One Great Christmas Love Story

by Kaylee Baldwin

  Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out to see an email from Francis.

  Hi, Holly,

  Great news! The article is all ready to go. Thought I’d give you a sneak peek. I’m glad we met, even under the circumstances it was—I guess good things can sometimes come out of the bad. Life is funny, isn’t it? Have a very wonderful Christmas.

  Best,

  Francis

  She scrolled down to read the article, the cold disappearing as she got lost in his prose.

  A Heart for Christmas

  By Francis Whitacre

  I first met Dr. Holly Whitacre when she quite literally saved my life. One minute, I was sitting in a cafeteria, enjoying time with my lovely wife, and the next, a searing pain tore through my chest. With the parting image of a woman leaning over me, everything went black.

  I soon learned who that woman was: a cardiologist at Bridger University Hospital, and even more intriguing, the host of her own MyHeartChannel show called One Great Love Story.

  With nothing more to do, as I was in the hospital following a massive heart surgery, my wife and I binge-watched every episode. And we were hooked—not only on the premise of exploring people’s love stories, but on the doctor herself.

  Besides, who can resist the hook of a heart doctor who is inspired by love stories?

  So I did what I do when I want to know more about someone: I pitched an idea to my editor to write a story about the person. In the meantime, while I waited for my editor’s approval, I went ahead and had another heart attack, just so Dr. Whitacre could save my life again.

  I’m very committed to my stories.

  She laughed, hearing his sarcasm loud and clear even through the typed words, though she wouldn’t doubt the lengths he might go to in order to get his story.

  She continued to read through his summary of the history she’d given him: her medical school experience and deciding to become a cardiologist, meeting Dallon and eventually marrying him, his tragic death, and the start of One Great Love Story.

  Holly Whitacre was inspired by her parents’ love story, as well as her own, when she landed on the premise of her MyHeartChannel show.

  “I missed Dallon,” she wrote to me in an email correspondence. “And I not only needed a distraction; I needed the right distraction. What better way to honor our own love story than to celebrate others?”

  For those who haven’t seen the show, go watch it right now. Start from the beginning, if you can, but it you can’t, start watching with the episode called “Dr. Handsome Seeks Love.” It’s a departure from her usual format, but you’ll learn more about Holly Whitacre in those episodes than you will from the previous two years of shows.

  If you have been watching the channel, you may recognize the name Dr. Jack Shay. Once Holly’s nemesis, he’s now her best friend and latest guest on her show—but this time to find love for himself. In a turn of events unanticipated to anyone, the viewers decided that Jack and Holly were perfect for each other. I was able to catch up with Dr. Jack Shay, aka Dr. Handsome, and if I hadn’t already been “Team #JollyForChristmas” before, I would be after hearing from him.

  He says, “Her passion is almost enough to persuade even a coldhearted cynic like me that a love like she describes—a love like she had with her late husband Dallon—is actually possible. The fact is, Holly’s show isn’t just for people who believe in love; it’s for people who hope it might be real.”

  And my favorite line of all: “Holly Whitacre is the most incredible woman I’ve ever known.”

  Holly paused to read that again, and then a third time, her stomach fluttering. Jack had messaged her about Francis contacting him weeks ago. How had Holly been so blind? How had it taken him telling her his feelings outright for her to see them?

  She forced herself to finish the article, although she wanted to sit in Jack’s words for a while longer. Francis had a few more kind comments from her staff and former participants on the show. He concluded the article with an interview he’d had with her dad. Although she’d given Francis her dad’s contact information, she hadn’t known they’d actually corresponded.

  “Holly is an inspiration to me,” Stanley Jens, Holly’s father, told me. He’s a large man, at least six and a half feet tall, with thick, white hair. After his first wife died, he embarked on a quest to find a love like that again. He watches every episode of his daughter’s show, although he wouldn’t commit (or not commit) to being Team #JollyForChristmas. “My daughter is a smart woman. I trust she’ll do what’s best for her. Look at everything she’s accomplished for herself, despite anything I’ve done.”

  Here, he got choked up. “I’ve put Holly through a lot through the years with so many of my failed relationships, but watching her show gives me hope and the courage to keep searching for love.”

  Could we ask for a better show at this season than something that gives us hope and courage to seek out love?

  Holly shut her phone down, her eyes filled with tears. She’d gotten it all wrong from the beginning. She’d thought her dad was foolish for not accepting that he would only have one great love story, when he was actually quite brave to hold on to hope that he could find love like that again. Like Francis and Pauline did.

  She kicked up her speed to run home, a sense of urgency propelling every step. She passed the carolers at the corner; they were singing “Carol of the Bells.” Jack’s favorite. She’d always thought it felt too frantic, but he said that it was the only Christmas song frantic enough. Its beat lent speed to her feet, especially as an idea began to form—an idea founded on hope, and one that would take a lot of courage.

  She wasn’t yet like Scrooge, who had been several years too late. There was still time to change things for her Christmas.

  Chapter 29

  Jack’s new job definitely had its positives and negatives. On the plus side, he had better hours, newer equipment, and more staff under him. It wasn’t a training hospital, so he didn’t have to deal with interns or residents. The bump in pay hadn’t hurt anything either.

  On the negative side: no Holly. And that was killing him. Also, the “better working hours” promise was turning out to be a mixed bag, especially when he wanted nothing more than to lose himself in hours and hours of work to keep from thinking.

  He suspected his new staff was relieved when he left each day. Someone at the new hospital must have learned of his nickname, because he’d heard whispers of Gaston once again. He couldn’t care less. He wasn’t there to make friends, but to do his job well and make sure they were doing the same.

  It was Christmas Eve, and Jack didn’t know what to do with himself. The tree was decorated, the gifts wrapped, and ingredients for Christmas breakfast purchased. He picked up his phone at least a dozen times to message Holly, but didn’t know what he’d say. He wasn’t willing to take anything back, and she wasn’t willing to move forward. They were at an impasse that couldn’t be crossed by a simple text to see what she was up to. Besides, he didn’t want to face more rejection if she blew him off. A man could only take so much.

  He changed into his running clothes and got on the treadmill. Seven miles went by too quickly, so he went to eight and glanced at the clock. Seeing that he still had most of a day to kill, he kept running until he got to thirteen miles and felt like his legs might give away underneath him. He couldn’t remember a time he’d run so long or far.

  He collapsed on his couch, taking in deep gulps of breath, staring at his ceiling. Life stretched out ahead of him, every day promising a variation on a theme: working until he had to leave, trying to kill time at home, living for the days Shiloh spent with him. He’d have to volunteer at the foundation more often, maybe only have days off when Shiloh was coming over.

  In medical school, he’d pictured a lot more glamorous life for himself than being rejected by two women he’d loved, and then lying alone on a couch on Christmas Eve. “Way to win at life, Shay.”

  Over time, his heart rate slowe
d to a normal pace, and he drifted off for a while, his mind finally blank with exhaustion.

  The buzzing of his phone woke him up. He snatched it from the floor, every muscle in his legs and torso hurting.

  It was a text from Megan. They’d stayed in contact after their date, mostly Megan wanting updates on how things progressed between him and Holly. When he’d told her about his failed confession of love, she’d encouraged him to not give up hope, but even he could hear the disappointment in her tone.

  Megan: Have you watched Holly’s MyHeartChannel episode today????

  He hadn’t watched any of her episodes this week. He wasn’t a masochist. Besides, it wasn’t a usual posting day.

  Jack: No.

  His phone rang. He groaned. Why couldn’t Megan text like a normal person? She always wanted to chat. He’d briefly entertained the idea of pursuing something with her. But it would only be a diversion, something to pass the time when he was in love with someone else.

  Besides, she wanted to chat all the time, and they were barely friends. He couldn’t imagine her in a relationship.

  “What?” he said, knowing his annoyance was showing.

  “Did I wake you up? Never mind, that doesn’t matter.” He could almost picture her waving the air in front of her face. “Turn on your computer right now.”

  “Megan. It’s Christmas Eve. You’ve already ruined my relationship with Holly; can you please let me be miserable in peace?”

  “I didn’t ruin your relationship!” she said, indignant. “I have no doubt you managed to do it all on your own.”

  “But if I hadn’t taken your advice and told her I loved her, we’d still be friends.”

  “Yeah, and how was that going for you?” She let out a frustrated sigh. “Jack, you’re distracting me. Go to your computer right now. I’ll wait.”

  He knew she would. Or that she’d call back. In a lot of ways, she reminded him of an annoying little sister, and he already had one of those. He didn’t need two.

  He also didn’t need to keep fighting about this anymore. “Fine.”

  “Yay!” The giddiness in Megan’s tone made him pause. “Text me when you’re done.”

  Then she hung up before he could say goodbye.

  He powered on his computer, taking his time to make a sandwich for dinner and stretch out his weary leg muscles.

  His phone dinged.

  Megan: Have you watched it yet?

  Jack: I’m getting to it.

  Megan: JACK SHAY!!! I WILL COME OVER, AND YOU DO NOT WANT ME TO COME OVER.

  He didn’t think she knew where he lived, but he wouldn’t put it past her to find out.

  He sighed and went to Holly’s MyHeartChannel page. She’d missed her usual uploading day for an episode, but she had a new one today, posted a couple hours before. He frowned; she never missed a day.

  He pressed play on the last episode as “Dr. Handsome,” the one of his date with Megan. He hadn’t seen it yet—had been avoiding it. Just watching Holly made him ache with longing. If this was how he felt after a week of not seeing her, how would he feel in a month? He couldn’t bear thinking about it. He’d have to force a way into getting more hours at work.

  He watched the pretend meeting of Megan at the restaurant, their cheesy wave on the carriage, and the way she’d kissed his cheek. But he drank in the sight of Holly every time she came on the screen, noticing her every nuance, the way her smile made his heart twist. He couldn’t imagine his life without her.

  If the only way she could have him in her life was as a friend, well, then fine. Impasse over. He’d stay in the friend zone forever if that meant she was at least in his life. Because this nothing business was awful. He needed Holly in his life. He needed her every day.

  Megan: Now?

  Jack: I saw the one of our date. The kiss on my cheek was a little over the top.

  Megan: FOR THE LOVE. Watch the new one. The one from today. She followed this with about a hundred eye-roll emojis.

  He pressed play on the new video, relaxing a little more into his chair, not feeling quite the same desperation he’d felt before. Sadness, sure. Some resignation, absolutely. But if he could find a way to have Holly in his life again, in whatever way she was able to allow him, then maybe there was hope that he hadn’t had earlier. The days stretching ahead of him seemed a little brighter at the thought.

  That is, if she didn’t block his number on her phone or slam the door in his face—still both very real possibilities.

  On the new episode, Holly was interviewing the couple he remembered from the cafeteria. Was that only a month ago? It felt like so much had happened in that time.

  “Wait, this was your second love?” Holly asked, and Jack’s attention stopped wandering from how he could win his way back into her life and snapped back to the video.

  “It was,” Francis said. He was in his hospital bed, holding hands with his wife. They looked at each other adoringly.

  Jack went back to looking at Holly’s expression. He might have been the only person who noticed that she had gone still, her eyes slightly wider. He’d seen her do that before when she was trying to process something.

  Holly relaxed into the rest of the interview, where it unfolded that Francis and Pauline had both been married before and had been very happy in their marriages. And they were happy again. This was their second great love story.

  The interview ended, but instead of Holly’s signature closing line (“Thank you for sharing your one great love story!”), Holly was sitting on a stool in her kitchen, looking into the camera. She shifted nervously, unusual for her, because she was normally so comfortable in front of the camera. She wore a pink shirt that brought out the peach in her cheeks, and her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes were tinged red, as if she’d been crying.

  She waved and then clasped her hands in front of her. “I have a story for you. I know this is different, but since it’s Christmas Eve, I’m hoping you’ll indulge me for a minute.

  “First, Francis is a reporter, and he’s written a feature on me for his paper. I’ll link it tomorrow in the show notes when it goes live. I read a copy of it last night.” She laughed lightly. “Last night was a big night for me, actually, but we’ll get to that.

  “Some of you have been with us on our journey to help my friend, Jack Shay, find his one great love story. And some of you wanted there to be a twist in that story.”

  Screenshots of comments ran down the screen:

  #JollyForChristmas

  Jack and Holly are clearly the ones in love here.

  Holly and Jack are the cutest couple ever!

  More and more ran down the screen before Holly came back, a mirthful smile on her face. “Even Francis, in his article, declared himself to be Team #JollyForChristmas! I tried to ignore it, tried to get things back on track, but it got harder and harder when Jack’s dates didn’t show up. So I paid them a visit this morning.”

  Jack went still. Uh-oh.

  Video footage moved to a shot of Holly sitting with another blond girl who looked way too young for him to have gone on a date with him. She had to have been just out of high school.

  “I got a flat tire on my way to the skating rink,” Christine said. “But I have to admit, I didn’t try that hard to get there after I changed the tire. I was already late, and you guys were so cute together, part of me wondered what would happen if I didn’t show. When I watched the playback, I knew I’d made the right decision.” She placed her fingers in a hashtag formation. “Jolly for Christmas!”

  The video changed again, this time to a woman with short brown hair and a contagious smile. When her familiar voice came on, he cringed.

  Holly asked her, “Why didn’t you come on the date?”

  Georgia paused. “I promised I wouldn’t say anything …”

  “Say what?” Holly urged her.

  Don’t do it.

  Georgia shrugged. “But what the heck. I think it’s adorable.” Again with th
e smile. She leaned close to Holly and lowered her voice, as though her secret wasn’t going to be broadcast to everyone. “I got a very interesting phone call the night before my date with Jack.”

  “Interesting how?” Holly asked.

  “Well, it was Jack.”

  “Jack called you?” He could see that Holly was genuinely surprised by this. “What did he want?”

  “He asked me to not show up for the date. He wanted to have another date with you.” She looked at the camera now. “Guys, I melted. All over the floor.”

  Holly put a hand over her mouth. “I mean, I thought your winking emoji was a little strange, but I had no idea …”

  “Yeah, that one’s a keeper,” Georgia said.

  The camera flashed to Megan this time. Megan smiled widely and gave Holly a huge hug. He held his breath, knowing she had the most to reveal about him.

  “Tell me about your date with Jack,” Holly said.

  “What would you like to know?”

  “To me, it seemed like you two hit it off.”

  Megan smiled at that. “I like Jack. He makes me laugh when he’s not trying to, which I’m pretty sure drives him crazy.”

  It did.

  “Oh,” Holly said, not looking quite as happy, but she managed to smile. “So would you say you made a connection on your date?”

  Megan paused for a long time, her head tilting. “Maybe, but not how you’re thinking. Jack and I didn’t click romantically.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he’s crazy in love with you, Holly.”

  Holly sat back in her chair. It shouldn’t have been a shocking revelation—especially since he’d told her himself—but he could see that hearing it over and over again was making it real.

  “And I know you love him. Want to know how I know?” Megan didn’t wait for Holly to answer. “The same way everyone else knew. All your viewers who were cheering you two on. We all saw it. I’ve hung out with you outside of the cameras, so I’ve seen it even more. It doesn’t matter where we are—when you walk into a room, you immediately seek him out, and it’s like a huge weight is removed from your shoulders when you find him.”