Aunt Santa

Chapter 1

The train was delayed. Sara peered down the tracks into the dark tunnel, along with everyone else, as if her vigilance could make it suddenly appear. After a full fifteen minutes, she called it. The last time she waited for the E train, it would've been faster just to walk the ten blocks back to her apartment.

Besides, she thought as she emerged out onto Thirty-Fourth Street, who could possibly mind walking home in New York at night during Christmas time? She paused on the corner to admire the light display over the department store.

"Move it, lady!" An elderly woman carrying a bulging bag from Duane Reed shoved past her to beat the light. Okay, Sara admitted, maybe it was just her and the tourists who didn't mind. She slipped on her headphones and joined the throng heading across the street.

The phone rang halfway through her third Christmas song. Sara hit pause on her movie soundtrack moment, already wincing when she saw who was calling. "Hello?"

"Sara! Did you leave? Where are you?"

"I did leave." She could hear Jen swear even through the din at the bar where she remained with their friends. "I'm heading home. You're still coming over for dinner though, right?"

"Yeah. Shit, hold on, I'm going outside. I can't hear anything."

After a moment of huffing, she heard her friend come back on. "Yes, I'm coming over. But why didn't you say anything? You can't Irish goodbye your own going away party."

Sure you can, she thought. You can Irish goodbye pretty much anything. It's probably why the Irish lived so long, preserved by whiskey and all that time saved from idling over farewells. "It was just too hard. Everyone was having fun, I knew I would get weepy. Listen, make sure you close out for me," she added quickly, sidestepping a group of German tourists who had stopped to gawk at the Empire State Building. "I left my card at the bar. Keep putting everybody's drinks on it."

"For real? Sara, you don't have to do that. We're supposed to be taking you out, remember?"

"You guys are the only reason I stayed at that job so long. The best team anyone could've asked for." She felt her throat get scratchy from unshed tears. "You deserve it. And besides, they haven't asked for my corporate card back yet," she added with a laugh. "Might as well go out with a bang."

She told Jen she'd see her later and was trying to return her phone to her pocket when something heavy hit her in the arm.

"Sorry!" She looked up to see who had walked into her. He looked young, maybe a college student, and had already turned back to his two friends to continue telling his story. The girls were laughing and all three of them talked over each other in a jumble as they made their way down the crowded street.

Sara watched the trio disappear around the corner and pulled her phone back out of her pocket. Mo's name was easy to find at the top of the list. She typed, hit send, the Christmas music already playing again in her ears.

Two more sleeps...

The message was as much a reminder for Sara as it was for Mo. There was still a lot to do, she thought, as she quickened her pace to get home.

The knock on Sara's front door drew her attention away from her precious lists, but just for a moment.

With great effort, she redirected her attention to the winded and thoroughly irritated delivery guy who all but shoved the bag of Thai food into her hands. "Thanks for making the climb." She handed him an extra twenty for the walk up five flights of stairs and his eyes widened.