Here I Am

“You told him what?” Delia looked at me, her eyes wide as she rushed around her apartment, gathering up her purse and some holiday baking recipes for Riley and her for the day. “Christmas Corey? I don’t know,” she mused, throwing some lip gloss in her purse. “I barely remember them. Like close to nothingness barely,” she specified for me.

“Why not?” I asked. “You guys are family and Jordan is apparently dying to see you again. Do you really want to keep a guy dying?” I went for the guilt trip.

She sighed. “You already told them I would go for it, didn’t you?” she turned to me, a hint of a smile on her lips.

“It was his idea. I just so happened to re-enforce the idea with the urgings of Krugs and Tazer,” I chose my words carefully.

“I guess it might be okay. How do I prepare for Christmas?” she asked, looking at me.

“Why are you asking me?” I asked, holding up my hands. “I’m not enforcing my Christmas traditions on you. Do what you normally do.”

“Well, um,” she hesitated. “I don’t have any,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?” I asked as we walked out to my car.

She shrugged. “When my mom was still alive, we didn’t do much at all. We didn’t even have a tree some years.”

“What?!” I was pretty sure my mouth dropped a few inches.

She nodded her head as I drove towards Riley’s home. “Yeah. So I mean this Christmas thing is a whole new thing for me and some pointers would actually be very helpful Mr. Crawford.”

“A tree would be a great start,” I said to her, smiling.

She shoved me as we arrived at his house. “Thanks Captain Obvious. So helpful there.”

“I’ll pick you up at nine,” I told her as she got out of the car. “We’ll go celebrate and pick out some Christmas decorations.”

“Thanks Corey,” she bent down to the window. “You’re a doll,” she winked and walked off into the house.

At exactly nine o’ clock, she walked out of the giant house and jumped into my car, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

“Everything okay?” I asked as I drove towards the store.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Riley’s parents should be getting in early this morning from Guam and then them and Riley will be taking off to his grandparents’ house for the holidays.

“Sounds good. Let’s get you some decorations for your own Christmas,” I smiled and we started our long trip of Christmas shopping.

It was close to eleven and we were just putting the stuff in my trunk when Delia’s cell phone rang.

She looked quizzical as she answered. “Hello?” Her face went from confused to horror in a matter of seconds. “What? Oh God no.” She put her hand over her mouth and I saw she was trembling.

The phone dropped and Delia wasn’t too far behind it. I got to her in time and caught her. “Delia! Delia! What’s wrong?!” I talked to her, trying to get her to respond to me.

She looked at me, lips quaking, eyes threatened to brim over with tears. “It’s Riley’s parents,” she whispered.

“What?” I asked, this time more urgently.

“They died in a plane crash.”

My mouth dropped open slightly. “Oh my God,” I said.

“I. . .I need to get to the hospital,” she said, suddenly in full panic nanny form. She straightened up, but her hand still stayed latched onto my arm. “I need to get to Riley.”

I led her to her side of the car and helped her in and was on the phone, already calling up Kaner, Scott, Tazer, and Krugs.

I couldn’t believe this was happening.