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18
“Iwin.” Clay strutted out of his room and spun a circle. “Go ahead and crown me.”
“That’s bad.” Colby burst into laughter at the sight of his ugly sweater. “Really bad.”
His pine-green sweater wasn’t terrible. The lumpy snowflakes weren’t horrible either. The sparkly green garland? Wow. It was something. What? I wasn’t sure. The scalloped design reminded me of mermaid scales, and each peak was accentuated with either a red or gold ornament that jingled when he moved. The silver tinsel wig really set it off, and I had to admit I was impressed he managed to style it into a star.
“But wait.” He flipped off the lights. “It gets better.”
A faint click sounded in his hand, and tiny Christmas lights blinked to life, flashing merrily.
A beat later, a wheezing rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” gasped from a music box.
“I’m not sure what that qualifies as,” I said, turning the lights on again, “but it’s not better.”
Someone needed to put that sweater out of its misery. Poor thing sounded half dead already.
“I don’t know.” Colby fluttered her green-tinted wings. “It’s kind of impressive.”
After careful experimentation, Clay had landed on a spray hair dye that Colby could use to color herself. Already, she had purchased a dozen new shades online. I might never see my white moth again.
“Yeah.” I snickered. “Impressively ugly.”
“This is an ugly Christmas sweater contest,” Clay reminded me. “Don’t hate because I won.”
“You haven’t won yet.” I glanced toward Asa’s room. “We have one contestant left.”
“Aedan didn’t want to participate?” Clay buffed his nails on his shirt. “Scared of losing to me, huh?”
“Uh, no.” I heaved a sigh. “The girls took him to watch a midnight showing of It’s a Wonderful Life.”
As much as I wanted to issue a fraternization warning for employees, I signed off on the field trip. Fifteen of the girls’ closest friends were going too, and they wanted to introduce him to people his own age. The real possibility he would remain in Samford long term had swayed me into agreeing with the outing. He did need friends if he wanted to build a life here, and maybe a girl—besides Arden—would catch his eye.
Plus, with Clay on board for self-defense lessons, she was sneakily recruiting others for his classes.
“Tell the truth.” Clay smirked. “He glimpsed me in all my glory and ran away scared.”
“Yes, Clay, that’s exactly what happened.” I rolled my eyes. “He begged me to save him from the shame.”
“Thought so.” He cast me a pitying glance. “You should have taken notes from him.”
The black sweater I chose earned more groans than laughs, so I knew I was out of the running. The Santa peeing off a roof in a stream of yellow lights should have won me the vote from Clay, who loved naughty designs best, but I forgot to put in batteries. I would have sworn the label said they were included, but oh well. It wasn’t the same if the pee didn’t light up on cue. That was my fault for not testing it sooner.
Not sabotage from a fellow contestant—cough, Clay, cough—I was sure.
Unlike the rest of us, who had no skill in the knitting department, Asa had made his own sweater.
And he had kept it secret from the rest of us, to the point Clay had searched his room several times to gauge his competition to no avail. It was driving him crazy, which was a short trip.
“You might want to cover Colby’s eyes,” Asa told us from behind his bedroom door. “Just in case.”
“You heard the man.” I left Clay to the task, since Colby was on his shoulder. “Blindfold time.”
Willing to humor Asa, Clay held his wide palm in front of her face then announced, “Ready.”
Asa’s sweater was less gaudy than ours by a mile, but it was also the naughtiest by far.
Laughter spluttered out of me, and Clay howled, delighted with his partner’s entry.
