The Homespun Holiday

by Sarah O'Rourke

Bending, Millicent bent over to hug and kiss her daughter on the crown of her head. “Go back to class, baby, and for heaven’s sake, keep a low profile, okay?”

  “Gotcha, Momma! Thanks, Dr. Mack,” she said, looking up at the big man with something that looked a lot like hero worship to Millie. “Will I see you when the bus drops me at your office?”

  “Hope so, kiddo. Go with your teacher now. I’ll see you soon,” he promised, bending to drop his own kiss against her silky hair.

  Paisley beamed under the attention of her mother and her mother’s boss. Skipping back over to the somewhat shocked kindergarten teacher, Paisley took Ms. Simmons hand. “C’mon, Ms. S! Time is wasting! We gots fingerpainting to do.”

  Millie and Mack watched with nearly identical pleased expressions as the little girl led the flummoxed teacher out of the Principal’s office.

  “That’s a very articulate little girl you have, Ms. Robbins. She’s quite mature for her age, isn’t she?” Principal Carter asked as he, too, watched the child and her teacher disappear down the school hallway.

  “She’s been mostly surrounded by adults her entire life. She’s intelligent and picks up on what should be adult conversations very quickly. Most of the time, you don’t notice her because she’s so quiet. She’s very clever about her eavesdropping. Believe me, we don’t voluntarily hand her the type of information she spouted today. She overhears things and we’re forced to explain them to her. Otherwise, Paisley tends to make up her own stories. If we hadn’t explained to her how babies got made, she’d have had aliens landing on Earth to impregnate unsuspecting women.”

  The Principal chuckled. “Well, when you share how bad it could have been, I suppose we got off easy today.”

  “If that’s all, Principal Carter, we’ve both got jobs to get back to doing,” Mack pointed out gruffly as he cupped Millie’s elbow in his and steered her toward the door.

  “No, that’s everything. In the future, I’ll take Ms. Simmons concerns with a grain of salt. I’m sure she’s very sorry,” he murmured, obviously embarrassed to have confronted Millicent with the unfounded accusations of his teacher.

  “Yeah,” Mack scoffed. “She seemed real sorry. The next time she implies that Paisley is somehow tainted because she doesn’t have a dad in the picture, we’re going to have problems, Carter.”

  “Dr. Daniels!” Millie hissed softly, pinching his side.

  “What?” Mack growled grumpily. “You want her to be able to say that kind of stuff around Paisley?”

  “Of course not,” Millie huffed. “But you don’t need to be so rude to Principal Carter,” she whispered.

  “I disagree,” Mack retorted, shooting a dirty look at the man in question. “Simmons is his employee; he needs to rein her in before she says something that hurts some innocent kid. If you were treating my patients like crap and making unwed mothers feel bad for being knocked up, it would be on me, Millie, because you are my employee. I’d be expected to discipline you. The same applies here.”

  “He’s right,” Principal Carter agreed softly as he inclined his head toward Mack. “I’ll be having a private word with Ms. Simmons after school.”

  “Oh, well….thank you, I guess,” Millie said nervously, tucking her brownish-red hair behind her ear. “We’ll just let you get back to work. Thank God it’s Friday, huh?” she added with a little laugh as Mack pulled her out the door.

  “I couldn’t agree more. Have a nice weekend,” the man offered before closing his office behind them.

  ~**~

  Waiting until they reached the asphalt parking lot to speak, Millicent jerked her hand out of Dr. Daniels. “What the heck was that back there?” she asked as her boss turned to face her, his brow creased and his golden brown eyes darkened to the color of rich caramel as he stared at her.

  “What are you talking about?” Mack asked, his voice gravelly and low. “I just said and did what needed to be done. For you and for Paisley.”

  She couldn’t believe the way he was just shrugging off the way he’d taken up for her and Paisley. She’d known this man for months. And yes, he was good with his patients. But as far as just normal, everyday social interactions went, the man seemed to despise people. The fact that he’d gone to bat for her was huge. “Yeah, I agree things needed to be said and done in there. By me, Doc. I needed to say all those things. You didn’t. You don’t owe me anything, and yet…you called me a friend back there. Not only that, but you stuck up for us. Both me and Paisley,” Millie clarified softly, jerking her thumb at the building behind them as she tilted her head and tried to wrap her mind around this new dynamic in their relationship. “Did you mean it?”

  “That we’re friends?” Mack repeated. He’d never really given it any thought before now, but the closer he examined the relationship between them, the more he could justify a friendship between them. “Look, you pick up my dry cleaning every Wednesday so that I don’t have to deal with Miss Ellie pawing all over me and inviting me to dinner. I watch your kid for you when she needs somebody to look out for her in the afternoons. We occasionally share our lunch together. I call you Millie or Mills and you call me Doc – well, you call me Doc most of the time. You only use the full title of Dr. Daniels when we’re either in front of patients or you’re pissed at me. Either way, that sounds a lot like friendship to me.”

  Awestruck that he’d realized they were friends before she did, Millie could only blink.

  “Plus, you obviously feel friendly enough with me that you were completely comfortable going behind my back and inviting my family to Paradise for Christmas. Not only that, but you told my sister about the psychiatrist’s position at the hospital. That seems real friendly to me,” he remarked with a hard look into Millie’s sparkling green eyes.

  Biting her lower lip, Millie shivered. Whether it was from the cold mountain wind blowing across the parking area or that intense look in Doc’s eyes, she wasn’t sure. “You and Nugget were gonna be alone,” she said quietly. “I didn’t like that,” she admitted, the thought of this tall, brawny man and his sweetheart of a Newfoundland doggy eating frozen dinners alone in front of the television torturing her.

  “Nugget and I are always alone unless I’m working. We’re used to it,” Doc countered reasonably, quickly shucking his coat when he caught Millie shuddering again as the chilly breeze blew over them. “Put this on,” he growled, wrapping his coat around her narrow shoulders. “If you catch your death, I’ll be stuck entertaining my family all on my own! And let me tell you, that’s not happening! You got me into this mess; you can help me get out of it.”

  “Yeah, well, now you live in a town and work with a woman that despise seeing anybody alone over the holidays, Doc. Everyone deserves to have someone during Christmas. Even ornery old men and their giant canine companions. I knew you’re close with your sister. so I decided to take the bull by the horns and shoot her a postcard. She’s been asking for a picture of Paradise every time she called the office for you. So, I sent her what she asked for: a picture perfect post card of Paradise’s Christmas season. It’s not my fault if she fell in love with our fair town, is it? And it was your good buddy, Cain Turner, that requested I mention the job to her. For that, you can yell at him, not me.”

  “Faith McKinnon needs to put her husband on a tighter leash,” Mack grumbled, silently hoping the woman would choke him to death with it so he couldn’t cause any further damage to Mack’s orderly life.

  Millie’s lips twitched. “I think that’s Faith Turner now, Doc.”

  “All those girls will always be McKinnons to me,” he replied grouchily.

  “You’re not really mad at me, are you? I just wanted you to have someone for the holidays. I would have invited you to join me and Paisley and our family, but I assumed you’d just say no since you’ve said no to every single person that’s invited you to join them for Christmas. I knew you wouldn’t turn away your own family during the holidays. Not when it’s obvious how much you enjoy talking to your sister.�
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  “You thought about inviting me to join you and Paisley? At your home? For Christmas?” he asked, repeating her earlier statement as though he was unable to believe it.

  “Of course,” Millie replied, nodding quickly. “I just assumed you wouldn’t say yes. You’ve said no to everybody else. Why would we be any different?”

  “Neither you or Paisley qualifies as everybody else, Mills.”

  Captivated by the swirling color in his eyes, Millie swallowed. “Oh,” she breathed weakly. “I just thought… I mean I assumed…”

  “Don’t ever assume with me, Mills. Just ask. I’m an honest man; I’ll offer you a truthful answer. And I very much would have enjoyed being a part of Christmas with you and Paisley. Is the invitation still open?”

  Slightly overwhelmed by the obviously honest declaration, Millicent’s breath caught. “You’re serious? I’m not being punked or something, am I?” she asked, looking around the parking lot as if expecting to see reality show television cameras appearing from nowhere.

  “I don’t know what that even means. Believe me, I’m as surprised as you are that I feel this way. But I enjoy your company and Paisley is a hoot. So, yeah, Nugget and I would have enjoyed being a part of your holiday celebration. In fact, I think since I’m being forced into Christmas with my family thanks to a helpful shove from you, that you should agree to celebrate with us, too. Maybe Christmas Eve at my place with your family and Christmas Day morning at yours. That sounds fair to me.”

  “Are you sure you haven’t fallen and hit your head?” Millie asked, reaching up to grip his dimpled chin and turn his face from side to side as she searched for a lump.

  Wrapping his hand around her dainty wrist as her cool fingers pressed against his chin, Mack chuckled. “I’m in my right mind. Trust me, this isn’t a purely altruistic move on my part. I might have a slightly ulterior motive.”

  “And that is?”

  “I love my family, but both my mother and sister can be nosier than a police detective at a crime scene. It never hurts to have a buffer present. If they start asking me a lot of personal questions, I can always use you as a human shield. In fact, I think it’s your duty to do this for me. Without your little postcard, none of this would be happening.”

  “Are you blackmailing me, Doc?” she asked on a laugh, one eyebrow arching. “Because I’ve got it on good authority that friends do not blackmail friends.”

  “Fine. What about a favor, huh? Friends do favors for each other all the time, don’t they?” Mack volleyed smoothly, studying her. “How about you do me this favor, Millicent? You won’t deny me that, will you? Especially since you’re the one that got me into this predicament.”

  “No, I suppose not. I’d be happy to spend the holidays with you and your family.”

  “Same here,” he admitted softly. “Now, how do you feel about you and Paisley helping me decorate my place tomorrow? It’s Saturday. We both have the day off unless one of my patients decides to go into labor, and since nobody is that close to delivery yet, I think we’re pretty clear there. My family expects to fly into Paradise and find my home a completely undecorated mess. I’d love to knock my sister down a peg or two and surprise her with a perfectly designed Winter Wonderland. Really, this is the least you could do,” he grumbled when Millie didn’t make a peep. “Let me remind you once more that this shit is all your fault.”

  “Such a sweet talker.” Millie sighed dramatically and batted her eyelashes demurely. “You sure know how to charm a girl.”

  “My ex-wife used to say the same thing,” he reminisced.

  “You were married? For real? To a woman?” Millie gaped in stunned disbelief, unable to imagine this male as a part of a couple. Sure, she’d had her fantasies about her sexy boss. Of course she had! He was hot. Lean and muscular in all the right places. And she’d bet her right pinky toe that he was hung like a horse. But that’s where the fantasy ended. Because in addition to all she fantasized about, Mackenzie Daniels was also surly, stubborn and an all-around Gloomy Gus on most all the days that ended in Y.

  “For your sake, lady, I’m going to choose not to be offended here,” Mack returned mockingly as he fought a grin. “You don’t need to look quite so astonished; I’m not exactly an ogre, Mills.”

  Staring up at him, Millie took stock of the Doc’s high, chiseled cheekbones, his dimpled chin, his square jaw and his perfectly sculpted, extremely kissable lips and she had to agree. “No, definitely not an ogre,” she whispered, as her tongue darted out to lick her suddenly dry lips. “What I meant to say is that I just never imagined anyone that valued his solitude and privacy as much as you do married to anyone.”

  “I do enjoy my solitude and privacy, but I’m also a guy, Millie. I do like to fuck.”

  Millie nearly choked on her tongue. “Women, right?”

  “Yes, women! Did you assume I was asexual? Or did you think I was gay? Do I strike you as a latent homosexual, Millie?” he asked as his steady gaze connected with her nervous one.

  “N-no, but if you did swing that way, you should know that Paradise has this lovely florist that’s been looking for love in all the wrong places,” she managed to impart through her mostly frozen lips.

  “He’ll have to keep lookin’ then because I’m straight as an arrow, woman,” Mack growled, his eyes skating hungrily over her pretty face.

  “Doc, why are you tellin’ me this stuff?” Millie asked, trying desperately to understand where and when this new and open Mackenzie had emerged. Would she find the ‘Old Mackenzie’ collapsed at his desk in the office? Was she hallucinating? What exactly had been in her sandwich from the diner?

  “That’s what friends do, right? Share and shit like that?” he asked with a careless shrug.

  “I reckon,” Millie mumbled. “But maybe we should think about getting back to the office. It’s almost two and you’ve got a 2:30 with Sandy Bingham.” Honestly, she was more than a little nervous standing here with him because suddenly Mack was eyeing her like she was a steak and he was a very hungry animal. And crazily enough, she found herself not minding in the least the idea of being his meal.

  Ignoring her reminder of his afternoon appointment, he kept staring at her. “So, is that a yes to spending tomorrow with me?”

  “I… uh…. I guess, if that’s really what you want,” she agreed, her cheeks blushing as she tried to make herself stop fidgeting like a teenage girl being asked on her first date.

  “What about tonight? Are you busy tonight?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so. Why?”

  “Because, you haven’t seen my place. I want to show it to you so that you can get an idea of what we’ll need. I’ll even feed you if you’ll agree to help me out,” he offered calmly.

  “I…you’re sure about this?” she asked, not quite able to believe that this man was volunteering to spend time with her. Or hell, with anybody really. Mack was a loner. Everyone, including her, knew it. He’d already knocked her off her axis with the news that he’d once had a wife. Now, he was acting like -- dare she even imagine it – like he was actually interested in her?

  “I’m positive. And maybe tonight could be an adults-only evening since tomorrow will be kid-friendly,” he suggested smoothly.

  “Uhmmm – okay,” she agreed slowly, nodding. “I’m sure my mom and dad won’t mind watching Paisley for a few hours.”

  “Good,” Mack declared with a satisfied nod as he reached around Millie to open the vehicle’s door for her. “Then I’ll pick you up at your place around six. Is that enough time to get off work and get Paisley to your parents’ house?”

  Millie nodded as she began to climb into the cab of the truck, her mind reeling as she tried to keep up with their conversation. Things were happening so quickly that she felt like she’d somehow fallen into an alternate universe – one where sexy-as-sin doctors wanted to spend time with her outside of work. “Yeah, that’ll be…great,” she acknowledged, her voice a little shaky. Offering him a dazed look
, she shook her head.

  “What?” he growled in that surly voice she knew so well.

  “I don’t understand what’s happening here, Doc,” she said truthfully. “Have you just asked me out on a date?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with enthusiasm as her heart pounded in her chest.

  Mack’s face flushed and he shrugged. “Why is it so important to women to label everything? We’re gonna share a meal tonight. If you wanna call it a date, I can’t stop you,” he declared before slamming the door on her reply.

  “I’ll be damned,” Millie muttered to herself as she watched him slowly circle the SUV to reach the driver’s side. “It’s an honest-to-God Christmas miracle.”

  Three: You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

  “What the hell was I thinking?”

  Pacing the length of his living room, his footsteps echoing against the wood floors, he shoved a hand through his hair, making it stand on end. “Seriously, Nugget? What the hell was I thinking?” he asked, turning to look at the massive black dog sprawled across the hearth in front of the fireplace.

  Nugget’s only reply was a snort….probably one of annoyance if Mack was reading man’s best friend correctly. Nugget never liked his naptime interrupted over trivial human matters.

  “You’re right, Nug. I wasn’t thinking. I’m not even sure how it happened. It was like the neurons in my brain quit firing and my dick took control of my mouth. Next thing I know, I’d asked her out. For tonight. Alone. With no buffers between us,” he rambled, skirting furniture as he made another lap around the room. Pausing as he reached the window, he looked outside into the darkening evening. “I should just call and cancel, right?” he asked with a look at his dog.

  Nugget yawned.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I can’t do that to her,” he agreed, as if the dog had actually spoken to him. “That’d be an asshole move on my part. Of course, she might expect that coming from me,” he reasoned, absently stroking his jaw. “Hell, if I’d just denied this was a date when she asked me about it, I’d feel a lot better. But I didn’t, damn it. I was the typical smartass I always am and told her that she should call tonight whatever she wanted. Christ, could I have been a bigger douchebag?” he asked, turning to look at his dog for his opinion.