The Great Pretender

35: Dig That Crazy Santa Claus

Did he not remember that she already knew they were no longer a thing? She took a deep breath to calm herself down. She'd been in denial not so long ago herself, she could let him deal with this on his own. If he started acting any stranger though, she might have to corner him and slap him till he was normal again.

-.-

Ari had enlisted Delia's help in decorating the house for Christmas the night before their party. It had become something of a tradition, because their father had only enough time to spare to Christmas decorating as it took him to get a tree and put it up. For the past few years it had been done by Ari's other friends, but this year, since Cherish was there, and for old time's sake, Ari had called Delia. After decorating, the three girls had some form of a slumber party which resulted in them going to school barely awake.

The day was strange, all eight classes shortened to a half hour and crammed into one day, most of them being only a formality. Cherish practically sleepwalked through most of the day, being shuffled from one class to the next by Harper, Ian and Seven. She didn't feel even the slightest bit bad about it. At the end of the short day, Cherish and Delia had decided that the extra time was to be spent napping before everyone showed up.

"Girl's wake up, it's 6."

If Shannon McKinley had any idea that letting the girls sleep in the extra hour would cause an armageddon, he might never have done it. But as it was, even Delia was acting as if he'd betrayed her by giving her only one hour to get ready. He'd never seen the girls get up faster.

Then again, maybe he remembered something about Delia and a boyfriend... that might explain why both of his daughters were treating him to glares of the deathly kind in the minutes after he woke them. He shook his head, muttering something about teens as he retreated to his den.

The hour seemed to go by in a blink, and Ari popped her head into the den in no time. "Dad! What are you still doing here? It's already past 7, people are going to be here soon! Oh and I need a ride to Darla's place."

With a sigh, he closed up the work he'd been doing and followed her. Ari looked at him pointedly as they reached the front door only to see Cherish letting some of the boys in. Grabbing his jacket out of the hall closet, Shannon greeted Cherish's friends. The one who'd been missing for some time was standing in the doorway; he'd been right, his daughter had befriended the boy even though she'd adamantly proclaimed to loathe him.

"Hey Mr. McKinley, you don't have to leave because of us." He couldn't recall ever seeing the boy smile so genuinely, or being even remotely nice.

"Yeah, Mister Mac, you should join us!" another of the boys clambered into the house behind Seven and grinned at him.

Shannon shook his head, pointed at his daughters, and shrugged, "I'm being kicked out."

"Rish, your own Dad? How could you?"

"I didn't," Cherish laughed. "Ari did."

"Don't worry, Mr. McKinley, I'll keep an eye on these monkeys for you. There will be no shenanigans under my watch."

"Whatever, Sev!" Cherish shoved him into the living room and pecked her father's cheek as he left the house. "Bye Dad."

It wasn't much of a party really, for all they'd been planning. Delia's eagerness to pass out gifts was so overwhelming, they did that first. Of course, with Delia, it wasn't as easy as simply handing them out. No, one must don the hat first, have their picture taken for posterity and only then must one hand out gifts.

So, with the Santa hat that Delia handed her firmly on her head, Cherish began tossing her gifts around the room. Everyone laughed when Delia tore open the wrapping, flushed and held up the "Fox" t-shirt Cherish had bought for her.