Page 21 of Meet Me at the Christmas Cottage (Jonathon Island #6)

Chapter Nine

B ronte squinted at the sun reflecting off the snow as she tried to pay attention to the snowman-building instructions Dani was shouting through her bullhorn.

“Okay! You will have forty-five minutes after the sound of the horn to build and decorate the best snowman you can!” Dani called, balancing herself as she stood on the back of a snowmobile.

A scruffy dog jumped up on the table, grabbing a bag of carrots Bronte assumed were supposed to be for noses. “Ack, Jack, no! Bad dog!”

Jack dodged Dani’s attempts to grab the bag before bouncing off. “Would someone save the snowman noses from Jack? Please?”

A couple of teens volunteered before disappearing after the dog.

“Where was I again?” Dani looked down at a clipboard Liam held up to her.

“Oh, right. Your snowman must be between four and seven feet. You may use any accessories provided by the Little Stone Bible Church. Thank you, Pastor Arnie.” Dani paused while everyone clapped their gratitude.

“Make sure there’s no funny business trying to sabotage any other teams, and keep your snowman family friendly.

” Dani scanned her clipboard. “Snowmen must be able to stand on their own. If it falls over after the buzzer sounds, your snowman will be disqualified—alternatively, if you touch yours or another team’s snowman after the buzzer, you’ll be disqualified as well.

Snowmen will be judged by our wonderful mayor, Seb Jonathon.

” She paused again while those gathered clapped at a tall man with a kind smile and salt-and-pepper hair, who lifted his hand in a wave.

“Are you all ready? Go!” Dani held up the air horn and released three short blasts.

Ten teams, ranging from two to eight members, all shot toward the sectioned-off areas for snowman building. Bronte and Jonah got the third rectangle.

“This is a great slot.” Jonah slapped his hands together. “Okay, game plan. I’ll start rolling the snow for the snowman’s body”—he pointed to the fluffy, untouched snow before pointing at Bronte—“if you want to go raid the accessories.”

“What accessories do we want?” Bronte asked as Jonah dropped to the snow to begin pushing the snow into balls.

“Let inspiration guide you. You’ll know when you see it,” he called over his shoulder.

Bronte ran to the canopy that had tubs of donated ties, hats, scarves, and so many other accessories. She pushed through the other team members that were also diving through everything.

Jonah’s confession from earlier swam in Bronte’s head.

She wasn’t sure how to help him. She didn’t have any experience with families, but she really believed what she’d told him.

His father had to only want what was best for Jonah, right?

Jonah had said he’d be judged for throwing away a career he’d spent most of his twenties in school for, but he had to see he had so much life to live. Why spend it doing something he hated?

“You know my team is going to win,” a redheaded girl who had to be at least seventeen taunted a man not much older than her as she grabbed a scarf and wrapped it around her neck before rummaging around the bins.

“There is no way that’s happening. We’re taking the win this year,” the man shot back.

People really took this competition seriously. Bronte took advantage of their bickering and ducked in front of them.

“You and Jonah doing good, Bronte?” Dani appeared on the other side of the bin Bronte was digging through.

“I think so? I have no idea what in the world we’re going to accessorize our snowman with.” Bronte held up both a sparkly tutu and a child’s fireman helmet.

“Helping a team out is cheating, Dani. You’re literally one of the judges,” the teen pointed out.

“I’m not helping out, Erin, I’m just chatting, and I’m not one of the judges, I’m just the emcee,” Dani fired back before turning back to Bronte.

Bronte smiled at Dani. She had just found the perfect accessories for their snowman. Waving to Dani, Bronte tucked all the items under her arm and sprinted back to Jonah.

“Back!” she declared, dropping her items on the snow in their space and scurrying over to Jonah to help him roll the middle ball onto the larger one to create their base.

“Thanks.” Jonah stood back, winded, looking at the start of their snowman. He glanced over to the pile that Bronte had dropped and raised an eyebrow. “What did you decide to go with?”

Bronte grinned and picked up the mop of curly hair off the pile. She snapped the wig on Jonah’s head. “We’re doing a Bob Ross snowman.”

“Brilliant. Come on, we have about twenty more minutes to finish off. What do you think we can use for the beard?”

Fifteen minutes later, their Bob Ross was almost finished—complete with a paint pallet with dried paint.

It was almost as if someone had hoped one of the teams would create Bob Ross.

Bronte wasn’t sure if that was in their favor, or if it wasn’t creative enough.

Either way, she hadn’t built a snowman in over twenty years and was having more fun than she’d had in a very long time.

“Five…four…three…two…one!” The gathered crowd counted down the last remaining seconds before Dani blasted the air horn.

Bronte and Jonah collapsed into the snow, hands up, showing they weren’t anywhere close to touching their finished creation.

“Come on, let’s go get some more cider.” Jonah offered Bronte his hand.

“We made a pretty good team,” Bronte said, taking Jonah’s outstretched hand. Secretly, she hoped that he’d hang on to it even after he helped her up and was disappointed when he dropped it.

“We made the best team.” Jonah stood back, admiring their snowman. “I think we have a pretty good shot at winning one of the prizes too.”

Bronte looked at their snowman through squinted eyes. “You think so? He doesn’t look a little wobbly to you?”

Jonah turned his head to the side as if that would help him see what Bronte was seeing. “Maybe a little bit? If we back away really slowly, maybe he’ll stay standing long enough to get through the judging. Come on.”

Bronte couldn’t help smiling when Jonah took her hand again, this time not letting go. She shouldn’t be smiling like this. After Brad, she had promised she wouldn’t ever get into another relationship again, but being around Jonah made her feel like breaking that promise to herself.

She was being ridiculous. She tugged free from Jonah and tucked both of her hands in her armpits. Jonah had only come into her life five days ago, and he’d be out of it just as quick. She didn’t need to be entertaining ideas of anything with him, no matter how warm and gooey she felt around him.

The snow crunched under their boots as they made their way away from the snowmen and toward a canopy handing out hot apple cider.

“So, how long will it take them to judge all the snowmen?” Bronte accepted the cup of hot cider Jonah handed her and with both hands, held it up to her face to let the scent of apple and spices warm her.

She wasn’t sure if she wasn’t cold or was so cold she’d lost feeling in her face.

She suspected the latter. Also, by keeping both hands on her cup, she kept them out of trouble—like reaching over and holding Jonah’s hand again.

Turning away from Jonah with her hot drink, she watched the judging process.

Dani, clipboard in hand, followed Seb, who circled each snowman, hand on his chin, studying each one before taking the board from Dani, jotting a few notes down, and handing it back.

He took his judging responsibilities seriously.

Bronte imagined that if Seb hadn’t been wearing a stocking cap and puffy jacket, his gray hair would be perfectly combed and he’d be wearing khaki pants and a crisp button-down shirt.

“It’ll take Seb about fifteen to twenty minutes to look at each snowman, make his notes, and then go back and look again.

” Jonah came to stand next to her, close enough she could feel the heat from his body, which was highly impossible since they both had layers on top of their layers.

“If they do it the same as they’ve done every year, Dani will take Seb’s notes and add up everyone’s points and then announce the winners at four o’clock. ”

Bronte looked at her watch. “So we have a little over an hour to wander around. Jordi had mentioned something about a snow globe collection on display somewhere?”

“Sure, I think I saw a sign for that back at the glass shop. Let’s go.”

They started making their way back up the street when Bronte felt someone tap her on the shoulder. “Excuse me, but are you B.L. Parker?”

Turning, Bronte saw a woman with short blonde hair peeking from under a pom-pom beanie, a large tote bag slung over her shoulder.

Dread pooled in Bronte’s stomach. “Yes?” Why had she answered with a question?

She may be a New York Times bestselling author five times over, but she’d never be used to fans approaching her in public.

She never knew what to say. It was bad enough at events and signings, but at least at those, she had time to prep beforehand.

When fans approached her in public, her chest got tight and it was hard to breathe, and she did stupid stuff like answer simple questions with questions.

“Yes, this is the B.L. Parker,” Jonah confirmed, pulling Bronte to his side in a hug, a huge smile on his face.

All Bronte wanted to do was melt into the sidewalk.

She thought authors created in anonymity.

Why did she have to be the one who gained national acclaim?

This was why Lexi accompanied her on tours.

She ran interference. Bronte had learned she couldn’t even do in-person signing events.

Other than a thirty-minute VIP meet and greet before an event, Bronte’s interaction with fans tended to be limited.

Her anxiety couldn’t handle more than that.