Okay, so she hadn’t bargained on riding over with him, but what was she going to say? No, I won’t ride with you?
“Or I could give you a ride.”
She only realized her chin was now sticking out defiantly when he tapped it. “You’re right. Your mom can definitely handle Gordy.”
“Very funny.” But she did tuck her chin back in its normal position.
They spent the next half hour talking about things at the hospital and the trip, Clancy asking her if she’d ever practiced medicine in a disaster area.
“No, never. But as far as medicine goes, I imagine it’ll be more about the big picture than the minutiae we worry about at the hospital, but that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have, something we don’t always learn in medical school.”
“True. We don’t always learn that in life either.”
“No, we don’t.” Something Hollee would be smart to remember. If she could remember not to focus on the minutiae or try to “fix” things between her and Clancy, maybe they could learn how to relate to each other on a professional level and leave their personal feelings in the past.
Was that even possible? Especially with the season of mistletoe fast approaching? Would she need to perpetually be on the lookout for those traitorous sprigs? It was the time of hope. And kisses. Lord knew, she’d fantasized over that kiss long after it had happened. And now with him sitting beside her, his shoulder periodically brushing hers, it was hard not to go back and remember what it had been like to obsess over every little thing about him. The earthy scent that clung to his clothes. The smooth, warm leather of his jacket against her cheek as he’d given her a ride home on his bike. The heady anticipation of his lips as they’d ever so slowly descended…
God. She could feel that kiss all over again. A spike of panic went through her, going deep and lodging there.
Please, don’t start wanting him again, Hollee.
How was she going to survive two weeks with him in Bender? Or seeing him for hours on end day in and day out?
She had no idea. But she’d better figure out a coping strategy, and quickly. Or those long-term effects of a split-second decision that Clancy had talked about earlier could end up happening again. And if it did, she’d be in danger of it haunting her for the rest of her life.
STRAINS OF CHRISTMAS music came down the corridors as Hollee headed toward the pediatric ward, telling her that Santa Claus was coming to town.
He actually was coming to town. Arlington Regional’s part of town, anyway. It was always one of her favorite times at the hospital. They had a separate room set up with a huge Christmas tree and enough space to hold a hundred people. It was their way of giving back to the community. Patients current and past could come by for the next four Saturdays leading up to Christmas and get their picture taken with jolly Old St. Nick himself—played by whichever staff member happened to be available on any given weekend. Presents were piled high around the tree, courtesy of a grant given by a local business, one who’d been doing this for the last ten years.
Ten years. Her eyes closed. The year she’d gotten married.
Over and done with, Hollee. Stop dwelling on it.
She hadn’t been. She’d actually been getting on with her life. Until Clancy had walked back into it. Only he hadn’t known she was working at the hospital. She’d seen the shock on his face when he saw her in that corridor. He’d definitely not planned to ever lay eyes on her again.
And who could blame him? She’d never tried to contact him after Jacob died. Or speak to him after the funeral. She only had the small bits of information that Ava had mentioned over the years.
She turned the corner and those thoughts died, a smile taking over. The music was louder in here. And the room was full of children and laughter. Some of the kids wore wristbands signifying they were patients, and some didn’t.
And there was Santa, sitting on what looked like a throne. A red velvet chair with ornate gold scrollwork that someone had dug up at a local thrift store and reupholstered. It had been in use for as long as most people could remember. But Santa Claus’s identity changed each week.
There had to be pillows under that red suit, because this Santa didn’t have anything that “shook like a bowlful of jelly.” Despite the long white beard that covered the area under his nose, the man’s face had no extra flesh. It was firm and carved, and there was a deep, deep furrow between his…
She peered closer, her mouth going suddenly dry.
It couldn’t be. There was no way he would have agreed to be Santa.
Then again, the requests usually came from the hospital administrator, a hard man to turn down. Not because he was harsh and insisted, but because he had a quiet way of somehow convincing people to do what he wanted. Mainly because it was normally for the good of the hospital. Or morale. Or their patients. Even though this was a private hospital, Neil was really good at making this about health care rather than the almighty dollar. He’d even been known to go to bat against insurance companies when they refused to cover life-saving procedures. And since the board had kept him on, they must agree with the way he ran things.
But Clancy? As Santa?
The one thing she couldn’t imagine him saying was “Ho, ho, ho!”
But there was a sexiness about him that came through, despite the oversized clothes. It was there in those dark eyes. In the slight way his mouth kicked up to the side when he smiled. Or maybe she was the only one who noticed those things. She doubted it, though. Women had always paid attention whenever he was around.
It wasn’t just his body, though. It was the way he carried himself—the way he moved and talked. Even when he’d reclined on her quilt at the dog park, he’d been completely at ease with himself—a kind of self-confidence that bordered on arrogance, but stayed just this side of it. It was what had caught her attention and carried her beyond mere friendship when she, Jacob and Ava had been teenagers.
She hadn’t cared about the consequences back then. Until Ava had pointed out that mistletoe and sent the events that followed spinning out of control. There’d been no coming back from that. Not as friends.
His eyes swept the room and caught her staring. That bushy white brow cocked at her in challenge and, sure enough, the left side of his mouth curved. Damn. The man would be sexy even when he was eighty.
She couldn’t contain a small laugh and a shake of her head that she hoped conveyed her disbelief at seeing him in that chair. She pointed at him and mouthed, You?
One of his shoulders gave a half shrug. Then Neil got up on the stage, kicking up a bit of fake snow as he did so.
They’d done a great job on the decorations, and not just the snow. It was the whole atmosphere. There was a winter scene that boasted twinkle lights and huge shimmering Christmas ornaments. Some of those ornaments had been tossed haphazardly around the tree, as if they’d fallen and rolled into their spots. A tall snowman—a crazy patterned scarf knotted around his neck—stood off to the right, one bony stick arm raised in welcome. Someone had stuffed a set of lights inside him that changed color in time with the music. Which was now sounding off the names of Santa’s reindeer.
It hadn’t snowed in Arlington this year, but Hollee hoped, for the sake of the children, that whoever oversaw the weather sent a dusting of the white stuff their way before Christmas.
The administrator thanked everyone for coming. “We need a couple of staff members to be elves and pass out the presents. I see Hollee and Kristen out there. Would you two mind coming up?”
Oh,