Page 14 of Doctor Holliday

“Do you have her artwork here?”

“No.” He grinned. “Maybe someday. Maybe not.”

She chuckled softly, eyebrows hiked as if to suggest she understood what he meant. Rather than respond, she moseyed over to an endcap of Christmas wreaths.

“Is it all your work?”

“No.”

She wandered down an aisle, fingers trailing over the tiny wooden furniture for dollhouses. Once upon a time, Ruby had been into dolls and dollhouses, which is what got him started down that path. When she had grown out of that faze—way too quickly in his opinion—he had continued crafting them and selling them online. These in the store were holiday related, because what spoiled little girl wouldn’t want her dolls’ house decorated for Christmas?

“I’ll have to come back when I don’t need to be at the office,” she announced as she turned back to him.

“I hope you do.” He stepped out from behind the counter to walk her to the door. “First purchase is on the house.”

“You’re not gonna make any money that way.” She looked up at him as they crossed back to the front of the store.

Keaton tucked his hands in the hip pockets of his jeans as they neared the door. He grinned and offered her a one-shouldered shrug.

“Not every day a Christmas miracle happens in your stockroom.”

“Hardly a miracle.” She scrunched her nose up and shook her head.

“A doctor with the name Holliday shows up in time to deliver a healthy baby and help a young girl. Christmas music playing in the background. Kind of miraculous to me.”

Lucy drew in a deep breath and looked out the front window at the parking lot. Tiny snowflakes blew on a cold wind out there. In the store, it was warm. Keaton hadn’t turned on the music yet, but it felt cozy here standing by her.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“For what?”

She dipped her head and studied her cup, her brows furrowed in a deep frown.

“Reminding me that what I do matters.”

“Um—” He snapped his mouth closed when she held up a hand.

“No, I get it. It does. Of course it does.” She nodded and looked up at him again, a faint smile on her face. “But I’ve been doing this for years. And sometimes, rather than a miracle, it’s my job.”

Chapter 7

Sunday,December 10th

Lucy

Christmas shopping with Callie had always been a big deal for Lucy. Shopping and lunch—whether Callie was dropping hints to Lucy about what she wanted or if they were looking for something for Lucy’s family gift exchange or the angel tree at church. This year felt different to Lucy, because next year was already weighing heavily on her. Sure, Callie would come home for Christmas—Lucy hoped she would, anyway. But what if her daughter met the love of her life her first semester away at college and opted to stay with him and his family for the holidays?

Even if she didn’t, even if Callie did come home next Christmas, their time together wouldfeeldifferent. There would be an expiration date; Callie would have to go back to school. And Lucy didn’t want to admit it, but family dynamics all started to shift when a kid went off to school. She had seen it, felt it, with her siblings, and she had lived it once she moved out. Lucy had always been close to her family, her mom included, but thatdidn’t mean she hadn’t enjoyed college life. Her friends. Her boyfriends.

The man who had given her Callie when she was only twenty. Too young, too career-driven to be a mom, and yet Callie came along and changed her life for the better. Unfortunately, Callie’s father had been a small man, and Lucy’s determination to succeed, to do well in school and be a doctor, had made him feel threatened. He had tried his damnedest to tear her down, to belittle her. Aaron was a medical student, too, but Lucy knew he wasn’t cut out for the work, the time, involved. He had picked at everything she did their entire year long marriage, including how she nursed their daughter. As if he could have done it better.

“Mom?”

Callie’s tone suggested she had been talking to her and Lucy had zoned out. She gave herself a mental shake and met her daughter’s eyes.

“What do you think?”

Lucy blinked at the beige sweater Callie held out for her approval.