Mack patted Paisley on the back, squeezing her to him before letting her go. “Alright, kiddo. You ready to get this tree so that we can get it back to my house and decorate? We’ve still got a lot of work to do and it doesn’t look like any of Santa’s elves are gonna show up to help us.”
Paisley giggled again. “Silly, that’s ‘cause the elves are still makin’ toys. Ev’rybody knows this is the elveseses busiest time of year. Were you ever a kid, Dr. Mack? Didn’t anybody ever ‘splain the rules to you?”
Rising back to his feet, Mack exchanged an amused smile with Millie as she handed his axe back to him. “Alright, ladies! Let’s cut us down a Christmas tree!”
~~**~~
“Is she out?” Millie asked as Mack tiptoed down her small cottage’s hallway several hours later. They’d spent the entire day together, shopping, decorating his home for the holidays, and then coming back to her place for a simple meal of soup and sandwiches. Now, at almost nine at night, they’d just finished watching some Disney movie that had been on television during which Paisley had fallen fast asleep. Her daughter had enjoyed a long day and passed out almost immediately after getting still on the sofa. Sprawled between her and Mack, they’d let her slumber for nearly an hour before they’d risked moving her to her own bed. Like a true gentleman, Mack had carried the tired girl into her bedroom and tucked her into her bed.
“Like a light. She didn’t so much as open her eyes when I put her in her bed. I think we might have worn her out,” Mack chuckled as he joined her at the sink, picking up a drying towel to help finish cleaning their dishes from supper.
“She had a blast today, Doc,” Millie said quietly. “Thank you for that.”
“Thank me? Thank you, babe” Mack retorted, picking up a plate and drying it with an efficient swipe of the towel. “Without you guys, I’d have had some Christmas tree reject erected in my living room and draped it with a few strands of that silver tinsel and called it a day. Thanks to you and little Miss P, my house could be featured in one of those holiday editions of those glossy house magazines. I owe you both.”
Passing him another plate, Millie smiled. “We had fun. And honestly, I feel like we should have paid admission to see you stringing those holiday lights on the roof. I thought you were a goner when you slipped on the shingles and went rolling down the side. Who knew gutters could hold 200 pounds of pissed off man? I certainly didn’t,” she shared with a giggle.
“Ha ha. Laugh it up, Chuckles” Mack snickered, tossing the drying towel on the counter when he’d dried the last dish and circling his arms around her waist as he tugged her against his chest. “I think I did a pretty good job of keeping my Christmas cool in the face of nearly breaking my neck. In fact, I worked so hard that I think I deserve a reward.”
Millie couldn’t help her grin as she lifted her arms to loop around his neck. She was still a little unable to believe that this warm, funny man was the same guy that had made her angry enough to spit nails just days ago. “A reward, hmmm?”
“Oh, yeah,” he murmured, tightening his arms around her as he leaned them against the kitchen counter.
“What did you have in mind?” Millie asked a little suspiciously. She’d enjoyed the hell out of last night and today, but she wasn’t quite sure where Mack saw this thing between them going, and she wasn’t willing to open her legs to someone that was only looking to scratch an itch. He must have been able to read the shadows in her eyes because she felt him withdraw slightly, leaning back to stare down at her.
“Hey,” he murmured softly, meeting her eyes with his. “You drifted away from me for a few seconds there. What’s going on in that complicated mind of yours, Millie?”
“Complicated,” she echoed with an empty chuckle. “Me?”
“Yeah, you,” he confirmed, his happy face becoming serious as it stared down into hers.
“That’s a little like the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it?” she asked as she nervously lifted a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.
“Maybe,” he conceded. “Still, one second you were relaxed and smiling, and the next….” He trailed off.
“The next I was thinking that I’m not sure we’re on the same page here. I’m not even sure we’re reading the same book, Mack.”
Mack began to frown. “Pardon?”
“It’s just, I have a kid, Mack.”
Mack snorted. “I noticed, Millie. I just carried her to bed, remember?”
“Okay, smartass,” she retorted dryly, gently pushing him back a step so that she could wrap her arms around herself protectively. “What I mean is, I can’t afford to play fast and loose with you if all you’re looking for here is a quick screw, Mack. I have a child. A child that is already plenty attached to you. If we started screwing around and only one of us was emotionally invested in the idea of an us, it wouldn’t just hurt me. It would hurt my daughter, too. And, I don’t allow anything to hurt Paisley if I can help it. Not ever. She does okay without having a daddy because she’s never really had one that she can remember. But if you started to fill that role for her and then suddenly decided that you were through playing house….I wouldn’t be the only one to suffer. Paisley would, too.” Millie paused to take a breath before forging ahead. “So, if this… thing between us is just you needing to scratch an itch, please, Mack, tell me now.”
“Millie…”
Millie heard Mack growled, his face reddening, whether in anger or embarrassment, Millie couldn’t tell. “No, just hear me out,” Millie demanded softly, holding one hand up between them. “I’m not trying to start an argument, but you’ve got to see it from my end. A few days ago, you were just the incredibly sexy, grumpy as hell doctor for whom I worked. Then yesterday, BOOM! You suddenly want to be involved with me and Paisley. And I guess… I guess I don’t understand what happened and I’ve got to know. What changed for you?” she asked, holding herself stiffly as she looked up at him and bit her lip.
“Can I talk now?” he asked her softly, taking a half step closer as he met her confused and anxious gaze. Seeing her nod, he sighed. “I understand where you’re coming from, Millie. I do,” he began.
“Okay,” she whispered, relieved that he wasn’t angry. Relaxing slightly, she whispered, “I’m glad.”
“I guess the short and simple answer to your question about what changed for me is that I got tired of fighting myself. From the day I hired you, I put you in the ‘Do Not Touch’ category for a whole lot of reasons. The first was that you were my employee and I never wanted you to think your job was dependent on dating me.”
“I wouldn’t have thought that,” she replied, her eyebrows furrowing as she shook her head. “You’re not a creep! Even when I first started working for you, I never thought that. Sure, you could be a jerk with all your terse orders and complaints, but you were never a skeevy pervert.”
Mack’s lips tilted upward. “Good to know, babe, but are you gonna let me finish?” Chuckling when she nodded and waved an impatient hand for him to continue, he said, “The second reason I didn’t approach you was I wasn’t in much of a great headspace where it came to women. My ex-wife…well, I don’t wanna go into details, but to make a long story short… she cheated. She cheated a lot.”
“John cheated, too,” she shared hesitantly. “I didn’t find out until we were over, but he did.”
“Then you can understand why I’d have some trust issues,” he remarked evenly.
“Oh, yeah,” she agreed with a short nod. “I’ve got a few of my own that I’m trying to work though.”
“Well, at least we’re in good company,” he said with a wink at her. “The last reason I tried to stay away from you was for the reason you’re most concerned about.”
“Paisley,” Millie supplied for both of them.
Mack nodded. “That kid of yours…. When I first hired you and found out she was part of the package, I was nervous as hell. I’ve never been particularly good with kids, Mills. I’m a grouch…ergo, I’m the grumpy guy
all kids avoid. My contact with them generally ends when I hand the infant to its mom in the delivery room. That’s pretty much as much contact as I’ve wanted. Then, you came to work for me, and Paisley showed up in my life.”
“Yeah, I kind of dropped her on you,” Millie admitted apologetically as tears filled her eyes and guilt swamped her. “I honestly had no other choice, Mack. Between the debt John had left me in, my student loans coming due, and the lack of a vacancy at the only reputable daycare center in town….”
“Millie, hey… stop, baby. Take a breath for me,” Mack soothed, gathering the agitated woman against his chest and rubbing her back. “You didn’t drop her on me, Honey. You asked for my help, and I said yes. It might have been the smartest thing I ever did because it got both you girls into my life. And before I knew what was happening, that kid of yours had coiled herself around my heart like a boa constrictor. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m kind of partial to her. I can barely tolerate half the population of Paradise County without wantin’ to hang myself from the nearest noose, but your kid…. Your kid is the exception to all my rules. That was finally driven home for me yesterday when I was sitting in the Principal’s office with you. I finally found people in this godforsaken country outback that I am willing to fight for. Well, two people. You and Paisley.”
Millie lifted her head, blinking back tears. “Really?” she asked, grimacing when she realized that she sounded remarkably like her daughter.
Mack smiled, using his thumbs to wipe away the teardrops clinging to her cheeks. “Yeah, really. If you wanna know where this is going, I can’t answer that. Only time will tell us that answer. But if you want to know if I’m serious about you and your kid, then the answer is an unequivocal fuck yes,” he informed her solemnly as he rested his forehead against hers.
“So, you like me and my kid, huh,” Millie tried to joke through her sniffles.
Mack barked with laughter. “Well, I love your kid,” he replied matter-of-factly. “And you… let’s just say you make my heart soft and my dick hard. You have for months, babe. I’m not sure what that is or means, exactly, but I’m pretty sure it’s a fuck of a lot deeper than mere ‘like’. Let’s just figure it out together as we go along, okay?”
Nodding against his throat, Millie whispered, “Okay, Doc. We’ll take it day by day.”
“Great,” he returned with a devilish grin. “Now, I’m not asking for my fucking reward again because that didn’t work out so well for me last time. This time, I’m just gonna take it,” Mack warned a second before he covered her mouth with his, kissing her with all the pent up passion he’d been holding inside him.
Groaning into his kiss, Millie melted against Mack’s hard body. It wasn’t a perfect declaration of intent, but it sounded perfectly wonderful to her.
Seven: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Sunday, December 15
Sidestepping a mother and son arguing over terminal numbers, Millicent Robbins grimaced as another passenger stepped on her foot while she squinted to get a look at the arrival screen mounted above the luggage carrousel. “Yes, Doc. I’m here,” she declared impatiently through clenched teeth as she pressed her cell phone to her ear and struggled to find his family’s flight number on the screen and wondered how the hell she got herself into these situations. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have a million things on her own “to do” list just a mere ten days before Christmas. As it was, for today alone, she still needed to sew the head onto Paisley’s sheep costume, pick her up from her grandparents’ house, find something to cook them for dinner, and get both her and Paisley to the church by five for the Nativity’s dress rehearsal.
And yet, here she stood with a phone pressed to her ear, waiting for her employer and new boyfriend’s family to de-plane. Which was soooo not how she imagined meeting Mack’s family for the first time. They didn’t even know her! Hell, they might not even know she existed for all she knew. Frowning, she asked, “Do they even know that I’m the one picking them up, Doc?”
“I sent Bree a text, but she probably won’t get it until she gets off the plane and turns her phone back on,” Mack said through the connection, then added, his tone thankful, “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for you doing this, Mills. I know this isn’t how I envisioned introducing you, but you and I both know that Laurie Garcia is gonna have a difficult delivery. I just couldn’t ask this patient to suffer through whichever doctor was on call at the hospital.”
Millie nodded. Laurie Garcia had lost her husband to an overseas roadside bomb in Afghanistan when she’d been just a little over two months’ pregnant. They’d only been married a scant month when the poor guy had been deployed to the war zone and she’d been made a widow a month later. The stress of his death had taken a huge toll on her pregnancy, and they’d been seeing her at the office at least twice a month. She’d gone into labor last night just as things had been getting good between Millie and Mack. He’d quickly given Millie a goodbye kiss and taken off for the hospital – where he’d been ever since. Laurie, bless her heart, had stalled out at six centimeters dilated, and her baby was refusing to move. Millie knew Mack feared they’d be forced to do a C-section on the young mother (an operation the tiny woman had been steadfastly refusing since she had no family and no one to help her with the baby once he arrived). “I know you couldn’t, Doc,” she acknowledged softly. “Is Laurie still refusing a C-section?”
“Actually before I stepped out to call you, one of her husband’s former commanders showed up…. a Sergeant Hastings. When I explained the situation to him, he talked Laurie into the operation. The guy said he’d stick around and help out with her and the newborn, can you believe that? They’re prepping an OR for us now.”
Millie breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the way when another couple moved forward to collect their luggage from the mechanical belt in front of them. “That’s great, Mack. A real Christmas miracle.”
“I don’t know about that,” Mack snorted. “A miracle would have been if he’d shown up last night. Then, the baby would already be here and I’d be standing where you are now, babe. I don’t think Santa can take any credit for this.”
Millie laughed. “Okay, Dr. Doom. Do us all a favor. Go focus on the positive and deliver a healthy baby for Laurie. She deserves something good today after the way she’s been suffering since her husband died.”
“You’re right. I’ll call when things settle down here. Be careful driving home, and don’t let my family scare you off.”
“Scare me off?” Millie echoed with a frown. “What do you mean by that?”
“Just…. they can be a bit…. much. By the way they act, let’s just say they could be natives of your crazy town of Paradise,” he shared a touch grouchily.
“Listen, Mr. Superior, it’s your town, too,” Millie objected. “The good citizens of Paradise have claimed you as one of their own. There’s a plaque in your office that says so and everything. I was there when the mayor and the sheriff presented it to you in the town hall,” she reminded him with a grin that she was thankful he couldn’t see. Mack had been madder than hell that day, too. She’d tricked him into going to the town hall, claiming that her car had broken down while she’d been picking up her car tags. In truth, the Mayor had wanted to formally welcome him and his medical practice to town, and the good Dr. Daniels had been fooled into attending his own welcome ceremony. Millie suspected he was still holding a grudge.
“I know you’re smiling,” he growled grumpily as though he read her mind. “Stop it. And just because the Mayor handed me a plaque that basically adopted me into his crazy kingdom of misguided misfits while his Sheriff basically held me hostage, it doesn’t mean I claim them in return. And don’t think for one second I’ve forgotten just whose fault it was that I was even in the building that day.”
“Even if Paisley and I are a couple of those misfits?” Millie asked with a giggle, not feeling one second of remorse for her role in that day. She knew
she had Mack over a barrel with her question and was enjoying her moment of superiority immensely.
Millie’s stomach quivered as Mack replied deeply, “I think I told you last night that you and your girl are pretty much the exception to all my rules, didn’t I?”
“You did,” Millie returned softly as her heart skipped a beat. With every word Mack spoke to her, with every touch he offered, with every smile he gave her… Millie knew she was falling just a little more under his spell. He should have scared her to death. At the warp speed that things seemed to be moving between them, she would have thought she’d be looking for the nearest door marked exit. And if he’d been any other man, she would have.
But this was Mack.
And if her heart and mind were honest, she’d been falling in love with him since the day she’d stumbled into his office, desperate for a job.
“Millie? Babe, did you hear me?” she heard his distracted voice say. “I gotta go. The OR is ready.”
Blinking rapidly, Millie nodded. “Go! Go! We’ll see you soon,” she said just as the line went dead. Shoving her phone in the back pocket of her jeans, she knew this wasn’t the last conversation she’d have where she ended it by talking to dead air. Mack was a very successful and in-demand physician. This would be a way of life for them, she reminded herself as she again began to search for Flight 9174 on the screen above the belt of rotating luggage.
Finally seeing that the flight had finally landed on the runway, she turned toward the escalator where she knew passengers of the flight would be descending to the lower level. A few people were trickling down, but none of them had what Millicent liked to call ‘flight face’ or, in other words, the tired face that exhausted passengers wore after a long flight where they’d been packed into a tin box like sardines for over two hours.
Millie lifted the Starbucks latte that she had splurged on to her lips and took a small sip as she tapped her foot impatiently against the tiled floor as she tried to remember the picture Mack had shown her of his sister the previous night. The woman had been a dirty blonde, like Mack, but that’s where the similarities had ended. Unlike her brother, Aubrey had greenish blue eyes the color of seawater and a pert nose. From what little of her body Millie had been able to see in the beaten up picture from Mack’s wallet, the younger sibling was also petite.
The Homespun Holiday Page 8