She couldn’t look. This was a huge mistake. He was going to think she was a fraud, a no-talent poseur.
“These are good. Really good.”
Holly peeked over at him. He was still flipping through the book. When he finished, he looked up, eyes squarely on Elda. “I’m super impressed. And these are totally you. I mean, I see your eye for detail and the love for your grandma, the way you’ve stayed so faithful to the details on her actual house.”
Tears stung Holly’s eyes. She’d been so worried about him thinking she sucked, that she’d completely forgotten that he was going to think those drawings were Elda’s, not hers. To Danny, Elda was the talented one. Holly jumped up from her seat and held up her hands, shielding her face. “Be right back,” she said. “Need to wash these.”
She ran into the kitchen, where her parents and aunts and uncles were sitting at the table with their real estate agent, talking about selling the house.
“Hey, honey.” Her dad motioned her over, but Holly stayed where she was, right near the door, still shielding her eyes. “There are a few interested buyers. We should be able to unload this place in no time.”
“Great.” Holly waved and ran to the bathroom on the second floor.
Danny and Elda were doing great. Grandma’s house was about to be sold. It was too much. Holly would never be able to keep smiling for the next week and a half, not with her dad talking about passing off his childhood home to some strangers like it was an old sweater he no longer had use for, and not with having to watch Elda and Danny being all cute together, bonding over Holly’s words, memories, and sketches.
She did this to herself, really. She knew that. Lots of people faced rejection, got up, and tried again. Holly was the one who’d decided to avoid hurt and embarrassment at all costs. It had kept her mostly happy. It meant no sweeping romantic love, sure, but it also meant no heartbreak. That wasn’t nothing.
Holly had to endure this for another ten days. She’d be fine. She’d be great.
But when she went back to the garage, Holly found Elda kneeling next to Danny’s chair, gazing into his eyes. “So, I got tickets for Tuesday afternoon,” he was saying.
“Tickets?” Holly choked out. She had to make her presence known. She was not going to be a spectator for Elda and Danny’s first kiss.
Danny craned his neck to see Holly at the door. His cheeks were flushed.
“Tickets?” Holly said again.
“Um…” His eyes were back on Elda. “I just asked Elda to go with me on an architectural tour of North Pole.”
“He found this old book of Grandma’s.” Elda passed it to Holly but held on to the book for a second longer than she needed to, like she was trying to get Holly to look at her. Holly refused.
The cover of the book took Holly right back to when she was six and sitting in her grandma’s den. This was an old book of all the skyscrapers in the Midwest, up to, like, 1989. It had been one of Holly’s favorite books on Grandma’s shelves. All the dog-eared pages, those were Holly’s from when she was a kid. She’d wondered what had happened to it.
She looked up. “Wow.” It came out like a whisper.
Danny pointed toward the book. “Your grandma passed that on to me, since she knew I was interested in architecture. She’d said her granddaughter, the one who did the gingerbread contest every year, loved architecture, too. That’s why I gave it to Elda.”
Elda would not stop staring at Holly, so she finally gave in and looked at her cousin. Elda’s face was questioning, unsure. She wanted to make sure this was okay with Holly. Well, of course it was. Holly straightened her shoulders. “That’s awesome. You two will have a great time together.”
“Yeah?” Elda said.
Danny was wearing a nervous, excited smile, as if he’d won the lottery. Danny would ever look at Holly like that. Guys didn’t get nervous around Holly.
Danny liked Elda and Elda liked him. The two of them were nice and smart and beautiful. They deserved each other. They’d be great together. “I think that’s totally fantastic.”
The conversation lulled. Holly folded her arms and nodded toward the door. “So…”
“Oh, yeah,” Danny said, grabbing his crutches. “I’ll get going.”