The Nightshift Before Christmas

by Annie O'Neil

  So...if Emily was The Patient of Christmas Past...

  Had she been so blinkered about Josh’s adrenaline-junkie ways that she’d forgotten to look at the big picture? To look at him? He had been grieving, too. Maybe his relentless drive to cheer her had been the same desperation she’d been feeling for him to weep with her. Sob his heart out as she’d done, hidden away in the back of her closet so no one could hear her mourn.

  There just wasn’t any way to prepare for a loss like that, let alone know how to react. Had she been the one to react poorly? To lose sight of what was important?

  The weight of the realization nearly buckled her knees.

  What had she done?

  The iron taste of blood in her mouth brought her back to the present. Hey! Let’s just add a self-inflicted bloody lip to the mix. Precisely the Christmas look she’d been hoping to present to her patients. To Josh.

  She needed a Christmas cookie.

  Stat.

  If she got to the staff room fast enough, there just might be a few left after Jorja’s grandmother’s annual Christmas bake-fest.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “SOMEONE’S GOT THE MUNCHIES!”

  “Hi, Michael.” Katie guiltily swiped some crumbs away from her lips as she swallowed down an unsuspecting gingerbread man’s leg. His head and arms had already been snapped off and munched. “Sorry, I was just...”

  Just trying to drown my sorrows by massacring a gingerbread cookie?

  Not strictly what you wanted your boss to say.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve already eaten a dozen. Maybe more.”

  The unexpected hint of a wicked smile crossed his face and brought out one on her own. She had a soft spot for Michael. Hair always a tousled mess. Ink marks regularly dabbing his cheeks. He’d joined the internship later than most medical graduates, having taken a year out to work with a charity in South America. Methodical. Steady. He was a serious guy. Not to the point of being humorless, but it was nice to see a smile on his face.

  “Lucky you—getting Jorja as your Secret Santa.”

  “Yes! Yes, it was most excellent. A real surprise. Incredibly generous.”

  And a really effusive thanks for a plate of cookies Jorja hadn’t even baked herself.

  Katie looked up from her cookie to give Michael a closer look and was surprised to see a hint of color pop onto his cheeks. Did he...? Could he really...? Bouncy, gregarious Jorja? Who wore costumes on any given holiday? Well... Katie had been all but surgically attached to her books at university and Josh-the-Gregarious had certainly brought her out of her shell. Maybe Jorja brought out the hidden Romeo in Michael.

  Katie felt her beeper buzz and tugged it off her scrubs waistline.

  911—suspected cardiac arrest.

  Katie didn’t bother to wait for Michael’s response.

  The patient was her father.

  * * *

  “Who does a woman need to call to get a cappuccino in this hospital?”

  Josh knew that voice. He knew it very well. And he knew the bottle blonde coiffure that went along with it.

  “Mrs. McGann?”

  “Josheeee!”

  Katie’s immaculately turned out mother twirled around on her heels with the style and panache of a nineteen-fifties screen legend, holding her hands out in a wiggly fingered show of delight before planting a big lipsticky kiss on his cheek. Nothing had changed there, then.

  “What are you doing here, Mrs. McGann?”

  And...why don’t you find it strange that I’m here?

  “Oh, Josh...”

  Sheree McGann placed a perfectly manicured hand on Josh’s forearm. She was as touchy-feely as her daughter was reserved. No apples had fallen near her tree.

  “It’s Randall. He’s gone and had a blasted angina attack and he didn’t have any of his squirty stuff left so we could finish—you know—business.”

  She raised her eyebrows and smiled when he made the connection.

  “Josheeee...” She gave his arm a squeeze. “I would just murder for a cappuccino. Any top tips from an insider?”

  She dropped him a knowing wink, but before he had a chance to answer, Katie skidded to a halt alongside them. Perfect timing? Or damage control?

  “Mom! Is everything all right? Where’s Dad?” Katie shot him a wary glance while she waited for a response.

  “Katie, darling! You didn’t tell us Josh was back in town. Naughty girl. It does explain why you’ve turned down our invitation to stay at the condo whilst we’re here. Now, what does a girl have to do to find a barista on Christmas morning?”

  “I bet we can rustle something up for you, Sheree.”

  Katie’s blood ran cold, then hot, then cold again.

  This isn’t happening! This isn’t happening. No, no, no, no, no, no. No!

  She squeezed her eyes tight shut. Then opened them.

  For the love of all the Christmases past and present...please be gone!

  She eased one eye open. Nope. They were both still there. Josh and her mother, nattering away like a day hadn’t passed since they’d seen each other last. At Elizabeth’s funeral. That was the last time they’d all been together. At least her parents had managed to make good on that promise.

  “Oh, Josh!” Sheree gushed. “It is so good to see you again. I kept telling Katie to stop hiding you away in all of those specialist hospitals and to join us up here in the Canyon. What did she do to finally lure you to our little mountain retreat?”

  “Mom!”

  Katie blanked Josh’s wide-eyed expression. So she hadn’t strictly told her parents she and Josh were no longer together? So what? They’d never been close. On top of which, shouldn’t her mother be behaving a bit more as if her husband was having a heart attack?

  “Where’s Dad?” She wheeled on Josh. “Are you—is someone—looking after my father? I just got a 911.”

  “That was me, dear. I wanted to get back home as soon as...”

  Her mother’s voice trailed off and she pulled back to view her daughter at arm’s length.

  “Oh, honey. Couldn’t you have made a bit more of an effort?” Sheree tsked as she top-to-toe eyeballed Katie with obvious disdain at her choice of scrubs and trainers. “It’s Christmas.”

  Katie crinkled her nose and shook off her mother’s comment. Typical McGann reaction. Ignore the real problem and focus on something superficial.

  Fine.

  She obviously wasn’t going to get any sense out of her mother, whose breath smelled as though she’d already hit the wet bar. Mimosas or martinis? She leaned in for a sniff. Mimosa. Her eyes flicked to the clock. Eleven-thirty.

  Well. It was Christmas.

  “Where’s Dad? Is he okay?”

  “Oh, honey. He didn’t have a heart attack. He was just behaving like his usual greedy guts self—eating too much foie gras last night—and he’s out of his whatchamacallit... Nitro-something-or-other.”

  “Nitroglycerin?” Katie crinkled her nose. “You didn’t tell me Dad was on medication.”

  Katie’s mother gave a tiny shrug and continued speaking as if Katie hadn’t said a word. “Remember what a little piggy he is, Josheee? You know, we were both just talking about you, and I said to him—”

  “Why don’t we all go see him together? I think I overheard Dr. Vessey saying she was doing a preliminary check on an angina case in Two.”

  Josh smoothed over his mother-in-law’s ruffled feathers with the promise of a shot of espresso somewhere in the near future in exchange for a few moments with her husband and daughter.

  “Oh, your father won’t like that. That’s why we had the girl at the desk send out the 911. You know him—refused the wheelchair, staggered in like a drunken pirate, insisting on seeing his little girl. He won’t b
e treated by anyone but you, Katie.”

  “But—” Katie’s face was wreathed in confusion.

  “You know your father, dear. You always were his favorite.”

  “I should think so, Mother. I am his only child,” Katie ground out, looking a little less like a glowering twelve-year-old.

  Josh’s grin widened. He was enjoying every single second of this. Not the part about his father-in-law staggering into the ER bellowing to see his daughter before his heart gave out...but all of this complicated, messy family stuff? This was a side of the McGann family he’d never known existed. And on top of everything, Katie hadn’t told them they weren’t together anymore. It was like fifteen Christmases all rolled up into one!

  Out of this world. Heart-thumpingly out of this world.

  “Shall we?” Katie bit out, clearly displeased with the notion of the proposed family activity.

  Josh tucked his mother-in-law’s hand into the crook of his arm as Katie stomped off in the lead.

  “Temper, temper!” Sheree stage-whispered.

  Katie’s shoulders stiffened, but they weren’t rewarded with the glare Josh was fairly certain would be playing across Katie’s face. She could have whipped round and stuck her tongue out at them for all he cared.

  Deck the halls with Katie’s white lies, tra-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

  She’s not told her parents she left me, fa-la-la-la-la!

  Merry Christmas to me!

  Maybe that dream of running off into the sunset hand in hand with his wife hadn’t been so silly after all. And...seeing as it was winter...sunset came early this time of year!

  Katie unceremoniously yanked back the curtain to her father’s cubicle, shooting Josh a back off, pal look as she did.

  Then again...

  “Hi, honey! Will you tell this kid to stop it with her tests, already? I told her my daughter and son-in-law would sort me out. I want Copper Canyon’s best.”

  “I’m a fully qualified intern—” Shannon began, before her reluctant patient gave her a dismissive pat on the hand.

  “They’re here now, honey. Thanks for being so attentive. I’m sure you’ve got a great career ahead of you.” He dropped her one of his aging soap star winks in lieu of a wave farewell.

  Katie shot an apologetic look at Shannon, indicating that she could leave. She had this one. Josh received a similar look, but it was a bit more of a bug-eyed Scram, pal!

  “Oh, don’t go, son!” Her father held up a hand in protest. “Josh, Katie’s mother and I have been asking ourselves why you and Katie haven’t come up to the house yet. Heaven knows we’ve had no luck getting Katie up this season—as per normal. Where’s she been hiding you anyway? It’s been—has it been years since we’ve laid eyes on you? Sheree, honey—when was the last time we saw Josheee here?”

  “Dad! Can you stop jabbering for a minute, please? I just want to listen to your heart.”

  Katie fastidiously avoided Josh’s twinkling blue eyes, blowing a breath or two onto her stethoscope before positioning it over her father’s heart.

  Randall McGann’s words were like music to Josh’s ears.

  They really don’t know. Katie hasn’t told them.

  He ran the words over and over in his mind like a healing mantra.

  A few seconds of silence reigned before Katie’s mother jumped in.

  “Darling, I think your father just needs a refill of his medicine. This little incident started when we were in the middle of a...a bedroom workout.” Mrs. McGann’s voice slipped into a slinky-dinky tone appropriate for a perfume commercial and her husband gave a knowing chortle. “If you know what I mean.”

  “Gross.” Katie shook away the mental image building in her head. “Mom. Just... Can we stick with the facts, please?”

  “What, honey? Your father and I were having sex. You and Josheee still have sex, right? It’s what loving couples do?”

  “Mom!” Katie’s eyes darted to Josh and then assumed a full glower on her mother. “Can we please just...?” Katie huffed out a sigh. “Dad. Can you tell me what sensations you experienced?”

  “Well, your mother was in the middle of a new trick she read about in a magazine, and I was just on the brink of having a wonderful—”

  “Whoa! Whoa! Still too much detail. Let’s just stick with your heart. The pains in and around your heart.”

  “Well, I didn’t have the shooting pain down the arm that says you’re having a heart attack, if that’s what you’re after, honey.”

  “Dad!” Katie’s exasperation was growing. “I need details. Did you experience shortness of breath? Sweating? Did you lose consciousness—?”

  “Uh... Katie, would you like me to do the examination?” Josh only just managed to keep the corners of his mouth from twitching into a broad smile. “I think you might be a bit too close to the patient. Your questions are coming out a bit more Guantanamo than—”

  “This is hardly an interrogation, Josh!” Katie bit back, fastidiously keeping her eyes glued to her stethoscope. “And I am perfectly capable of assessing an angina attack, thank you very much!”

  “Honey! Is that any way to speak to your husband on Christmas?”

  “Mom, he’s not—” Katie froze.

  This could be interesting.

  Josh quirked an eyebrow. Her parents, for once, were silent. What to do? Break some pretty painful news to Mr. and Mrs. McGann on Christmas Day or come to his wife’s rescue? The wife he really wanted back in his arms.

  He held up his hands in mock surrender.

  “Confession time! I’m not really supposed to be here.”

  “Ooh, you old rascal.” Randall threw a high five at him from his hospital bed. “Did you fly in special, just to make sure our Katie’s Christmas was a bit more naughty than nice?”

  “Dad!”

  Katie could not have looked more horrified than she did now. Josh couldn’t help but laugh. He might be having the best Christmas of his life, but he would put money on the fact this was very likely Katie’s worst.

  The smile dropped from his lips.

  Second worst.

  There would never be a Christmas more devastating than the one they’d had three years ago.

  “Nope. Sorry. Nothing quite so thrilling. I just meant I’m on shift, and my boss here—” he nodded at Katie “—would probably like me to see some of the patients I hear building up in the waiting room. Lovely to see you both.”

  Katie exhaled a sigh of relief when Josh left the cubicle.

  “Okay, Dad. Will you hush for a moment and let me get through this exam?”

  “As long as you promise to bring Josh over for dinner. Tonight.”

  “I can’t tonight—I’m on duty.”

  “On Christmas?”

  “Mom! People don’t have health problems just during office hours.”

  “Tone, Katie! Your mother’s had a rough morning.” Her father gently chastised her. “Tomorrow, then. Or how ’bout New Year’s Eve? That’d be fun. See in the New Year together as a family.”

  Katie looked at him dubiously. Since when did her parents give a monkey’s if they did anything as a family?

  “Surely the hospital doesn’t have you working round the clock?” Her mother added to the appeal.

  If only she could!

  Her father crossed his arms across his chest. “Sheree—get a yes out of our daughter and promise not to cook.”

  “Honey—we’ll get delivery. I know an excellent Korean barbecue here in town. They do the most delicious ginseng pork—”

  “New Year’s Eve—fine! Okay? I will bring Josh and we will have dinner with you. Now, can you just hush for a minute so I can see how clogged up your arteries are?”

  Her father, duly chastened, nodded his assent whilst maki
ng a zip it gesture on his lips.

  Case. Closed.

  * * *

  “You can clear the mistletoe poisoning and the burned fingers from the board.”

  “Both of them?” Katie’s eyes widened in surprise but she whooshed the eraser over the names on the whiteboard.

  Josh couldn’t tell if he’d startled her or if she was amazed he’d seen two patients to her one—albeit particular—patient.

  “Yup. The mistletoe-berry-swallower had to revisit the berries, if you know what I mean.”

  “Induced vomiting with charcoal?” She gave a shiver at his grossed-out face.

  “Not quite the lump of coal Santa had in mind—but, yes. We ran an EKG, did some blood and urine tests and apart from discovering that the hallucinatory effects of mistletoe aren’t just a myth, and seeing the magic of receiving fluids through an IV, I think he’ll be okay. Michael’s just signing him out.”

  “The little girl with the burned fingers?”

  “Minor. But each and every finger. Her teenage cousins were having a contest to see how many votive candles they could put out in three seconds. She came first.”

  “Nothing like the holidays to bring out the best in a family!” Katie intoned, her eyes still solidly on the board.

  “Speaking of which—is everything all right with your father?”

  Josh thought he’d better test the waters before going in for the proverbial kill. Telling Katie how much he loved her. Inviting her to Paris. Asking her to renew their vows.

  “If being blackmailed into having dinner at my parents’ on New Year’s Eve is your idea of ‘all right,’ then yes.”

  “That should be fun for you!”

  “Well, you’re coming too, so you can wipe that smug look off your face.”

  “Ah!” His heart gave a satisfying thump. She hadn’t called a replacement.

  “Is that a good ‘Ah!’ or a bad one?” She frowned.

  His eyes did a quick dart down to her hand. Yup! The rings were still there. His eyes flicked back up to Katie’s.

  “Your mother’s not cooking, is she?”

  “No way!” Katie looked horrified at the thought. “I don’t think Dad even lets her heat things up for him anymore. He had food poisoning three months ago, from something she insisted she’d had in the oven all day. Turned out she’d only had the lightbulb on, and had put on the grill at the last minute to sear it and cover up the mistake.”