An Evergreen Christmas (3 page)

Holly and Noel sat across from Clifford and Candice, a glittery reindeer centerpiece between them. Every time Noel turned his head away, Holly slid food from her plate onto his. Clifford and Candice snickered.

Noel turned to face them. “What’s so funny?”

Holly grinned. “Nothing.”

Clifford and Candice shrugged.

Noel looked down at the mountain of food on his plate. “Hey!”

She laughed and held her hands over her plate, guarding any “give backs”.

“Yeah, well, more for me,” he teased.

Sipping her punch, Holly winked at him.
It was so spontaneous. Where did that come from?

Noel leaned toward her. Holly’s heart skipped a beat.

He touched her hand. “I’m glad you came.”

Holly set her drink down. “Me, too.”

The party wasn’t that bad, she thought. Aunt Mae was right.

Everyone began to clap. Holly whipped around in her chair to see what all the hub-up was about. A group of ICU nurses dressed as reindeer galloped into the cafeteria, performing a kick line number to Jingle Bell Rock. Holly clapped along with everyone else, tapping her toes beneath the table. The cafeteria pulsed with revelry. They weren’t the Rockettes, but they were entertaining nonetheless. Noel whooped and hollered, whistling at them. Holly laughed so hard her cheeks hurt. And just as she let go, she saw him standing in the corner, clapping as well, Dr. Maxwell Thornton, the elder surgeon who struggled to save her parents that night. She stopped clapping and searched in frenzy for a back way out. The dancing nurses distracted everyone, including Noel. Now was the best time to slip out through the kitchen.

She eased her chair back from the table, and tiptoed away, weaving through the crowd. Pushing the kitchen’s silver stainless steel doors open, she stood dazed, hoping no one had followed her.

“Can I help you?” a woman in a white cafeteria dress asked.

“Uh, no.” Holly glanced about the kitchen and spotted a tray of green Jell-O squares. She picked up a plate of the hospital gelatin. “Just what I was looking for.”

The woman furrowed her black bushy eyebrows. “With all that food out there, you want Jell-O?”

“Yes. Thanks.”

She snuck out the rear kitchen door and into the empty hospital corridor, jiggling lime gelatin on a poinsettia trimmed paper plate in her hand. She knew exactly what to do with it. Holly headed to Mrs. Shale’s room.

She inched her patient’s door open.

“Who’s there?” Mrs. Shale asked.

Holly pattered into the dim room. “It’s me, Dr. Green.” She walked over to the window blinds and snapped them open. The waning late winter afternoon sun filtered into the room. “I brought you something.” She set the lime Jell-O on Mrs. Shale’s bedside table. “Why are you lying here in the dark?”

“I was trying to get some sleep. Every time I doze off, a nurse comes in to take my temperature and blood pressure. I guess not everyone went to the hospital shindig. Speaking of the party, how was it? Did you have fun?”

Holly paused. “Mmm, yes.”

Mrs. Shale eyed the lime gelatin on the holiday themed paper plate. “Please tell me they didn’t serve green Jell-O at the party.”

Holly smiled. “No. I had the chef whip this up special for you.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll bring you something more substantial tomorrow.”

Mrs. Shale patted Holly’s hand. “I can’t wait. Surprise me.”

“Absolutely. How do you feel about Orange Jell-O?” Holly teased her.

Mrs. Shale chuckled. “I’ve always been partial to citrus.”

“See you in the morning.”

“Have a good night, dear.”

She shut Mrs. Shale’s door and made it to the women’s locker room undisturbed. Tucking her tote bag under her arm, Holly bypassed the elevators and trotted down the stairwell. Sneaking out the hospital lobby, she walked to the parking lot, the brisk winter wind nipping at her neck. She raised the collar of her coat and clicked the remote on her key ring unlocking her car. The headlights flashed. Setting the tote gently onto the passenger seat, careful not to break the ornament in her bag, she ducked into her car and closed the door. Holly sat a minute before starting the engine. She took a chance, attending the party. She knew it was too good to be true. Taking a deep breath, Holly pulled out of the parking lot. In fifteen minutes tops, she’d be home.

***

Holly scrambled from her car to the front door. Shivering, she stomped the snow from her shoes and fumbled with her key ring until reaching the one for the house. Once inside, she shut the door, pushing it against the wind.

Lucky for me, she thought, leaving that party just before this snowstorm.

She slipped off her ballet flats in the foyer and wiggled her frigid toes in her drenched stockings. The weatherman lied. No snow in the forecast, he predicted. Ha! Holly ran to the bathroom on the balls of her feet. She peeled off her stockings, sat on the edge of the tub, and cranked on the water, warming her feet beneath it. She closed her eyes.

“Ah, much better.”

Reaching for a fluffy white towel, she patted her feet dry. Mom had always decorated the whole house during Christmas, including the red and green Santa towels she’d hang in the bathroom. But practical white was fine for her. She knew where the Christmas towels were. Holly set them purposely far back on the top shelf of the linen closet, a place she couldn’t easily reach.

After pattering into her bedroom, she removed her blouse and skirt, and hung them in her closet, flush with her other attire. Not on call, and in for the evening, Holly put on a white long sleeved cotton shirt and the blue lounge pants with a snowflake print that her Aunt Mae had bought her and slid on her favorite white, furry bunny slippers. She paused at her dresser and stared at the gold-framed photo of her at thirteen, flanked by her mom and dad, at a Christmas tree farm. They went there every year. It was the last photo of them together, their last Christmas. She wiped the tears overflowing from her lower lids, swiping them across her cheek and fingered the ornament hanging from the corner of the frame, the last one her parents had bought, a silver glass ball with a green glittery Christmas tree. She pulled out Mrs. Shale’s ornament from her bag and hung it onto the opposite corner of the frame. Taking three steps backward, she admired the only Christmas decoration in her house.

The house was closed up after her parents died, but Aunt Mae never sold it. Holly was sure her aunt knew that someday she’d return. The house where she had spent her childhood comforted her, although the holidays continued to haunt her. She left it every year to have Christmas dinner with Aunt Mae.

Holly shut the bedroom door and headed into the kitchen where she fixed herself a cup of hot cocoa. Settling onto the couch with her mug of hot chocolate she picked up the TV remote and clicked it. Channeling surfing through Christmas classics, she tuned into a world news station. One sad news story after another, she was about to shut off the TV when the doorbell rang.

She sighed and set her mug onto the coffee table. “Who could that be?” She muttered.

Holly tiptoed to the front door. If it weren’t someone she cared to speak to, she’d pretend she wasn’t home. She squinted and with one eye, peeked through the peephole. Holly shook her head. On the other side of the lens was Noel Shepherd, his face in a comical, distorted oval with his nose three times bigger than his forehead and chin, holding a plate of cookies.

Chapter Three

“Holly, I know you’re there. I see your car in the driveway. Please let me in. It’s freezing out here.”

“Just a minute.” Her stomach flipped. Holly bit her bottom lip.
What is he doing here? How am I going to explain my get away?
She shifted from side to side in her bunny slippers.

Although she had planned to spend a quiet evening alone, she couldn’t leave him standing there. Holly twisted the deadbolt, unlocked the door, and let Noel into her private sanctum.

Noel stomped the snow from his shoes and stepped into the foyer. Holly shoved the door shut and locked it again. The man that had left her speechless, the man that had prodded her to the hospital Christmas party, was now the man who was in her house alone with her.

Noel eyed her from her head to her bunny slippers and grinned. “I guess you’re not expecting much company.” Holly’s eyes widened and her toes bunched. She had traded scrubs for loungewear. No one at the hospital would’ve guessed she’d wear something like this. But it was too late to hide from Noel.

Noel tilted his head and peered past Holly. “I’m sorry to have come unannounced. I don’t mean to bother you and your family.”

Holly waved him inside. He clearly wasn’t going to just drop off a plate of cookies. “Come in, Noel. You’re not bothering anyone. I live alone.” For the first time, she hated to admit that.

He hesitated. “Um. Well, I hope I’m not interrupting your evening.”

Yeah, okay he was, but she refrained from telling him so. Instead, she shook her head. “You’re not.” Noel slipped off his snowy jacket and hung it on the coat rack. Holly pointed to the living room. “Have a seat.”

Noel set the plastic wrapped plate of cookies onto the coffee table, hiked the hems of his trousers, and plopped onto the couch. He hadn’t changed his clothes since the party. Holly glanced at his penguin print tie and then down at her homey attire.

He loosened his tie and winked at her. “Nice snowflake pants. You would have been a hit at the party in those. Why did you leave? I turned around and you were gone.”

She hesitated and then lied. No way was she going to admit that she was dodging an encounter with the elder Dr. Thornton. Holly had no idea he’d make a guest appearance. “My pager went off. I needed to check on Mrs. Shale. You remember, my patient with the cholecystectomy?”

“Yeah, I recall. Is she okay?”

“Yes, fine. Afterwards, I decided to home.”

He furrowed his forehead. “I thought you weren’t on call.”

“I wasn’t, but I requested the nurses call me about her.” She hoped he’d drop the inquisition, but just in case he persisted, she changed the subject. Holly hugged her mug. “I’m drinking cocoa, but I could brew some coffee for you.”

Noel shook his hand. “No need, but I’ll have some of that cocoa.”

“It’s from a mix,” she blurted guiltily. Her mom made the best hot chocolate, the kind that stuck to your top lip on a bitter winter day. The kitchen silent from her mom’s humming and hugs, Holly had switched to instant cocoa years ago. Hers could never taste like her mother’s anyway.

“Sounds good to me.” Noel stood. “I’ll give you a hand in the kitchen.”

“It’s okay, Noel. It’s just cocoa.”

He stood there as if waiting for an invitation.

“Relax. I’ll bring you a cup.”

Clearly this wasn’t about cocoa.

Holly strode into the kitchen and set her cup onto the counter. She could ask him into the kitchen. No, that’d be awkward. She had already told him to stay where he was. Too late now. The moment had passed. Holly crossed her hands and shivered.

“Noel,” she called. “There’s a thermostat on the hallway wall. Could you inch it up a bit?”

“Sure,” he answered, his voice suspiciously not that distant.

Holly filled a kettle with milk and set it on the stove. She turned around to fetch a mug from the cupboard and smacked into Noel. Holly jerked back and blinked. Her heart beat wildly.

He embraced her shoulders. “I’m so sorry to have startled you. I took care of the heat, and I thought I’d come here to help you. Noel cocked his brow. “Not helping, am I?”

She didn’t have to wait for the heat to kick in. His touch warmed her plenty.

“That’s all right. Thanks for adjusting the thermostat.” She pointed to the top kitchen cabinet. “You can get a mug down from there.”

Noel reached into the cupboard and pulled out a mug. Holly reared back, her eyes wide open.

He stared at her, his eyes nearly as wide as hers. “Um. I’m guessing not this one.”

Noel had plucked out her dad’s favorite mug. She had forgotten it was still up there.

“No. It’s fine. It’s a good mug,” she said, her voice cracking. “Fine. Fine. Fine. Bring it here.”

He gingerly jutted the cup towards her. Holly sprinkled cocoa dust into it and filled it with warm milk.

“Spoons are in the drawer to your left,” she said, Their gazes met.

“Okay,” he said slowly, carefully. Noel reached into the drawer and pulled out a spoon, his eyes on Holly the whole time.

Holly cleared her throat. “Let’s go to the living room, shall we?”

Still cautious, Noel nodded. “Okay.”

She grabbed her mug from the counter and headed toward the couch. He followed close behind, the steam from his hot chocolate teasing the back of her neck. They settled onto the couch, a sofa pillow between them. He set his hot cup of cocoa on the coffee table and pulled back the plastic wrap from the tray of cookies he had scavenged from the hospital party.

He handed her a chocolate chip cookie. “These are the best.”

“Thanks,” she said, accepting his offering.

Gooey chocolate chunks melted on her lips. She licked the sweet cream away, leaving telltale smudges at the corners of her mouth.

Noel handed her a poinsettia print paper napkin. He grinned. “Told you they’re the best.”

She dabbed her lips. “My favorite, too.”

He grabbed the TV remote. “Mind if I change the channel?”

“No, go ahead.” After all, he was her guest.

Wouldn’t she know it? The guy picked, It’s A Wonderful Life, the Christmas classic movie she had perused right by.

Noel crunched on a cookie and smiled. “I love this part. Who would have thought a swimming pool would lie under a gymnasium floor? Amazing. I wish I went to a high school like that. We had a gym, and we had a pool. But two in one? Whoa! That was some architectural coup.”

They watched the dancing high schoolers on screen fall into the pool as the magical gym floor parted beneath them, giggling like teenagers themselves. That was the second time he had made her laugh that day, a holiday personal record for her.