Page 40 of Evergreen Christmas

Jordyn hurried over. “That’d be me!”

Ten minutes later, all the triathlon participants had been doused with syrup, rolled in tinsel and lined up at the starting line. Jordyn stood in the middle of the pack, with Tucker to her left and Mason to her right.

“Everyone ready?” Carol Belle, standing on stage in the center of town square, waited for the participants to indicate they were ready, then held up a whistle. “When you hear the whistle, take off. Run to the other end of the town square, retrieve the gift box with your name, race back through the obstacle course, and at the opposite end of the town square, tie the bow on your gift and declare you’re finished. All participants are being timed and the competitor with the fastest time wins. Ready, set . . .”

Carol Belle blew the whistle and at the sound, the line of participants shot off from the starting line and dashed across the snow-slicked ground toward the opposite end of the town square.

Jordyn ran as fast as she could, saying a silent word of thanks for her long legs, which enabled her to keep pace with Tucker and Mason. With each step, her skin warmed despite the chill in the air, and the red candy cane syrup began to melt, dripping over her face, clinging to her skin and making every move of her limbs a sticky challenge.

“You’re falling behind, cowgirl!” Tucker shouted as he pulled ahead a couple feet.

Jordyn laughed and lurched forward. “Only for a moment! Watch your back!”

Moments later, she surged ahead of the pack, reminding herself to keep her attention straight ahead and not look back to see if others were gaining on her.

When she reached the other end of the town square, she quickly found her gift box, spun around and headed straight for the obstacle course. She darted through a series of tires that had been lined up on the ground in pairs, sneezing twice when tinsel that clung to the syrup tickled her nose. Next, she climbed a short rock wall, straddled it and slid down the other side, slamming her feet onto the ground and dashing through the last stage of the obstacle course. Volunteers, holding jumbo holiday inflatables such as reindeer, Santa Claus, and gumdrops, battered her and the other contestants as they passed.

An inflatable candy cane smacked into Jordyn’s forehead, rocking her off balance momentarily, but she regained her footing, ducked under it and ran faster, mumbling under her breath, “Good grief, these people love their candy canes!”

As she reached the opposite end of the town square, still in the lead, the cheers from the bystanders grew louder and she could hear Roxie’s voice among the crowd shouting, “Go, Ms. Jordyn! Go!”

She glanced in Roxie’s direction, struggling to see her through a haze of red candy cane syrup and tinsel, then snatched up a length of ribbon from the ground, wrapped it around her gift box and did her best to tie it into a bow despite the goopy syrup and tangled tinsel tangling around her fingers.

Tucker slid past her on his hands and knees and struggled to halt his momentum by digging his heels into the ground. After gaining a firm footing, he crawled across the ground, retrieved a ribbon and began hastily tying it around his own gift box, shooting anxious glances in Jordyn’s direction as he worked.

Despite his valiant efforts, Jordyn managed to finish tying her bow moments before his and she took a moment to gloat, running in his direction, jumping over him and shouting, “In the dust, man! I’m leaving you in the dust!”

With that, she took off, sprinting the last few feet to the finish line, lifted her wrapped gift box into the air and did a little dance as the crowd cheered her on. Tucker crossed the finish line mere seconds after her, securing second place.

“First place, sucker!” Jordyn laughed, sticking her tongue out at Tucker. “I got first!”

Slamming her gift box on the ground like a football, she did another dance, laughing louder as the Nanas and bystanders clapped and shouted, cheering her on.

Jordyn tilted her head back and closed her eyes, savoring the raucous sound of approval emanating from Noel’s residents as they chanted her name, feeling—for the first time in her life—as though she fit right in.

Finally, a win!

“Feeling a bit left out?”

Nate, standing in front of the stage in the center of the town square, smiled at the sound of Kandy’s voice next to him.

“I don’t mean to break your solitude,” Kandy said, leaning closer to be heard above the cheers of the crowd. “But I thought you looked a bit lonesome over here.”

And, Nate admitted reluctantly to himself, he couldn’t argue.

At the conclusion of the triathlon thirty minutes ago, Nate stood on the sidelines and applauded with the crowd as Jordyn was cheered for her first-place win. Roxie had left Nate’s side to run across the field and congratulate Tucker on his second-place win (a position Nate knew must’ve hurt his pride). Roxie helped Tucker up from the ground then led him over to the hose-down area where other participants had lined up, raising their arms and laughing as volunteers sprayed them with warm water from several water hoses, washing away as much of the candy cane syrup and tinsel as possible then wrapped them in thick blankets to ward off the chill in the air. The job was undertaken mostly in vain as the candy cane syrup and tinsel were practically glued to each contestant and would require several scrubs of soap and water for complete removal.

Nate had laughed at the sight of the sweaty, sticky participants, but his enjoyment had faded as soon as Mason Walker, having finished third, jogged over to join Jordyn as she left the hosing-off station and walked to the stage for the award ceremony.

The uncomfortable churn in his gut that had first surfaced during the Candy Cane Fishing contest returned with a vengeance. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to focus on Roxie and Tucker instead, trying to smile as Roxie grabbed a hose and vigorously sprayed down his brother.

But that had been in vain, too. Despite his best efforts, his gaze continued to drift back to Jordyn and Mason, his teeth clenching tighter each time Mason made Jordyn laugh.

It wasn’t Mason’s fault. Nate had no right to be angry with Mason, seeing as how he’d turned down Jordyn’s invitation. But the fact was, any man who had the ability to make Jordyn tilt her head back, smile that beautiful smile of hers and laugh wholeheartedly, would make Nate’s blood boil.

And that realization shocked him. He’d never experienced such intense emotions for anyone whom he’d known such a short time. At this point, Nate had to admit that he’d felt something very intense for Jordyn from the outset.

He didn’t believe in love at first sight, but he couldn’t deny Jordyn had a strong claim on his emotions.

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