joking. There was the year where Mickey Scott greased the bottom of his sled and barely missed hitting a tree.
Phil laughed. “Well, if we win, then it’s a date.”
Cora felt her cheeks flush, heating her all the way through her chilled hands, and she hid her smile as they reached the front of the line and Phil selected one sled.
“We should all fit on this, eh?”
Cora hadn’t known what the logistics would be, but sharing a sled with Phil and Georgie hadn’t entered her mind.
“Back when I was a kid, my sisters and cousins and I would all go against each other,” she admitted as they moved back toward the hill. Georgie was already at the top, waving with both hands to them.
Phil arched an eyebrow. “Competitive?”
“Only when it comes to sledding,” Cora said ruefully.
“Then we’d better win!” Phil grinned, and Cora’s stomach did a little swooping movement that made her take a breath.
If a win meant that Phil would stand by his word and take her to dinner at the pub, then yes, they had better win.
“For Georgie,” she said, meeting his eye.
“Of course,” he said. “For Georgie.”
By the time they reached the top of the hill, Cora was panting and out of breath. Her lungs burned and she had a cramp in her side. She caught Phil giving her a strange look, and she laughed. Or rather, wheezed.
“I told you that I haven’t done this in a while,” she said.
Phil’s breath escaped in white clouds. There was a gleam in his eye, and she noticed that he didn’t seem remotely winded.
“My daddy has a gym in his building and he likes to do the stairs,” Georgie said matter-of-factly.
“I guess I’m spending too much time holed up in my shop,” Cora said.
“You ever think of changing it up, scaling back?” Phil posed the question in a serious enough tone that Cora had to look at him properly for a moment.
“Never,” she finally said. “I love that shop. It’s…my favorite place in all of Blue Harbor. It’s…my home.”
“It’s my favorite place, too,” Georgie said firmly.
Cora glanced at Phil one more time to try to understand what he meant by this, but he had already turned away, positioning their sled. Cora shrugged it off, realizing that she was being overly defensive. So she was a homebody. And so she was perfectly content setting up her shop each day. It might not leave much time for the gym or a social life, but it didn’t mean that she would trade it for anything.
Well, almost anything, she thought, catching Georgie’s smile.
She shook her head when she saw that Phil was setting up the sled in the middle of the pack, putting them at a distinct disadvantage.
Cora cleared her throat, catching his attention, careful not to raise suspicion from some of the more competitive crowd. She eyed her sister Britt and Robbie and Keira at the far end of the hill. Typical. That was always Britt’s favorite take-off spot as a kid. But Cora’s was different.
With a jut of her chin, she motioned for Phil to follow her back toward the path they’d walked up, where there was always a large bump. Sure enough, it was still there.
“We don’t want to go straight down the middle?” Georgie asked.
“Nope,” Cora said. “You have to trust me on this.”
Georgie gave a big smile. “I trust you.”
Phil blinked a few times, looking thrown, and then helped Georgie onto the front of the sled. Cora realized with a jolt that she was expected to sit in the middle, with Phil at the rear.
“If you’re willing to do this bobsled style, then we’ll really have a fighting chance,” Cora said over her shoulder. One glance down the top of the hill confirmed that Britt had the same idea.
“You sure?” But a grin flashed on Phil’s face. He was having fun.
Good.
Cora leaned forward to double-check that it would be okay with Georgie. “You don’t mind going really fast, do you? And maybe, going in the air a little too?”
“Yeah!” Georgie cried out in delight.
Cora laughed and turned back to Phil. “I’m sure.”
The mayor’s wife was in charge of blowing the horn, and she stood to the side of the path, in a bright red coat, impossible to miss. Cora tightened her hand on the rope and lifted the heel of her boot onto the sled.
“Hold me tight,” Georgie said, the first hint of trepidation sneaking into her otherwise excited voice.
Cora squeezed tighter just as the horn went, and with a