“Get up. You’ve been looking forward to this.”
She propped herself up on one shoulder and looked at him. “Thanks.”
“You can show me just how grateful you are later,” he said with a wink. She smacked his shoulder, but knew that she would happily “show him some appreciation” later. He had a body that made appreciating feel good.
She took one last comfortable breath, steeled herself for the cold of the room, and left the bed.
Except, Nathan had turned up the heat. The floor wasn’t ice beneath her feet and she didn’t immediately pop out in goose flesh upon leaving the blanket. She took her time heading to the bathroom and cleaning up. This time she had a fresh change of clothes and a real brush.
She came out looking like she’d spent the night at home, other than the glow he gave her. She couldn’t wipe the goofy smile off her face.
He was up and dressed in dark slacks and a white dress shirt. He kissed her and handed her a cup of to-go coffee.
“Have a great day,” he said, kissing her temple.
“I could really, really get used to this,” she told him.
He just grinned at her.
She kissed him once more and hurried out the door to get to the parade.
The parade staging ground was a mess. Someone had already given out one of the bags of candy that the floats were supposed to hand out. Now, kids in various holiday themed costumes were running around everywhere already hyped up on sugar.
Holly and Aliyah stood at the parade start line and evaluated the chaos. They were in charge of getting everyone ready to go. Once the parade started, Ms. Chellie was in charge so that Holly and Aliyah could ride on the floats.
“You ready for this?” Aliyah asked, tugging her hat down to cover her ears. It looked like she was a soldier preparing her helmet for war. Her eyes were fierce.
Holly took a deep breath and charged in.
“Zoe, I need you to get the floats lined up. Clancy, you stop hitting your brother. You do it again and we will be having a discussion, understand? Lilibeth, your mom is just over by the coffee station. Fred, I need more candy on float three.”
It came easily. She had been planning this for the last two months. She knew the parade route inside out and upside down. She knew each parade float and which kids were supposed to be where. Now, it was just a matter of getting everyone to where they were supposed to be.
Time flew by as she hurried between floats and checked in with the various crews. The fire department was running late since a Christmas tree went up in flames over on Elm street. The family was okay, and the house was saved, but Holly needed to move two floats up so that the fire truck could squeeze in when they got back.
She felt on top of the world. She felt like she could handle anything the world threw at her today. There was nothing that was going to knock her down. She had this. This was going to be a perfect Christmas day.
“I think we’ve got things rolling!” Aliyah told her, jogging past with a trio of lost kids. “You should head to your dad’s float. We did it!”
Holly grinned and gave her a big thumbs up. She checked in with Ms. Chellie on her walkie-talkie and headed to her float. It was now time for the fun part of the parade.
“Hey kiddo,” her dad called from his float as she passed.
“Hi, Dad!” She waved and came over to give him a hug. He was wearing his Santa costume and had his fluffy white beard in place.
“You look happy this morning,” he said, returning her hug. He looked over her face and smiled. “I don’t know the last time I’ve seen you look this happy.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “It suits you. I like it.”
That made her smile, and she realized that she was already grinning. So, she just smiled a little wider.
“Thanks, Dad.” She looked around. “How’s the float?”
He shrugged. “It’ll probably be the last year for this old gal,” he said sadly. “The tree needs replacing and some squirrels got into the presents last night. I managed to fix them, but they won’t make it another year. Seems to be the story of my world.”