“Okay, fine. You can each make your case. Who wants to go first?”
Drew finished off his gumbo and sweet tea and sat back to watch this, feeling a strange sense of amusement and satisfaction that he couldn’t explain. He didn’t know these people, yet he was already drawn in by their camaraderie and the fun-loving spirit that seemed palpable in the air. Even when they were bickering and talking about Santa being eaten by alligators and reminiscing about terrorizing one another as children. Maybe because of that. A family that could endear themselves to a near-stranger with stories like that, had a special something.
Zeke spoke up first and Drew got the impression that was common. He could tell he would know all of these people much better when he walked out of here tonight.
“I think I would be the best Santa.” Zeke rubbed his hand up and down his baby’s back as the little one fussed. “Santa is all about the kids. Childlike wonder. The fun and magic of Christmas. And let's be honest, no one is more childlike than I am.”
Everyone around the table laughed and Jill nodded. “Very good point.”
Zeke gave her a grin. “Plus I'm a dad now,” Zeke said. “I’m totally tapped into the meaning of Christmas for kids.”
“Well, Josh would be awesome at it, too,” Tori Kramer—well, now Landry, Drew corrected—said.
She was holding a little girl, older than the twins but not what Drew would call a toddler.
“That's true,” Kennedy said. “Do you want to make a case for Josh?”
The man next to Tori, shook his head. “We all know I would be amazing at it. I’m sweet, patient, kind, charming…”
A wadded up napkin hit him in the cheek. Drew wasn’t sure where it had come from.
Josh laughed. “But I'm all about making this Christmas special for Ella now that she’s old enough to do some fun stuff.” He looked at the baby in Tori's arms with a soft smile. “If you guys need any help getting it set up and stuff, I'm happy to pitch in. But I just want to hang out at home this Christmas with Ella and Tori.”
Everyone nodded their understanding and Kennedy shrugged. “Okay, so no Owen and no Josh. Is it just Zeke?”
“I’d do it, of course,” Mitch said.
“Oh, you would be an awesome Santa,” Paige said. “You're easily the nicest.”
Drew waited for someone to protest her statement. But no one did. Apparently, that was just a well-known fact.
“Mitch is kind, patient, funny, and sweet.” Paige propped her chin on her hand and gazed at her boyfriend.
Drew almost laughed. Paige Asher had been one of the most eligible bachelorettes in Appleby, Iowa for a long time. She’d been proposed to five times back in Iowa. Yep, five. If someone had told him he would ever see Paige look at a man the way she was looking at Mitch Landry, Drew would have called bullshit.
“He would also take the job seriously and would show up on time for all of his shifts, and wouldn’t be sleep deprived because of being up in the night with twins—” She gave Zeke a sympathetic look.
Kennedy was nodding. “Okay, so the sleep deprivation and the need to be at home to help Jill with the twins is not a terrible point,” she said to Zeke.
“Man, using my babies against me?” Zeke shook his head. “Not fair.”
“But you do have a lot going on,” Mitch said.
“And Josh just wants a sweet family Christmas with his girls. Fletcher might get outed by the kids since they all know him. So who else is in this ‘competition’?” Kennedy put air quotes around competition.
“Well, definitely not Griffin,” Zeke laughed. “We’d never keep the goats away from Santa’s Village.”
Paige laughed and looked at Drew. “One of the goats is madly in love with Griffin.” She pointed down the table to the quiet, dark-haired man sitting next to Charlie. “Whenever he's around, she breaks out of her pen to be with him. The rest of the goats then follow her and we end up with the whole herd following him around like an entourage.”
Drew chuckled. “And I’ve already met some of your goats. Pretty hard to ignore them.”
“You have no idea,” Griffin muttered.
“Plus Griffin's way too grumpy to be Santa,” Charlie said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. “Or at least that’s what he’d like for you all to believe. So let’s just go with that.”
The man didn't look offended nor did he dispute her comment.
“Well, if grumpy takes a guy out of the running, then Knox is definitely off the list,” Kennedy said.
Paige looked at Drew again. “Knox is our city manager and Kennedy's right-hand man. Definitely grumpy, especially when it comes to chaotic events at the petting zoo. Or really anything having to do with the petting zoo at all.”
“Well, obviously I would be the best one at it,” Leo said as he brought a huge basket of cornbread muffins to the table and set it in the middle.
“You don't automatically get picked just because you're the old man with the gray beard,” Owen said.
“No, I figure I'll get picked because I'm Kennedy's favorite,” Leo said, shooting his granddaughter a grin.
“It's true. If Leo wants to do it, I'll probably give it to him,” Kennedy said.
“What if I want to do it?” Bennett asked from her other side.
She gave him a smile. “You want to be Santa?”
“I'm just saying. Hypothetically, if you had to pick between me and Leo, who would you pick?”
Kennedy leaned over and patted Bennett's knee. “You really shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answer to.”
Bennett rolled his eyes and chuckled.
“Don’t worry, boy, I’m gonna die one of these days. You’ll have a few good years as her favorite,” Leo said.
Bennett gave the older man a grin. “You know I consider it a compliment to even be number two on the list behind you.”
“And that’s why you get to do my eulogy,” Leo told him.
That clearly surprised, and touched, Bennett. “It would be my honor.”
Paige turned wide eyes to Drew. “Welcome to my new world. Where we can talk about Santa murders, sweet babies at Christmas, and the future eulogies of our beloved older generation all over a typical weekday dinner.”
Drew laughed out loud. “I’m more entertained than I’ve been in a very long time.”
“If only we were trying to entertain the new guy and not just totally being our regular selves,” Paige said.
“So, now I’ve got Leo, and maybe Bennett?” Kennedy asked. “We’ve got reasons that Owen, Josh, Zeke, Fletcher, Griffin, and Knox are nos.”
“Come on, Ken, you know I'm gonna do it.”
Everyone turned to look at Sawyer. Most of them looked surprised, though a couple looked amused.
Kennedy in particular had a huge smile on her face when she said, “Finally. I was going to make you do it, but I appreciate you volunteering.”
The big guy nodded.
“Wait…seriously?” Owen asked. “You? You’re almost as grumpy as Griffin.”
Sawyer shook his head. “We all know that I'm great with kids. I can handle the schedule, no problem. And I'll take it completely seriously. These kids are coming to Santa with legitimate concerns and they need someone to hear them out.”