Page 74 of Single All the Way

“They won, Miss Emerson,” Evelyn told me with glee.

“I saw that. They deserved to, didn’t they?”

“I want waffles!” my daughter said, clapping her hands.

“Big, giant ones,” I said.

Several more entries went by with no sign of Ben and my son. My curiosity grew, which I hadn’t thought was possible.

“Oh, my word,” Berty said.

There was so much expression in her voice I glanced at her then followed her gaze to the float coming around the corner.

My mouth gaped open. Then I covered it with my hands and laughed.

“Mommy, they brought the llamas!” Skyler yelled, pointing.

“Look! Look! Look, Ev!” Ruby jumped up and down, and her sister gasped and jumped with her.

“I can’t believe it,” Berty said, dropping her blanket cocoon to stand up for a better look.

I stood too, speechless.

Knox Breckenridge’s SUV pulled the float holding Esmerelda and Betty, standing side by side, wearing reindeer antlers as they chomped hay to their hearts’ content and peered out at the crowd. Ben stood nearby, dressed as an elf, with a pointy green hat, a red elf shirt that stretched across his chest, dark green pants, and pointed red shoes.

“Oh, my God.” I’d never seen a hot elf until now. An elf costume should make a guy look goofy, but this one fit in such a way that it showed off his muscular chest. Ben wore it well.

“Look at Xavier!” Ruby yelled.

At the back end of the float, behind the reindeer-llamas, was Santa’s sleigh, and in it was my dear boy, dressed in a Santa costume, holding the llamas’ reins with one hand and waving with the other. His grin was a mile wide, and then he spotted us in the crowd and jumped up from his sleigh driver’s seat.

We all waved frantically at him and the girls called out.

“Unbelievable,” Berty said, laughing.

I still couldn’t find appropriate words as I took in the details.

There was a large green bag in the sleigh behind Xav overflowing with wrapped presents, and more presents lined the entire bed of the float. In front of my son was a ledge that held a mountain of rainbow-sprinkled cookies. Just as I noticed them, Ben walked back and grabbed two, then returned to the llamas and held out a cookie to each of them. The crowd went wild, pointing and laughing at the hilarious-looking reindeer wannabes as they greedily chomped their sweets.

“Look at Esmerelda up there!” Ruby shouted.

“And Betty!” Evelyn said. “Hi, Betty! Hi, Esmerelda!”

“I want cookies!” Skyler shouted.

“Looks like they have extras,” Berty said, her tone filled with wonder. “I never expected anything like this.”

As the float made its slow way past us, I was so focused on my adorable, amazing son that I almost missed the banner below him that said, Overall Winner, Individual Category.

“They won!” I yelled. “Xavier, you won!”

The yelling and cheering in our area tripled in volume as everyone else noticed the banner.

I didn’t know if Xavier heard me, but he looked down at us, yelled, “We did it!” and swung his head in a joyful victory dance.

I raised my hands and clapped as I cheered for him and Ben. Incredible, generous Ben.

I dragged my gaze from my son, sought out Ben, and found him watching me with the happiest, sexiest expression on his handsome face. As our gazes met, I felt it down to my toes.

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