Title: Resting Scrooge Face
Author: Meghan Quinn
Genre: Romance, Holidays, Fiction
What It's About: Caleb writes a letter complaining about Christmas and how he can't find joy in the holiday because of this one person who came back to town. He had ruined his chances with the girl, when he broke up with Nola--his high school sweet heart--because she wanted to move to New York. Arden, the mailman comes in and Caleb throws out his letter into the trash while talking to Arden, who is his best friend.
Nola and her grandma Louise are visiting town going around--though Nola is not feeling festive at all. She is trying to avoid Caleb, who broke her heart. When she sees Caleb and Arden crossing towards her, she hides behind a dumpster and Caleb talks to Grandma Louise before heading off. Nola comes out and runs into Arden, who gives her a letter. Nola reads it at the cafe and finds herself chuckling. She goes to a store nearby to buy stationer and writes back.
Arden delivers the letter to Caleb, and he likes it so much that he writes back to Ho Ho Ho, signing as Resting Scrooge Face.
The two begin to write letters to each other, first complaining about Christmas, then about staying in the friend zone and revealing three things about themselves as well as one horror story.
Throughout the penpal scheme, Caleb and Nola interact once in public, where he's antagonistic towards her though he doesn't want to be, and Nola storms out telling him that she did not steal her ex-boyfriend's manual. This ex-boyfriend dumped her and that is why she moved back to Port Snow and Prospect Harbor in Maine.
Then, after they've shared horror stories, Nola comes into the hardware store Caleb runs while Arden is there in order to get paint since she can't drive to Portsmouth. Once again, he is antagonistic towards her and she tells him she knows what she wants and gives him the paint color she wants. Caleb starts mixing it and then he notices Nola give Arden a golden envelope. He cannot believe its her, and spills the paint all over the floor and himself, getting it up his nose and ruining his clothes. Arden tells Nola to go do the rest of her errands and that he will deliver the paint.
Once Nola is gone, Caleb asks if it was her that is writer of his letters, and Arden tells him yes, because they seem to both be in the same disposition. Caleb orders Arden to get him coffee and a cinnamon bun.
Nola is at home--the one she is helping her parents renovate. Grandma Louise shows up and asks her what is making her smile so much. Nola had been laughing about what had happened to Caleb. Suddenly, there's a knock, Grandma Louise scuttles up the stairs so Nola won't make her work. Expecting Arden, Nola instead finds herself facing Caleb, who works his way in, tells her the paint is free of charge. She is confused as to what is happening, and Caleb tells her that he wants to make things less awkward for them both if she's going to stay a while. Arden had also told him that if he loves Nola, he should go fix it and fight for her, but Caleb doesn't tell her that.
Caleb and Nola pain the room, talking, laughing and reminiscing. He tells her all about why he went to Boston--to see if he could do something worthy of being with her, but then he realized that he didn't belong in the city. His place is here. Nola tells him that she's also meant to be here; NYC was great, but there is a deeper community here. For a moment, she wonders who the Resting Scrooge Face guy is and how wonderful it would be if it was Caleb. As he walks out for the night, he finds a letter at the door and gives it to her. In it, resting Scrooge Face asks her to meet him at a specific time and location.
Later, Caleb walks towards the gazebo, wondering if he should've told Nola or waited longer. Suddenly, Nola comes and he reveals that he has been writing to her the whole time. He tells her that she wants him and she tells him that it has always been him. They kiss under the Mistletoe, not realizing it, and Arden and Grandma Louise clap. The two also reveal that it was them that orchestrated the whole thing to get them back together. Caleb also gives Nola the last letter inviting her for gingerbread cookies and the four all head out together.
My Thoughts: It was a bit anticlimactic--not much romance developing through interactions, but rather two people who previously had been in love but then broke up, writing two letters to one another, unbeknownst to each other. This is definitely nothing like The Notebook with intense romance and declarations of love, but more along the lines of a short Hallmark movie. Not in love with it, but it was a fun, quick read during the holiday season.
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