3 Years

87 - Holiday Gatherings

"Bye, Neeners!"

"Bye!"

Nini then dialed Big Red, knowing Ricky was probably at Slices with him. "Hey, Nini!" he answered cheerily.

"Hey, Red! I have a question for you."

"Alright. Shoot."

"Can you help me think of gift ideas for Ricky?"

"Um, just a moment." Nini could hear him shuffling around on the other side for a minute before he spoke again. "Sorry, Ricky walked in. I'm in the office now; I don't think he'll be able to hear me."

"Great. I have no idea where to start because I realized that I don't actually know as much about him as I thought. Like, hobbies and interests wise."

"Well, I was planning on giving him his old skateboard. Remember when Mike was cleaning out the garage that one time and let me keep it? I don't necessarily have a use for it, and I doubt he does either, but I figured he could just have it as a memento."

"Yeah..." Nini thought about that for a minute; it was a really sweet idea, but she wasn't sure if she could part with anything that used to belong to him.

"You know you could do the same," he said. "You have most of his old stuff."

Nini chuckled. "I don't know, Red. I don't want to lose anything."

"What would you be losing? Plus, we have the actual Ricky back now; we don't have to hold onto objects as if he's dead anymore when we have the real person one call away."

Ok... you have a point. "Ok. Thank you for that. I'll figure out what to do."

"Glad I could help. Happy holidays!"

"Happy holidays!" Nini hung up and heard footsteps behind her; Jayden and Lauren came into the room. "So... what do you guys want for Christmas?" she asked.

They both just shrugged. "I don't know," Jayden answered.

"You two don't have anything in mind?"

"Um... not really," Lauren added.

"Thank you for the hint," she joked. They're impossible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nini tapped her fingers nervously on the steering wheel; she thought she could blame her shakiness on the cold. It was time for the annual group holiday party, which was being held at the Redonovich's this year because of Ashlyn's pregnancy. The main problem she's had so far is the constant nauseous feeling.

She had all her gifts in the car, continuously checking names off in her head. She felt like a box might sprout legs and run away on the ride over.

She pulled into the driveway of the Red family, noting all the cars that had already shown up. (She blames her children for their tardiness.)

The family of three worked to get all the boxes and bags to the front door. "Alright, is that everything?" Nini asked, double-checking the trunk.

"Yup!" Jayden called, already at the front door. He always loved the whole group get-togethers because they were hilarious and the food was always amazing.

Lauren leaned into the trunk and didn't see anything else. "I think we're clear."

"Ok, just making sure," Nini said, pulling the trunk door down to close.

"Don't worry," her daughter reassured. "I don't think we forgot anyone."

"I hope not," Nini murmured.