Romancing the Holidays: Twelve Christmas Romances - Benefits Breast Cancer Research

by Crista McHugh

  Please help me do it. Please help me get through it.

  On the muted television behind the bar, It’s a Wonderful Life played in black and white, with the snow coming down on the screen as hard as it came down outside the Great White. As the lights in the bar flickered, the front door opened and filled the pub with a rush of cold air. Two snow-covered figures stepped inside, one a full head taller than the other.

  “Hello!” boomed the tall one. He shook his head like a dog, scattering snow everywhere. Frost stuck to his lashes, and he blinked and squinted at them. “You oughta be closing up early, Finn. Bad storm coming.”

  “Sounds like it’s already here,” Finn said. “An’ I don’t need to worry. I’ve got an empty bed upstairs. If I can’t get home, I’ll crash here tonight. No worries.” He tossed a coaster onto the bar. “What can I get you, Mr. Mayor?”

  Archer Sinclair laughed and shook his head again. “Not a thing, believe it or not. I’m just taking a walk up and down Main Street to make sure everyone knows to get safe.”

  “It’s really that bad?” Annie asked. This was the Connecticut coast, after all. They knew how to weather storms. Heck, if she looked across the street, she’d see the shadow of Lindsey Point’s famous lighthouse stretching into the sky. Though it hadn’t worked for over a half-century, it still stood as a steady reminder they’d survived storms before.

  Archer took a good long look at her without answering. Finally, he said, “Annie McKenzie? Darling, you look terrific. I haven’t seen you in ages.”

  “Why, thank you.” She lifted her glass. “I’ve been buried in schoolwork is why you and everyone else, except my nursing professors and the cadavers, haven’t seen me. I’m one semester away from officially being a registered nurse.” Please help me do it. Please help me get through it.

  Archer grinned, but before either of them could say anything else, the man who’d come in with Lindsey Point’s mayor pulled off his hat and unwound a scarf from his neck. Annie’s breath caught in her throat.

  Her best friend since childhood, the one person she’d confessed every secret and every sin to over the years, stood in the middle of the Great White. Even under the paramedic’s coat and heavy boots, she recognized his stocky, muscular build. His black eyes twinkled at her above a slash of white smile. She bit her lip and jumped off the barstool. Take her to another town, another state, another planet, and she’d know that smile in her sleep. She’d grown up with it. She trusted her heart with it. The dashing, dark-skinned man was the one person who had never, who would never, let her down. And it had been three long months since she’d seen him.

  “Mick!” Annie rushed across the room and threw her arms around his neck.

  CHAPTER 2

  Oh, Annie.

  Mick sank into her embrace the way he always did — losing himself in her touch, her scent, her breath against his neck. By now, he couldn’t remember when he’d gone from being friends with Annie to falling head over heels for her. It didn’t matter. She’d made it clear long ago that she valued their friendship above anything else, and he’d never do a thing to jeopardize that. She’d had too many boyfriends love her and leave her, and he’d picked up the pieces of her heart too many times over the years, to risk being the one to hurt her.

  “What are you doing here?” she said when she finally released him. Her curls fell over her forehead and into hazel eyes. “I didn’t think I’d see you until after the holidays.”

  “Didn’t go south with the family this year,” he said gruffly. He rubbed wet snow from the back of his neck. “We’re down two paramedics at the station, so I stayed. Working a lot of overtime, but that’s okay.”

  “Are you on call tonight?”

  He nodded and pointed at the EMT truck parked outside. “Might be busy with this storm.” He cleared his throat and glanced at the radio on his hip, silent for now. “Hope not, but ya never know.” He managed to look past Annie to the others in the bar. “Hey guys. What’s up?”

  Finn gave him a knowing look. Lucas jutted his head in a typical silent greeting. “You stayin’?” Finn asked. “Or are you making rounds with the mayor?”

  Mick pulled off his coat and draped it over a chair. Snow dripped to the floor, forming a puddle almost at once. “I’m stayin’.” He hadn’t planned on it, but with Annie here, those plans had changed. “For a while, anyway, or unless I get a call. Roads out to my place are bad. If it’s all the same with you, I’ll hang here. Then probably crash at the station later on.”

  Archer lifted a hand in goodbye and backed toward the door. “Guys, I’m serious. Keep an eye on that weather.”

  “Bye, Mr. Mayor,” Annie said with a smile. “Thanks for keeping our little town safe.”

  Archer grinned and vanished into a swirl of white.

  Finn filled a glass with ice. “Ginger ale?” he asked Mick.

  “Since I’m on call, yeah. Thanks.”

  Lucas pulled up a seat beside Mick, and Annie clambered on the stool to his right. She wore a bright green sweater and tight jeans that hugged her ample curves. God, he loved her body. He loved that she didn’t hide it or complain about it, the way so many other women did.

  “So tell me about school,” he said.

  She spun the stem of her wine glass in her fingers. Short, no-nonsense nails. No rings. No jewelry at all except the tiny diamond studs in her ears. She’d worn them for years; he remembered the Christmas she’d gotten them from her father. “It’s hard,” she finally said. She took a long drink of wine. “Tougher than I thought it would be. I study all the time, and still sometimes –”

  “You’re tough,” he said before she could finish. “I bet it’s nothing you can’t handle.”

  Her bottom lip trembled. “I failed a major exam last week.”

  He laid a hand on top of hers. “Everyone fails an exam once in a while. Can you retake it?”

  She brushed away a tear. “Yes. I have one more shot. But I have to spend all of break studying for it.”

  “Then I know that’s what you’ll do.” He squeezed her hand and wished he could do more, touch more. “Let me know if you want a study partner.”

  The smile she gave him always brought him to his knees. “Thanks. You always did have more faith in me than I had in myself.”

  Finn tuned the television to a different channel, and the Grinch’s green face filled the screen. He turned up the volume in time for the holiday cartoon’s famous song to play.

  Annie gave Mick a wide smile. “...you have all the tender sweetness...” she sang.

  He finished the lyric with her, and Finn rolled his eyes and chuckled. “When are you two just gonna get married already? You act like a couple who’s been together fifty years.”

  Mick’s cheeks burned, and he wished his glass had more than ginger ale in it.

  “Aw, Finn,” Annie said. “Mick’s my best friend. He’s like my brother.” She wound her arm through his, and he had to swallow hard to keep his desire at bay.

  You’re like her brother…

  That means she’s like your sister…

  Yeah, right. He finished his ginger ale and stood. “Be right back,” he said and headed for the restroom. Inside, he splashed cold water on his face. He’d always been able to keep his feelings for Annie tamped down. Only his closest friends knew the truth, and he’d sworn them to secrecy. But since passing thirty almost three years ago, and watching his friends walk down the aisle and have kids, those feelings had reared up more and more often. He’d looked around; he’d dated more than a few women. But none of those relationships lasted, and he was beginning to wonder if it was because none of those women could hold a candle to Annie.

  When he returned from the restroom, Finn had dimmed the lights. The Grinch was now holding hands with Cindy Lou and welcoming Christmas at the top of his lungs. Annie’s head bobbed along to the music. When she saw Mick standing in the shadows, she beckoned him over.

  He could smell the wine on her breath and, for a moment, h
e thought about just taking her in his arms and kissing her. If he had a beer or two in his system, he might actually have the courage. Instead, he sat back on his stool and watched the snow fall.

  “How’s your mom?” Annie asked. “And your sister?”

  “Both good.”

  “In the Myrtle Beach condo for the winter?”

  He nodded.

  “Remember the time we drove down there? Straight through, without a plan or a map or anywhere to stay?”

  “Of course. We crossed the town line, turned around, and came back. Just to say we did it.”

  “Twenty-eight hours,” she began.

  “...and fifteen minutes,” he finished, the way he always did. They hadn’t stopped talking the entire way down and back. They hadn’t stopped driving either, except twice to use the bathroom and once to get out of the car around midnight and dash into the ocean. Annie always claimed they hadn’t slept a wink, but Mick recalled a brief, blissful hour on the sand when she leaned against his chest and closed her eyes. He’d sat there with her heavy and peaceful in his arms, trying to shift so she didn’t feel his erection pressing against her, but trying to remain still enough not to wake her.

  I think that was when I knew I loved her.

  Finn rested his arms on the bar and cocked a brow, as if to hear the whole story. But that was an adventure belonging to Mick and Annie alone. He’d never told anyone else the details of that road trip, or the stories they’d exchanged as they drove through the night. He wondered if Annie had. He could still picture her running through the surf with her skirt tangled around her ankles, laughing up at the moon.

  This time the lights browned out, flashed black, then came back on dimmer than before. Finn whistled. “Maybe Archer was right. Maybe I should close up.”

  Just then, a pair of headlights appeared outside, crossing the front window and then disappearing up the street. A minute later came a screech of tires. Mick stood and craned to see past the black of the sidewalk and the curtains of snow.

  “Shit,” Finn said. “You think someone wrecked?”

  “Don’t know.” He walked to the door and framed his eyes against the glass. He could make out little past the incessantly falling snow. A good few inches already lay on the sidewalk, and his and Archer’s footsteps had filled in, though he’d been there less than a half-hour. He pushed open the door. One block down, a sedan rested crookedly near the curb. The lights remained on, and the tires spun as the driver tried to straighten the car. But Mick could’ve told them they weren’t going anywhere. After another moment, the engine turned off, followed by the lights, and three figures emerged.

  Mick squinted at the colors of an out-of-state license plate. This wasn’t a good time for tourists to be driving through town. He stepped into the snow and waved his arms. “Hey! You okay?”

  One figure turned toward his voice and waved back. Mick rubbed his arms and took a few steps toward them. “Car okay? You have an accident?”

  “We’re all right,” came a male voice. “Just looking for a place to stop.”

  “Come on inside,” Mick said and pointed at the Great White. “Get out of this snow. Only place that’s still open, as far as I know.”

  “Thanks.”

  Mick stood where he was and waited. After another moment, they came into view, first a tall man with sharp, symmetrical features and glasses covered with snow. Every few seconds, he reached up a mittened hand and rubbed them clear. Behind him walked a couple taking slow, careful steps. The man held the woman’s arm and, for a moment, Mick thought they were elderly. His pulse hitched a little. Last thing we want is for them to take a tumble out here. Lindsey Point’s Medical Center only had a skeleton crew working tonight. He reached forward to help and then realized his error.

  The couple couldn’t have been more than thirty years old. Both wore large, bulky coats and thick rubber boots, but Mick wasn’t focused on their clothes. He barely heard their greetings over the whistling wind. All he could see was the swollen belly of the woman, who looked as though she was about to give birth at any moment.

  CHAPTER 3

  Annie jumped off her stool the minute the group stepped inside. Mick followed the three strangers, all of them covered in snow. It took him two tries to close the door against the wind.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Annie said as she pulled out a chair. “You’re soaked.” She took the woman’s coat and hung it on the rack by the jukebox. “And you’re…”

  “Thirty-eight weeks pregnant,” the woman finished with a smile. She had a sleek, fashionable haircut, a black angled cut that fluffed around her face despite the coating of snow, and a bright red manicure. “Hi. I’m Julia.” She pointed first at the man who sat beside her. “This is my husband, Gabe.” She shifted and pointed at their tall companion who leaned against the bar. “And that’s our colleague, Brady.”

  Brady lifted a hand in greeting. “Nice place. Even nicer that you’re still open.”

  “Where are you all from?” Finn asked as he put on a pot of coffee and turned off the TV.

  “Boston. We’re researchers,” Julia answered. She leaned down and loosened her boots. “We had plans to meet friends down at Blakely College tomorrow. There’s a two-day conference on biostatistics and genetic research.” She looked outside. “Although I imagine the conference is probably cancelled by now.”

  Brady inspected the taps behind the bar. “I’ll take a draft of the local brew if you’re still serving,” he said to Finn.

  “Hell, I’ll be serving all night as long as I have customers.” Finn grinned. “We don’t let a little thing like a Nor’easter slow us down.” He filled a tall mug, and then handed menus to Gabe and Julia. “You folks hungry at all? I can’t do anything fancy for you, since my cook called in earlier, but the fryer’s going in the kitchen, or I can whip up a sandwich.”

  Julia scanned the menu. “I’d love some fries if it’s not too much trouble. We did stop for a bite, but I’m having cravings.”

  “Nothing for me,” Gabe said. Brady shook his head as well.

  “One extra-large serving of fries, coming up,” Finn said and disappeared into the kitchen.

  Mick returned to the bar and pulled up the stool next to Annie. He smelled like snow, like the sharp fresh air of winter, and she leaned against him in comfort.

  Brady rested his arms on the bar and smiled. “Are you all locals? All live here in Lindsey Point?”

  “We are. Born and raised,” she answered.

  “I’ve only been through town a couple of times, when I was driving down the coast. Nice place from what I remember.” He jutted his chin at the framed newspapers behind the bar. “I remember when that happened, the plane crash.” He whistled. “Terrible thing.”

  A sting of sadness went through Annie, the way it always did. Almost like the ghost of her former classmates slipping over her skin. It didn’t matter how many years had passed. “It was, yes.”

  “I stopped by the memorial last summer. Out in the common.” He glanced at the front window, though they couldn’t see anything beyond the snow that continued to fall.

  Annie inched her almost-empty glass toward Finn when he returned, who refilled it without asking. “So what do you research?” she asked to change the subject. A few days before Christmas, they didn’t need to be telling sad stories.

  Brady smiled. “Drugs. Vaccines. Reactions.” He pointed at Gabe. “Julia’s been doing some technical writing since she can’t work in the lab right now. Gabe mostly does genetic research.”

  Annie stared. “Wow. That all sounds very intense.”

  “It can be. I work more often with pharmaceutical companies. I touch things much less likely to eat away the top layer of my skin.”

  Annie laughed.

  The coffee finished brewing, and Finn pulled a few mugs from the shelf behind him. “Who needs some caffeine?”

  “I’ll take a cup,” Mick said.

  “Me too,” Gabe agreed.

  “Water for m
e,” Julia sighed. She ran a hand over her belly. “I can’t wait until this little one arrives, and I can go back to having my three cups in the morning.”

  “When are you due?” Annie asked. She’d done some of her clinical hours at the mother-and-baby clinic in Bluffet Edge and loved every minute of it.

  “About two weeks. New Year’s Day, actually.” Julia smiled. “Maybe they’ll have fireworks at the hospital.” She turned to her husband. “Ooh, and champagne. Now that would be a way to celebrate.”

  “Is it your first?”

  Julia shook her head. “We have five-year-old twins at home.” She looked down. “This was a surprise. A true surprise, because we thought we had everything clipped and tied and taken care of after the twins were born.”

  “Wow.” Annie had only seen one other birth resulting after a sterilization, and those parents had been equally surprised when the doctor first delivered the news. “Well, I guess it was meant to be,” she said. “A holiday miracle, right?”

  Gabe pulled his chair closer to his wife and took her hand. “That’s how we like to think of it.”

  A truck crawled down Main Street, but it didn’t stop. Lights passed over the windows of the bar and then continued into the dark.

  “Is there anywhere in town to stay?” Julia asked. “We have reservations at a hotel near the college, but I don’t know if we’ll make it that far.”

  “You probably won’t,” Mick said. “Roads are pretty slick.”

  “The town’s good about plowing, but I wouldn’t chance driving too far tonight,” Finn added.

  “The Pine Point Inn is a couple miles away,” Mick said, “but I don’t know if they have any rooms available.”

  “Patti said something about a wedding party coming in for the weekend,” Finn said. “Think they were filling up the hotel.”