Merry Humbug Christmas (20 page)

Reese glanced at her mother with a tinge of resentment, but the

hurt swimming in her misty blue eyes strangled Reese with contri-

tion instead. Touching her mother’s arm, she said, “Oh, Mom. We

didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Pulling away, her mother replied, “And your father and I did not

mean to single-handedly ruin your lives with a healthy diet. Now can we finish our meal?”

Reese nodded.

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One day,
Reese thought.
One day, I’ll find the man of my dreams . . .

and we’ll have three children. . . . No, four! . . . and a twelve-foot Christmas
tree with oodles of packages underneath . . . and a real turkey . . . and . . .

“Good,” her mother replied. “Now please pass the hummus
foie

gras
.”

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On the first day of Christmas,

Murphy’s Law gave to me . . .

A big rockin’ Harry Winston ring.

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1

Reese held her left hand up to the window and subtly wig-

gled all of her fingers. It was something she’d taken to doing

about thirty times every day since the one when Damian had pro-

posed. She didn’t suppose she’d ever tire of watching the light dance on more than two gorgeous carats of diamond set in a micropavé

platinum Harry Winston setting.

“Look at the size of that thing,” Joss had exclaimed when she first saw it. “I thought you didn’t do flashy.”

Reese winced as she recalled her reply. “I don’t. But fortunately, Damian does!”

Way to waffle on your principles,
she chastised herself. But only for a moment before a prism of light bounced off her ring and painted the wall with streaks of color that captured her focus.

“I’m sorry to keep you holding, Dr. Pendergrass.”

Her thoughts snapped back to attention, and she pressed the

phone harder to her ear as she shot a reassuring smile toward Caley, 159

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the sweet six-year-old patient looking up at her as a hovering nurse checked her vitals. “That’s okay. So are you able to help me?”

“Absolutely! All of the plans are in place. One birthday cake

delivered to the cabin of one Joss Snow on Christmas Day. It’s all taken care of.”

“Thank you so much.”

Reese knew it wouldn’t make up for the abandonment issues,

but she couldn’t very well allow her best friend to cruise off into the sunset without so much as a “Happy Birthday!” They’d always spent Christmas/Joss’s-birthday together, shooting at Santas with make-believe guns formed by their fingers, removing blinking reindeer

noses, and knocking over elves with pointed jingle bell shoes. All in fun, at the beginning, but later their anti-Christmas activities had become a sort of diatribe shared by two best friends with their own private reasons for distaste of holiday cheer.

Joss—formerly (and unfortunately) known as
Merry Christmas

Snow
—had been born on Christmas morning, and she’d changed her name as an adult in an effort to escape it. But she at least had memories of happy family Christmases with two parents who adored her

and embraced every sappy holiday tradition from Christmas Eve caroling to visits from Santa and bulging stockings on Christmas morning. And Joss’s descriptions of the traditional Snow family holiday feast! Reese had certainly never known anything like those.

Roasted turkey with chestnut stuffing . . . creamy mashed pota-

toes with thick turkey gravy . . . broccoli casserole swimming in melted cheese . . . pumpkin pie with . . .
oh!
. . . whipped cream.

Reese imagined it all as a culinary and probably gastronomic delight.

Medical school had provided a pretty great excuse not to make

it home for Tofurkey with the family over the years since she’d left home. Then her vagabond folks moved to Key West to pursue a laid-back lifestyle that included Hawaiian shirts, flip-flops, and a pontoon boat. By the grace of God, that’s when she met up with Joss.

A chance meeting at a Pediatric AIDS fund-raiser had evolved

into instantly recognized kindred spirits. After Joss’s parents were killed in a car accident, her best friend revealed there had been Merry Humbug Christmas.indd 160

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161

no more Christmas/birthday celebration feasts. Joss had come to

despise the holiday season as a monthlong reminder each and every year that she was utterly and completely alone. Except for Reese, of course.

And then Damian had proposed.

Reese had thought of Joss in those first seconds after he’d asked her. Staring down at the massive diamond ring, and then into the

chocolate-brown eyes of one gorgeous neurosurgeon, she found

it odd that Joss sprang immediately to mind . . . at least until she remembered their promise.

“From now on,” Joss had said, “we’ll avoid every Christmas

together.”

“We’ll only celebrate it as your birthday,” Reese had added.

“We’ll eat cake and Chinese food and watch movies and listen to

music.”

“But not Christmas songs. And absolutely no
It’s a Wonderful Life
.”

“Right!”

“It’s a pact then,” Joss had said, and she spit on her hand and

extended it toward Reese.

“Really? Spit?”

“To seal the deal.”

Reese had shrugged and only winced slightly as she placed her

hand over the spit and they shook on it.

“There’s no reason to be alone just because we’re single,” Reese

added.

“So we’ll avoid Christmas together.”

“Until one of us gets married and starts a family,” Reese had said.

It had seemed like an open-ended agreement that extended far,

far down the road. There had been no sign of someone like Damian

actually showing up in her life back then. But deep down, there had always been the hope.

Excitement surged inside her like a storm over the ocean. Now

that the realization of those lifelong dreams peeked over the edge of her future, Reese felt torn between running toward them and

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shrinking back within the bracing fear of never fitting in to the world accompanied by an impending new last name.

“Okay, sweetie,” nurse Karen said as she packed up her blood

pressure cuff. “Your mommy should be back in about ten minutes.”

Reese listened in from outside the door of the hospital room as

anesthesiologist Jack Collins inched up on her before she noticed him.

“Are you spying on patients again, Dr. Pendergrass?”

She chuckled. “Waiting for Dr. Fielding. He’s covering for me

while I’m gone. What are your holiday plans?”

“Dinner with some friends on Christmas Eve,” he replied.

“Church on Christmas morning. Very low key.”

Despite ten or more years difference in their ages, she and Jack

had become fast friends when he’d joined the hospital staff a couple of years back. He’d joked with her about being a father figure, and she’d begun including him on special occasions like her birthday dinner in Newport Beach.

“But you’re still planning to join us on New Year’s Day, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said, and he pulled her into a friendly

embrace. “You and Damian have a great Christmas.”

“We will, Jack. You too.”

“Do you need anything? How about some of that banana pudding

you like?” Karen asked her young patient as Jack walked away. Caley shook her head. “You know how to call me if you change your mind.

The red button comes straight to me, all rightie?”

The little girl nodded, and the nurse tapped Reese’s arm on her

way out of the room. “Have a good Christmas, Dr. Pendergrass.”

“You, too, Karen.”

Karen passed Arthur Fielding as she hurried down the corridor,

and Reese nodded him over toward the bed as she approached it.

“Caley, this is Dr. Fielding,” Reese told her. “He’ll be looking

after you while I’m away over Christmas.”

“Hi, Caley,” Arthur said, squeezing her small arm. “I’m sorry you have to spend the holiday here, but I’m going to do everything I can to help you feel better as soon as possible. Okay?”

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Caley shrugged. She’d been in and out of the hospital so many

times throughout the year that Reese suspected she didn’t really hold out much hope about feeling better.

“How long will you be gone?” Caley asked her, and Reese stroked

her hair.

“I’ll be back in just a few days. And Dr. Fielding will call me if there’s anything out of the ordinary. I know he’s not much to look at,” she teased, and Caley giggled. The truth was Arthur gave George Clooney a real run for his money with those brooding blue eyes and dark floppy hair; unfortunately, he knew it too. “But he’s a pretty smart man. And a very good doctor. I’m leaving you in excellent

hands.”

“You’ll come see me as soon as you get back?” Caley asked.

“You’ll be my first stop.”

“Good to meet you, sweetheart,” Arthur told her. “I’ll see you

again later.”

Reese and Arthur strolled into the corridor, and Reese adjusted

the stethoscope around her neck. “B12 and folate deficiencies,” she explained. “The blood smear results should be back late today. She’s still not holding much down, so you may want to order an IV if she has no luck with dinner.”

“I’ve done this before, Reese,” he joked. “I’ve got this.”

Reese sighed. “Sorry. She’s special.”

“They’re all special.”

She grinned, supposing he was right.

“So,” he said, slipping his arm around her shoulder as they headed down the hall, “when do you leave?”

“I’m headed home to meet Damian right now.”

“Meeting the fam,” Arthur said with a laugh. “Just be sure you

don’t blow it. You can never recover from a lousy first meeting.”

“Oh, thank you for the support.”

“You know me. Ever the encourager.”

“Mm,” she groaned.

“Hey, when are you going to set me up with that hot friend of

yours, Reese?”

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“Joss?”

“Joss,” he repeated. “Right. Joss. She’s a spitfire. So when are you going to hook us up?”

“Uh. Never?”

“C’mon!”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry. I’ll set you up with my best girlfriend,

Arthur . . .
said no woman on the planet, ever
.”

“Reese . . .”

“I find it quite alarming I have to remind you of this, but you’re married.”

“Semantics.”

Reese pushed the elevator call button and stared him down. “Tell

you what. Let’s call your wife and discuss it with her and see if she agrees.”

He chuckled.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“Actually, I can,” she replied. The door slipped open and she

boarded the elevator, tapping the button for the lobby. “Merry

Christmas, Dr. Fielding.”

“Same to you, Dr. Pendergrass.”

DAMIAN RUBBED HIS EYES and yawned. Leaning back in his chair,

he stared at the ceiling and wondered about traffic on Interstate 10.

“Dr. Palmer?” He looked up and smiled at his secretary as she

stood just inside the door. “Do you need anything else before I head out?”