Christmas Magic on the Mountain

by Melissa McClone

  “He never liked shots,” Connie said.

  Sean should let it go, but couldn’t. “I was a kid, Mom.”

  “You’re still my kid, Sean.”

  He wasn’t about to argue that would make him a thirty-three-year-old kid.

  “You’ll meet the orthopedic surgeon in pre-op holding,” the doctor said.

  Sean struggled to focus. “How bad is it, Doc?”

  “You took quite a fall, but with time and rehabilitation you shouldn’t have any permanent damage. You’ll be able to snowboard and climb again,” the doctor explained. “You’re a lucky man, Sean.”

  “Lucky,” he repeated with his eyes still closed. He was happy to be alive, but he wondered when he could get started on rehab, when he would be able to climb and board again. He needed to get back up the mountain.

  Thinking hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut more.

  “The lights seem a little bright in here,” the woman who Sean couldn’t quite place said. “Is it okay if I turn them down, Doctor?”

  “Go ahead,” the doctor said. “Try opening your eyes now.”

  Sean opened his eyes slowly. The lights had been dimmed. Better, but he still felt as if his brain were stuffed with cotton. He looked around the room. The doctor in scrubs. His mom in her trademark pilgrim apron. His dad with his hands shoved in his pockets. Monitoring equipment with blinking lights and digital numbers. A pair of female breasts.

  Sean blinked. The breasts were still there. High, perky, round.

  At least his eyesight hadn’t been affected by the head injury. Maybe this wasn’t a hospital, but heaven. A heaven full of female breasts sounded about perfect to him.

  “See, Zoe.” Connie sounded less worried. “It’s a good thing you came with us. You made him smile.”

  “And sent his pulse rate up, too,” Hank added.

  Zoe. Sean knew that name. He looked up from her chest to find a brown-haired woman staring at him from behind some sort of medical equipment. The angel breasts matched an angelic face. Young. Cute. Concerned. “Zoe?”

  Maybe he’d rattled his brain even more than he thought. He had no idea who she was, but she sure was easy on his eyes.

  “Don’t you worry, honey,” Connie said to him. “I had Jake drive her down in your truck. We’re all taking really good care of your Zoe.”

  Your Zoe.

  His Zoe.

  Zoe.

  It all came back to him in a harsh, painful rush.

  That face, pink-cheeked, peering up at him from the side of the road with her snowboard and pack at her feet. He’d offered her a…ride, he remembered. A ride and turkey dinner at his parents’ house. But there was more…. He searched his hazy brain. His grandmother’s ring in the safe-deposit box at the bank. His girlfriend meeting the family for the first time.

  Oh, hell.

  His girlfriend.

  “Zoe,” he repeated, this time with a hint of urgency. “You okay?”

  “Yes.” She approached the bed tentatively and touched his left hand gently. Her skin felt warm, the pads of her fingers soft against his skin. “I’m so sorry about all of this.”

  She wasn’t only talking about his fall. He squeezed her hand. “More than you bargained for.”

  “It’s okay.” Her eyes clouded. “Are you…all right with this?”

  He glanced at his parents who were watching them with satisfied looks on their faces. She really was a trooper for continuing the charade. “Fine.”

  “You should rest.” She glanced at his parents. “Get better.”

  “Yeah.”

  She wet her lips. “Is there anything you need?”

  Actually he could think of something that would make this crappy day a little better.

  Sean stared at her mouth, at her full, glossed lips. Yes, he knew exactly what he needed to see him through surgery and recovery. She was his “girlfriend” after all. “Come closer.”

  Zoe leaned over him. Strands of her below-the-shoulder brown hair swung forward.

  He raised his hand to touch her hair. Brown. Silky. “Nice,” he whispered.

  She smiled at him, her cheeks flushed.

  Sean knew Zoe was trapped. Still, he couldn’t resist taking advantage of the situation to steal a kiss. He could blame it later on his head injury or the pain medication, but he was going to kiss her if it was the last thing he did.

  He reached up and drew her head toward him.

  Surprise filled her eyes. Her mouth parted, but she said nothing.

  With an extreme amount of effort, he raised his head slightly off the pillow and kissed her on the lips. She tasted like chocolate and when she kissed him back something else. Heaven. The way he felt standing on a summit.

  The surprising realization jolted him. He felt as if he’d hit his head again. Sean rested his head on the pillow. He closed his eyes with a smile on his face for what he’d gotten away with and for her kissing him back. He kept hold of Zoe’s hand, as much for his sake as his parents’.

  “After his surgery he’ll be taken to a room upstairs.” The doctor’s voice cut through the darkness in Sean’s brain. “There’s a surgical waiting area for family members.”

  “We’ll wait there,” Connie said. “Right, Zoe?”

  “Yes,” she said to Sean’s relief. “What about Denali…?”

  Zoe truly was an angel to think of his dog.

  “Jake can take her to Hannah’s,” Sean muttered.

  “Hannah and Garrett Willingham have dogsat for Sean before,” Connie explained to Zoe. “They won’t mind, and their kids will love having Denali around.”

  “That settles it, then,” Zoe said.

  “This isn’t the Thanksgiving you expected, Zoe,” Connie said.

  “I don’t think this was the Thanksgiving any of us expected, but that doesn’t matter,” Zoe replied. “We all have something to be very thankful for today.”

  Sean couldn’t imagine what she was talking about. He forced open his eyes once again. “What’s that?”

  Her tender gaze met his. “You’re going to be okay.”

  The warmth of her words wrapped around his heart the way they had earlier. Only this time it didn’t feel as uncomfortable.

  He was going to be okay.

  A part of him just wished she would hang around until he was better. He kind of liked having her pretend to be his girlfriend.

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE AROMA of Thanksgiving dinner filled the air, making the atrium lobby area smell more like a restaurant than a hospital. Nurses had rolled in a cart to hold the dinner delivered by Sean’s cousin, Mary Sue Townsend, wife of the sheriff’s deputy.

  Zoe sat at a round table with Sean’s parents. All three were eager for an update on the ongoing surgery, but so far no word. She poked at the food on her paper plate with a plastic fork.

  “Please eat something, Zoe,” Connie encouraged. “I know you’re worried, but Sean wouldn’t want you to go hungry.”

  Zoe stared down at her rapidly congealing gravy. She appreciated the dinner and the thought behind it even more. Slices of turkey jostled with stuffing and mashed potatoes. Homemade cranberry sauce ran into the green-bean casserole. It smelled delicious, but her appetite was gone.

  All she could think about was…Sean.

  How was the surgery on his leg going?

  Why had he kissed her?

  And why did her lips still tingle from his kiss?

  “It could be a long night,” Hank added. “You’ll need your strength.”

  The concern in his voice made Zoe take a bite of stuffing. Warm, but a little soggy.

  “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Connie asked.

  “Delicious.” The satisfied smiles on Hank’s and Connie’s faces made Zoe ignore the lump in her stomach. She would eat whether she wanted to or not. They had enough on their minds. She didn’t want to add to their real worries for their son.

  She forced the moist stuffing down her dry throat.

  Connie exchanged
a relieved glance with Hank.

  Zoe sipped from her bottle of lemon-lime soda. The cool liquid quenched her thirst, but did little to calm her churning stomach. Her tummy had felt all fluttery since the touch of Sean’s lips against hers.

  What was going on?

  She had kissed a lot of guys over the years. More than her mother would want her to admit. More than Zoe could even remember.

  Yet Sean’s kiss disturbed her. As much as she would like to dismiss it as a combination of his pain medications and a show for his parents, the glint in Sean’s eyes right before he kissed her, and the way he kissed her, clearly wasn’t an innocent gesture. Zoe had been surprised at the heat considering he was banged up and hurting. She’d also been shocked by her reaction.

  Sean’s kiss had shot straight to Zoe’s heart, leaving her bothered and confused. The way he’d flirted with her in the truck had been fun, but the way he invited her to dinner and up the mountain with him had made her feel special. Very special.

  She wanted to kiss him again.

  Stupid, stupid Zoe.

  She shoved a piece of turkey with some gravy into her mouth as if food could make this better.

  Allowing a second kiss to occur would be beyond dumb and totally irresponsible. Her mother was right. Zoe was too impulsive. She hadn’t always acted responsibly, especially in matters of the heart. More than once, she’d been taken advantage of, and even lied to.

  The stakes were too high to allow herself to be taken in again. No more plunging headfirst and heart first into relationships. Her heart had to remain immune to kisses, to handsome men, to…everything.

  Including Sean Hughes.

  Zoe liked him more than she should for knowing him for so short a time. As great as Sean seemed, she couldn’t trust herself not to mess things up somehow.

  She ate her dinner roll.

  “Do you want another roll?” Connie asked.

  “No, thank you,” Zoe said. “But all the food is delicious.”

  “We’ll have to see about having a makeup Thanksgiving dinner once Sean is out of the hospital.” Connie picked up her iced tea. “A welcome-home-get-well celebration.”

  “I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.” Zoe tried a bite of the homemade cranberry sauce. It tasted bittersweet.

  She wanted to help Sean out, but at what risk? Her own feelings? Her heart?

  If her mother found out what she was up to, Zoe would lose access to her trust fund. And for what? A cute guy, who offered a ride up the mountain, invited her to dinner with his family and kissed her so tenderly and with such emotion she couldn’t think straight?

  Zoe slumped in her chair.

  Somehow she forced herself to continue to eat. She ate a slice of pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream, but she barely tasted one of her all-time favorite desserts. All Zoe could think about was the smile on Sean’s face and the gleam in his eye when he was telling her about the really good pie on their drive up to Timberline. If only she hadn’t told him to go on when he said he’d board with her at the resort…

  Once dinner was finished, they made their way to the surgical waiting room. The tension seemed to escalate. She glanced at the clock on the wall, mindful of the time since they’d wheeled him away. She wasn’t the only one. The clock became everyone’s prime focus. Zoe could almost feel each minute tick by.

  She hated waiting. It reminded her too much of her experience with her dad.

  Goose bumps prickled her skin.

  No, she told herself. Sean was going to be okay. The doctor had said so.

  Connie paced. “It’s taking a long time.”

  “He had to go to pre-op first. Then there’s the anesthesiologist. I’d imagine putting in a plate and screws takes a little time,” Zoe said, as much for her own benefit as Connie’s.

  Hank nodded. “Better they go slow and get it right, than have them rush and need to go back in.”

  The words didn’t stop Connie from pacing.

  “You’re going to wear yourself out,” Hank said finally.

  “I hope so.” Connie’s voice sounded tired, strained. “Sleep would be better than worrying.”

  Half an hour later, the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Vandenhoff, entered the waiting area. He wore sweat-stained green surgical scrubs.

  Connie clutched Hank.

  “The surgery went well,” Dr. Vandenhoff said. “We washed out debris from the fracture. Inserted the plate and screws. Sean is in recovery.”

  Connie sighed. “Thank goodness.”

  “Thank you, Doctor,” Hank said.

  Relief welled up inside of Zoe. Tears stung the corner of her eyes. “Yes, thank you.”

  She was thankful, because the sooner Sean was feeling better, the sooner she could leave.

  The sooner she would be safe.

  Sean felt as if a white-noise machine had replaced his brain. He had no idea how long he’d been asleep or what had occurred while he was sleeping. The familiar pressure in his head and legs remained, as did the far-off ache.

  Pain.

  You’re a very lucky man, Sean.

  Yeah, right. He wondered if that was what the doctor said to everyone who passed through the E.R.

  A loud snore ripped through the air. Sean forced open his heavy eyelids.

  The lights in the hospital room had been dimmed, but he could make out a sleeping figure in a chair. Another deep, familiar snore sounded.

  His dad.

  Sean grinned and winced at the same time. It was great his dad was here, but man, the snoring sounded like his chain saw.

  Sean noticed something different in this room—the smell. The scent of flowers masked the typical, sterile hospital scent.

  “You’re awake,” a woman said.

  He struggled to place the voice, fighting the fog inside his head. Not just a woman, he realized, pleased. Zoe.

  His Zoe.

  “Would you like some water?” she asked.

  He felt as if he’d swallowed a bag of cotton balls or his throat had been scoured with sandpaper. “Please.”

  A straw sticking out from the lid of a plastic cup poked at his lips. “The nurse said you should take little sips,” Zoe cautioned.

  Sean fought to raise his head. He didn’t care what the nurse had said. She didn’t know how thirsty he was. He sucked the water, choked and coughed. Somehow he managed not to spit it out. He cleared his throat. “Nurse was right.”

  Zoe supported the back of his neck with one hand, handed him a tissue with another and eased him back onto his pillow. “That’s what you said before.”

  Before. He didn’t remember.

  Sean focused on Zoe standing next to the bed. Her clear, blue eyes looked at him with such compassion his breath caught in his throat. Her long-sleeved T-shirt fit tight across her chest and raised his temperature ten degrees. Her jeans clung to her hips, showing him he’d been right about the curves hidden beneath her snowboarding jacket.

  He smiled. “You’re still here.”

  Which made him feel unexpectedly relieved.

  She glanced over at his dad and back at Sean with an uncertain smile. “Where else would your girlfriend be?”

  “In bed. With me.” He tried to wink, but wasn’t sure he managed one. Right now he couldn’t manage much of anything.

  She shook her head, her smile growing. “There isn’t room.”

  Not to mention he couldn’t fool around with her. But the idea of her curled warm against his side was surprisingly appealing.

  “I don’t mind being cramped,” he said.

  “I might hurt you.”

  “Promise?”

  She laughed. “Okay, you’re feeling better.”

  “I’m not feeling much at all.”

  Zoe patted his hand lightly. Her touch soothed and comforted him. “That’s probably a very good thing right now.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “I’m sure you will.”

  “What about you?” he asked.

  She glanced a
t his dad once again. “I’m fine, too.”

  Fine, huh? Zoe looked tired. Sean didn’t like that. “What time is it?”

  “Four o’clock.”

  “In the morning?” he asked.

  “The afternoon.”

  Sean noticed gray light streaking through the window. A mylar balloon floated from a red string and two bright floral arrangements sat on the counter. He remembered none of those things. He must have been out of it awhile.

  “Where did you sleep last night?” he asked.

  She looked down at the IV in his right arm. “Here.”

  He looked at his dad asleep on the recliner. “Where’s my mom?”

  “At a nearby motel,” Zoe explained. “Your mom’s been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours. She needs to rest and relax away from the hospital for a little while.”

  “You’re giving her a break.”

  Zoe rubbed the small of her back. “Your dad is here, too.”

  As if on cue, his father let loose another snore.

  “My dad’s working real hard.”

  The corners of Zoe’s mouth curved.

  In spite of her smile, she had to be tired sitting and sleeping upright. This was going above and beyond the call of phony girlfriend duty. Sean couldn’t let it continue. “I can come clean to my folks about us.”

  “And your family and friends, too?”

  Sean had forgotten about them. He tried to think of how to handle this. It wasn’t easy. “Breaking up might be easier than trying to explain things.” Although the fallout over his supposed breakup with a girl his family obviously approved of could be worse than their comments about settling down. That wouldn’t make for a very nice Christmas. “Actually there might be less drama if I tell the truth.”

  “Whatever you think best.”

  Best would be her body next to his. He’d settle for another kiss. His father stirred awake.

  “I’ll explain everything to them once I’m out of the hospital,” Sean said. “That’s fine.”

  “You’ll stay?” he asked, knowing the answer he wanted to hear.

  Uncertainty filled her eyes.

  “Until I’m out of here. The hospital,” he clarified.