Her knees went weak. She grabbed the lip of the table to stay upright as the room erupted in applause, Danny among them. He was eyeing her curiously. “Good job,” he said. “I guess I should watch out for you. If you were able to get that good at building a gingerbread house in one day…”
He trailed off into awkward silence. She battled the force pushing her toward him. This was a moment where it’d be totally normal to hug, for catharsis, in solidarity. They’d spent the past two hours working next to each other. They were friends…sort of. But Holly wasn’t sure she could survive a hug.
She started gathering her things, cleaning up her table, trying to look busy, and Danny did the same, all in silence. Just as she was finishing up, Craig came over. Holly never imagined she’d be so happy to see a guy who’d once tackled her over a box of candy bars.
“What’s up, Craig?” she asked cheerfully.
Craig stood in front of her and Danny in his shapeless, high-rise jeans and a geeky Christmas sweatshirt—some Dr. Who joke Holly only knew by osmosis. “A bunch of us are going to the arcade for pizza. It’s tradition. Wanna come?”
“I don’t know.” She’d been planning to work on her showstopper. She really needed to get started on that, especially now that she had a shot to win.
“Usually we only invite locals.” Craig folded his arms. “But we all agreed we should make an exception for you. Your grandma was one of us, and she was a great lady.”
Well, that did it. Holly pressed her tongue against the back of her upper lip for a moment to stop herself from crying. “That’s nice of you,” she said. “Really, really nice. Thank you. I’d love to hang out tonight.”
“Me, too,” Danny said, even though Holly wasn’t quite sure he’d actually been invited.
…
“Your grandma’d talk about you all the time,” Sam, Tinka’s boyfriend, said as he plated pizza for Holly later that night at Santa’s Playground. This was one of the North Pole places Holly had been super excited to return to. Santa’s Playground was like one of the clubs that Stefon on Saturday Night Live always used to talk about. It had everything—video games, laser tag, pizza. Tonight it even had karaoke.
When Holly and her cousins were kids, they use to beg their parents to take them here. The moms and dads would balk, but Grandma’d always cave, letting the adults have a night out on their own so she could take her grandchildren to this magical place. The kids would spend the evening shooting each other with light-up guns and winning prizes that cost way more than they were worth.
Tonight Holly wasn’t here with her cousins and brother; but these North Pole people, and the way they spoke about Holly’s grandma, almost felt like extended family. Sam, in particular, was super sweet and easygoing, and he and Tinka were so happy and in love. They were constantly finding little reasons to touch each other, but it wasn’t annoying coming from them. Well, other than the fact that it made Holly wonder if she’d ever have that, if she’d ever find someone to knead her shoulders after a grueling gingerbread contest or wipe pizza sauce from the corner of her mouth.
Her eyes met Danny’s for a second. He was looking at her, which was something he’d been doing a lot tonight. He had to stop that. It was like he was trying so hard to be her friend, like he needed her approval or something. Well, why? Who cared what Holly thought?
She folded her arms and stared off in the distance. She’d rather people assume she didn’t care than think she cared too much. Vulnerability was not in her comfort zone.
“Why aren’t you up there, Craig?” Danny nodded toward the stage at the far end of the room. A DJ had started setting up his equipment, and Dinesh had gone up to speak to the guy.
Craig folded his arms. “I’m not a karaoke DJ, Daniel.”
“There’s a difference?” Danny was toying with Craig, Holly could tell. This was probably their usual rapport.
“Of course there’s a difference.”
Dinesh dropped a few binders on the table. “You’re up, Craig.”
Craig saluted the table before sauntering to the stage and grabbing the mic. “Let’s karaoke.” His voice had dropped two octaves. Craig, in his mom jeans and Dr. Who shirt, started rapping to “Lose Yourself.”
Holly’s eyes grew as big as dinner plates, and she turned to Danny, whose chin was practically on the table. “Craig is Eminem,” she said.
“We all have our niches,” Dinesh explained. “Mine’s Elvis.”
Sam, his arm around his girlfriend, said, “Tinka and I do movie songs.”
“Your grandma used to go old school—Rat Pack stuff.” Dinesh was flipping through one of the binders.
“No, she didn’t.” Holly’s grandma did not do karaoke. She and Holly were way too similar, and Holly would never, ever get up there on her own.
“She sure did,” Sam said.
“I remember.” Danny’s brow was furrowed. He was looking right at Holly, his eyes soft. “She sang ‘New York, New York.’”
“What do you know about it?” Sam said. “I seem to remember you sitting in the corner with Star last year, making fun of us.”
Danny looked down, hiding his expression, but a blush crept up his neck. “Well, Star’s out of the picture now, isn’t she?” He pulled one of the binders closer to him. “Maybe I’ll sing tonight, too.”
“Christmas miracle,” Sam said.
The members of Holly’s little group sang in turn—Dinesh performed a perfect rendition of “Suspicious Minds,” and Tinka and Sam did an enthusiastic, if off-key, version of “Elephant Love Medley” from the movie Moulin Rouge!
Sam pushed a binder toward Holly. “You’re up.”
She shook her head “no,” but couldn’t deny that electricity had filled the room. The crowd at Santa’s Playhouse buzzed with friendly, joyful support. If she was ever going to do it, this was the perfect place to lose one’s karaoke virginity. Holly thumbed through the binder, just in case inspiration struck.
The words on the page blurred when she reached the Frank Sinatra section. Holly remembered something she’d read earlier that day. “Strangers in the Night,” she said out loud.
“Good choice,” Craig said.
“No, ‘Strangers in the Night’ was written in my grandma’s day planner under the entry for round two of the gingerbread contest. I bet that’s what she was going to sing.” Holly forced a smile as tears burned her eyes. Her grandma really had planned on singing tonight. She’d also had no clue she wouldn’t be around to do it.
She felt Danny’s eyes on her, but she couldn’t look at him. It’d be too much in the moment. She was mourning her grandma. That pain was enough right now. She couldn’t bear the sting of unrequited love on top of it.
Dinesh picked up the book and nodded toward the DJ. “Come on.”
“Where?”
“We’re going to sing ‘Strangers in the Night.’ For your grandma.”
Holly shook her head. She barely knew that song. He couldn’t expect her to get up and sing it in front of all these people.
Sam jumped up. “Yeah. Let’s do it. All of us. For Mrs. Page.” Sam turned to Danny. “You in?”