Troping Through the Snow by Alexa Riley

“Who cares?” I mutter under my breath.

The reason it bothers me so much is because it brings back memories from my hometown and high school. I always got picked on for something, and when I came to Troping, I wanted to break away from that whole frumpy image everyone stamped on me. There were even a few that called me the forever virgin.

After a moment of debate I decide not to wear the boots to the Winter Wonderland Dance. I hadn’t even planned to go, but now I’ll have to find a dress or something. I bet North will think it’s ugly too, and Donna will stand out like a star on top of a Christmas tree. Why doesn’t he go with her? I guess no one's shoes are good enough for him. North’s are always shiny and perfect, which should be impossible because he walks outside in the snow. But that’s North; his suits are always impeccable along with the rest of him. It’s annoying and lovely to stare at. My fingers often itch to mess with his hair so it’s not so perfectly in place.

Whatever. I’ll wear what I want. Even as I think the words, I text Carol and ask if she thinks she might have a dress for me. She owns the only dress shop in town and makes beautiful pieces. I should get a really good one and then bill North for it. It is a business thing so why not? It’s not as if we’re going on a date. It’s completely professional because it’s laughable to think of the two of us on a date.

I’m so full of it because I know I won’t bill him. I’ll do what I’ve been doing since he made fun of my boots, which is to avoid him. It was easy when he had the conference call but now he keeps calling me into his office to ask me random questions that he should know the answer to. He’s being odd and I wonder if it has to do with Donna.

I thought when I interrupted them I was saving him, but what if I was wrong? Then again, he dodged her invite to the dance so now I don’t know. That man is hard to understand at times. One second he’s this straight-laced, by-the-book man, and other times he’ll say something sweet that catches me so off guard I think I misheard him.

“Yo!” Tinsel shouts as she bursts through the front doors of City Hall in her sheriff's uniform.

“Hey.” I give her a real smile because she can always manage to make me laugh. I haven't got a clue how she and North are brother and sister because they’re nothing alike. She even went out of her way to annoy her brother by hooking up with his best friend. Okay, not hooking up—they’re engaged. Still, it’s fun to watch her ruffle his feathers. No, one does it better than her, and part of me wishes I could get to him too.

“It’s gonna be rough tonight. Y’all might want to head out early. Earl got his plow stuck in a ditch again.” Tinsel rolls her eyes. “Now Brandon is trying to pull him out of the ditch with his tow truck, and they look like a bunch of dumbasses even if it’s kinda funny.” Tinsel laughs.

“Shouldn’t you be helping?” I mean, she is the only cop in town. If you call for help, she’s who shows up.

“I did. I told them both to go the hell home till tomorrow. They aren’t getting anything out of anywhere with how the snow is coming down out there. Plus, snow is blowing down off the mountain too. Everyone needs to bundle in for the night, and we’ll clean up tomorrow.”

“So we should head home early?” Now I can really avoid North. This is perfect. I can spend my night googling boots and convincing myself not to buy new ones because screw him if he doesn’t like them.

“I’d plan on it. I suppose you could walk, but there’s no way North could make it to his place without the roads being cleared.”

“All right, I’ll let him know,” I say as I stand from behind my desk.

“I can hear you both,” North says from inside his office. Since he got off the conference call, he left the doors open.

“Cute boots,” Tinsel says to me out of nowhere, and my mouth drops open. Oh my god, did he tell her to say that?

“I swear I didn’t tell her to say that!” North jumps up from his chair.

“Whoa there, Mayor. That’s the most emotion I’ve seen out of you since I threw your Star Wars toy out the window on the highway.”

“That was a collectors’ edition, and it was still in the box.”

“Well, you shouldn't have done whatever it was you did to make me toss it out the window.” She shrugs.

“You don’t even remember what it was I did,” he hisses at his sister.

“Neither do you.” She glares right back.

“Because I wouldn’t have done anything to warrant that kind of behavior.” Tinsel rolls her eyes, but North is probably right. I don’t see him as the type to pick on his little sister. I bet he was serious even as a kid.

“You were probably boring me to death, so I tossed it for something to do.” Tinsel swings her attention to me. “Then he was a snitch-ass and told Mom and Dad on me.”

“They saw you do it! They were driving.” North is getting heated now.

She repeats his words in a whiny voice, mimicking him, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek so that I don’t laugh. I need to step in here, and giggling will not help.

“Since the roads are going to be bad tonight, I’ll send out an alert,” I cut in because they could do this all day.

“It would be much appreciated,” Tinsel says. “Love you, bro.” She smirks at him before she’s back out the door. I follow after her and flip the new lock before entering the code since we’re closing early. We changed everything to keyless entry a few weeks ago. That way, if we need to, we can change the code instead of having to get new keys.