by S E Isaac
Love for the Holiday
A Forever Safe Christmas Story
By S. E. Isaac
Love for the Holiday by S.E. Isaac
Copyright c) 2019. S.E. Isaac
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews – without permission in writing from S.E. Isaac.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Blurb
Love McDaniel is ready for the holidays with her family. It's the one time of the year that she and her family take a step back from their busy lives and spend time together. This year is no different. Her family has plans to spend Christmas together up in the mountains away from the busy city life... or at least that was the plan. One phone call has Love's holiday plans going down the drain. Her parents are going on a cruise leaving her to spend the holidays alone.
Jacob Holiday has never liked Christmas or anything revolving around festive cheer. Growing up, his holidays were spent without family or friends and as an adult, he continues the tradition and spends his holidays alone. This year he has the same plans... Or so he thought because Love McDaniel’s has just fallen into his life.
Will Love's holiday end up amazing? Will Jacob find the holiday spirit he's always been missing? Or will they both spend their holidays down misery lane?
CHAPTER ONE
The world rained down on my parade with four simple words sent to me by my mother: Going on a cruise. Just like that, my holiday plans were ruined. I didn’t even have a backup plan. My circle of friends was small — almost non-existent — and those within the circle already had plans. For the first time in thirty-two years, my holiday would be spent alone and not with friends or family.
My thoughts on the holiday came to an abrupt stop when my feet began to slip back and forth. In my lost thoughts and holiday music blaring in my earbuds, I hadn’t been paying attention to the ice-slicked sidewalk I was walking on.
My feet came up from under me.
Swoosh!
A shriek escaped me as I flew into the air. For once, today, Lady Luck was on my side and I landed in the snow-covered grass. I still hit the ground with force, but it didn’t hurt near as much as it would have if I had hit the paved sidewalk.
Spots of different hues of red, green, white, and yellow blurred my vision. The night sky I could barely make out with all the dancing spots. The back of my head ached as did my tailbone. My earbuds had both fallen out. The blaring music was faint because of the holiday music being played out of the speakers that were scattered throughout the town.
“Are you okay, Miss?” A deep masculine voice asked.
I could hear the crunch of snow. It grew louder. Soon there was a shadow hovering over me. A large shadow. With the Christmas lights in the background, I couldn’t make out any details of the person. Only the size of the shadow and smell of cologne told me it was a man.
“Miss?” The man asked kneeling beside me. “Are you okay? Do you need me to call an ambulance?”
“No. That’s okay,” I said trying to pull myself up to a sitting position.
The man placed his hand around my waist and helped me sit up.
“Nice and slow,” he said softly. “You took quite a fall.” His husky, honey-like voice tugged at a part of me. His voice was heavenly.
“Am I dead?” I gasped without thinking.
“No,” he chuckled. “You aren’t dead. I promise.”
“Oh.”
It wasn’t like me to be shy but something about this man made me feel girly. I was like a damsel in distress and he was my knight in shining armor. Or in this case, my night in a winter coat.
“Do you feel nauseous? Dizzy?” He asked kneeling in front of me.
The light’s angle illuminated his face. He looked like a gorgeous angel. The hues caused a halo-like effect around him. His smile was like the people in toothpaste commercials. His jawline was chiseled and outlined with a five o’clock shadow. The only thing I couldn’t tell was the color of his eyes. I only knew his eyes were round and looked kind.
“Do you feel nauseous or dizzy?” he asked again.
The man probably thought I was a total ditz, who couldn’t walk or talk properly.
“No. I feel fine,” I stated scrambling onto my feet.
A sharp pain shot up from my tailbone causing me to scream. My knees grew weak and gave out from under me. I expected to hit the ground hard, except I never touched the ground. The angel-like stranger scooped me up in his arms.
“I gotcha,” he whispered. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
“No. I’m okay. Really?” I said wincing through the pain. “Don’t trouble yourself.”
“It’s no trouble to me,” he smiled down at me. My body swooned unconsciously. The man had a great smile.
“I’m sure you have something better to do than worry —”
“Relax. I’m a doctor.”
“You are?” It came out a shriek. Not a shriek of fear but one of surprise. What were the odds that my knight in shining armor would be a hot doctor?
“Yes, ma’am. Doctor Jacob Holiday at your service,” he grinned.
Doctor Jacob Holiday, I repeated to myself.
“Hello, Doctor Jacob Holiday,” I whispered.
“And, what would my lovely patient’s name be?” He asked as he began to walk through the snow.
“Lo… Love McDaniel.”
“Love?”
He had the usual response most people had when they learned that my name was Love. My parents had set me up for failure. Love wasn’t a normal name and my entire life people told me how it wasn’t.
“Yep.” I pressed my lips together to keep myself from saying anything rude to my hero.
“I like that name. It’s different,” he said as he continued walking with me in his arms.
“You don’t think it’s a weird name?” I asked allowing my curiosity to speak before my common sense could object.
“No,” he smiled. “It’s a nice name.”
I didn’t trust myself to speak anymore so I zipped my lips and allowed him to carry me. He held me close to his warm body. His cologne seemed to wrap around me. It was hard to not bury my face into his coat and bask in the smell.
“We’re almost at my office.” He glanced down briefly then looked forward once more.
“I appreciate this.” My words were so soft that I wasn’t sure if he heard me or not.
“You’re welcome, Love.”
I could feel his chest vibrate from him trying to hold back a laugh.
“See, you do think it’s a stupid name,” I sighed. He frowned and shook his head.
“No. It’s not that,” he laughed. “I was just thinking how if anyone was eavesdropping, they’d think we were together and that my nickname for you was love.”
“Oh.”
He had a point. People usually avoided calling me by my name for that reason. They didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea or having their significant others get upset.
My eyes s
hot up to him.
“Oh my gosh! Do you have a girlfriend? She might not like you carrying another woman!” I blurted without thought.
“Relax,” he smiled. “I’m single and even if I did have a girlfriend, it’s my job to help people, even if they just so happen to be beautiful.”
Beautiful?
I must have hit my head harder than I thought. Or maybe I was dead after all?
CHAPTER TWO
I didn’t get a chance to be hung up on his comment because we soon arrived at his office. On the door, in large letters was:
Holiday Family Practice
Jacob Holiday, MD
The lights automatically came on when he carried me through the door. The warm air was refreshing to my freezing body. I had gone for a walk to ease my mind and forgotten to wear my heavy coat.
Jacob’s office was quaint. The small lobby with four leather chairs smelled like leather and pumpkin-scented candles. We walked by a door with a unisex sign on the door then past a door with his name on it. Finally, he carried me into an exam room and sat me down on the cushioned exam table.
He brushed the snow off my jacket.
“Mind if I take a look?” He gestured to my back.
This wasn’t my usual doctor’s visit, but I’ve been in weirder situations.
“I’m really okay. I don’t want to trouble you.”
“If it was troubling me, I wouldn’t have carried you to my office, Love,” he smiled.
Brown. His eyes were a cognac brown. A dark, smooth color of brown.
He removed his hat, revealing his short, dark brown hair. I hadn’t noticed earlier because of the lights, but his skin was a beautiful olive tan. This man was becoming more and more perfect by the second.
“May I look now?” he asked amusingly.
“Oh,” I shook my head of the dreamy thoughts. “Um… yes. Thanks.”
I unzipped my jacket, and he helped me shimmy out of it. He hung it up, while I pulled my shirt up and over my head. He turned back around and faced me once my jacket was hung up. His eyes widened.
“Oh,” he whispered then cleared his throat.
“Do you want me to just lay on my stomach?”
He just stared at me, so I waved my hand in front of his face and laughed.
“Earth to Doctor Holiday,” I teased.
“S—Sorry. You caught me off guard by…” He lifted his hand up but quickly brought it back down. “Let me grab my stethoscope.”
He rushed out of the room. He returned a few minutes later wearing his medical coat and his stethoscope was hanging around his neck. He washed his hands then faced me.
“Let’s have a listen.” He approached me. “May I have a listen?”
“Yes.” I put my arms down to my side so he could listen to my heart or whatever he was trying to listen to. He was a medical professional, not me.
“It may be a bit cold,” he informed me as he put the earpieces in his ear and the cold metal on my left breast.
He was right. The metal was cold and sent a shiver down my spine. I tensed at the coldness. The sudden tension made the small of my back hurt.
“Does it hurt?” he asked gesturing at where his stethoscope was.
“No. It’s my back.”
“I’ll have a look here in a second. Can you take a few deep breaths?” he asked looking up at the ceiling.
As he asked, I took several deep breaths. He nodded at each one.
“Sounds good,” he said removing the cold metal from my chest and moving to my upper back. “Deep breaths.”
I did as he said. Every few breaths he moved the stethoscope to another spot on my back.
“Good.” He took the stethoscope out of his ears and hung it around his neck.
I expected him to begin examining my back, but instead he grabbed a pair of latex gloves and put them on.
“Let me know if I hurt you. Okay?” he whispered before he began pressing on my back. He started at the top and worked his way down.
The pain was bearable until he reached just below the middle of my back. One little touch had me screaming and wanting to run out of the room.
“I’m sorry,” he stated softly. “Does this hurt?”
He pushed in another spot. I didn’t feel any pain.
“No.”
“That’s good. What about here?” He pressed in a different spot that had me coming off the table and screaming. “Sorry.”
“It’s… it’s okay,” I said fighting back the sobs.
“Can you stand up for me?” he asked coming back around to stand in front of me.
“Yes.”
Truthfully, I didn’t know if I could stand. The pain I had felt made me want to curl up into a ball and cry myself to sleep. Today had been a long day.
“Here, let’s take it slow,” he said. “Lean on me if you need help. Okay?”
I nodded my head then forced myself up off the exam bed. My knees began to give out, but he must have sensed it because his arm wrapped around me and he pulled me against his side. It felt like time came to a stop.
His warmth wrapped around me like a blanket. The pit of my stomach felt like there were hundreds of butterflies fluttering around. The feeling that came over me was unlike any other feeling I had had towards anyone before. There was something about him. Something that made me want to get lost in his eyes and forget about the world around us.
“Perhaps, I should take you to a hospital so another doctor can have a look,” he said slowly and softly.
“Why?”
“Because right now all I want to do is ask you out for coffee.”
“I like coffee,” I whispered sweetly.
CHAPTER THREE
Jacob’s honesty and his medical ethics landed us in the emergency room having another doctor look at me. He wasn’t officially my doctor so the doctor-patient rule didn’t really apply; however, I could tell he was conflicted after his confession about coffee. That’s why I suggested that I go to the ER.
The nurse’s assistant wheeled me back into my room after my x-rays were over. Jacob was sitting in the spare chair. His head rested against the wall and he was sleeping. The nurse assistant and I looked at each other and grinned, then quietly the nurse assistant helped me back into the bed and left closing the door softly behind her. Jacob remained fast asleep.
What a crazy day, I thought to myself as I stared at the incredibly handsome man, who sat only a few feet from me, fast asleep.
“Going to keep staring at me?” Jacob asked softly before a huge smile crossed his face and his eyes slowly opened.
My eyes widened and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. How long had he been awake?
“Oh. Hi.”
“Hi,” he chuckled. “Everything went okay with the x-rays?”
“As far as I know,” I nodded. “You could have left. You don’t have to feel obligated to stay.” My words died off toward the end
“Still trying to get rid of me?” He laughed and sat up in the chair.
“No, it’s not that. I just feel bad. I mean, I’m a stranger after all.” I shrugged to play off my nervousness.
The truth was I enjoyed his company. It wasn’t like me to click with someone right away, but with Jacob I had. We shared several laughs since arriving at the ER. I just didn’t want him feeling that I was some crazy, clingy woman using her injury to sink her claws into him.
“You can relax, Love. I don’t mind keeping you company,” he smiled.
“As long as —”
“Relax,” he said reaching over to the bed and taking hold of my hand.
The sudden touch felt like a thousand volts rushing through every nerve-ending within me. His hands were large and masculine, yet, soft and gentle. I couldn’t help looking down at our now joined hands. A giddy feeling began to rise from within me. I was acting as though no one had ever held my hand before.
My hand had been held plenty of times, but this feeling was something new. It was something indescribable.
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“You going to be okay?” Jacob asked rubbing his thumb across the top of my hand.
My words were lodged in my throat from girliness so I could only nod in response.
“You sure?” he laughed.
“Ye—yes. Sorry. I’m just spacey right now.”
“I understand.” He continued rubbing my hand. “Want me to turn the tv on?”
“I doubt there is anything good on right now. It’s pretty late.”
“True. We could watch a movie on my phone.”
He withdrew his hand from mine. I found myself wanting to reach out and grab his hand, but I refrained from doing so. It was like my body had a mind of its own
Jacob pulled his phone out of his pocket and scooted his chair right up against the bed.
“What kind of movies do you like?” he asked opening up an app on his phone.
“I rarely watch movies.”
He gasped dramatically and clutched at his chest. His sudden theatrics made me laugh. He smiled.
“What about something funny with action in it?” He looked up from his phone and over at me.
“Sounds good to me,” I smiled.
Honestly, he could put on anything. I doubted I’d be able to pay much attention to whatever he put on. My mind would be too busy dealing with the girly feelings which were rising inside me. It was like my body had been taken over by a teenage girl.
***
My sleep had ended too soon. It felt like Jacob had just dropped me off from the hospital. My body ached from my head to my toes. I walked around my house like a ninety-year-old. My feet scuffled across the floor because it hurt to lift them. Jacob had carried me everywhere, so I hadn’t realized how painful it was to walk.
My head felt like it was being used as a drum for a heavy metal band. Several times, I closed my eyes in an attempt to ease the pain or to stop the room for spinning. I felt like hell. Absolute hell.
Before my body decided to give out on me, I took my pills and ate a banana since the doctor and Jacob told me to be sure to not take them on an empty stomach. The thought of Jacob made me smile.
