Hometown Christmas

by A. M. Williams

  Kat shook her head. “Nope, absolutely not. The last time I did that…”

  Her breath hitched as the memories started to assault her. “The last time I did that, you know what happened,” she whispered, screwing her eyes closed to ward off any more dark memories surfacing in the front of her mind. There was a reason she kept things light and didn’t date seriously.

  “I know, I know.” Denise paused before continuing. “I just worry about you. You work so hard out there. I know it’s paid off, but don’t you wish you had someone to share it with? Someone to talk to at the end of the day?”

  “I have my dad.”

  “That’s not the same and you know it!” Denis blew out a loud breath. “I think you need to consider putting yourself out there more and try to have a serious relationship again. One day, you’re going to realize that the random dates here and there aren’t cutting it and you won’t have someone to keep you warm at night.”

  Kat leaned back in her chair and gazed out the small window over her desk toward the forest as Denise continued talking. Kat had tuned her out. She’d tuned her out long ago.

  She could mostly recite what Denise—and anyone else—would say by heart because she’d heard it so much.

  Did she want someone? Yes.

  Did she want the intimacy that came with having someone? Hell yes.

  However, she still wasn’t in a place that she felt she could handle something like that. She didn’t have flashbacks like she used to, thank God, but she hadn’t yet found a guy she wanted to spend the time getting to know and becoming more intimate with.

  “Denise,” Kat finally said when her friend stopped to take a breath. “You know I love you and all that, but I really can’t sit here and talk about this.”

  “You never want to talk about it.” Denise’s voice took a sad tone and Kat winced.

  Kat said nothing at first, turning Denise’s words over in her mind, thinking about what she wanted to say instead of popping off at the mouth.

  “Let me get through the next month and after Christmas…” she trailed off and sighed. “And after Christmas we can talk about me getting out there more.”

  Kat grimaced while Denise squealed in her ear.

  A few minutes later, Kat was able to get off the phone and turn toward the tasks for the day. She needed to speak to the last few vendors for the fair and get some paperwork taken care of as well.

  That meant she needed to push thoughts about men or anything related to relationships out of her mind. She couldn’t let herself become distracted by thoughts of what-if and what could have been.

  She had a job to do.

  Three

  Ford

  Ford sucked on his bottom lip as he slowed to take the exit that would take him to Haven Falls, his new home.

  He was a little nervous about uprooting himself to come work in a practice with a guy he only knew in passing. They’d met in person a few times at NC State and then through the Vet Association, but they’d never really spent a lot of time chatting. But he knew this move was good for him. He needed a change of pace and this little town would hopefully give it to him.

  He followed the signs for Haven Falls and slowed as he passed the welcome sign and drove right into downtown.

  It was quaint and he could already see Christmas decorations up even though Thanksgiving was still a week away. He wondered if he’d see Santa and his elves prancing through the streets along with carolers and all manner of Christmas things as he drove down the street.

  His GPS directed him to turn left at the next road and he slowed to wait for a tractor and a truck loaded down with hay to drive by before turning. The vet clinic was up ahead on his right.

  Instead of pulling into the parking lot, which was full of cars, he claimed two parallel parking spots on the road. He hoped no one ticketed him or minded that he was parked there.

  The bulk of his things had been delivered several days before, but he still had a small trailer packed with things he didn’t want movers handling. He’d head to his small house after stopping in to see David and finalize the paperwork for him to become a co-owner of the clinic.

  He shivered as he opened his truck door, hopping down to the pavement. He slammed the door and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he jogged across the parking lot. He should have grabbed his jacket from the passenger seat, but it was too late now. He was almost to the door, and he wasn’t going back for it.

  It had been cold that morning when he’d gotten up to leave Raleigh, but it felt nothing like the air here. It had to be something about being right at the base of the mountains. The air seemed crisper, more refreshing. It was also colder, and he was certain he would be an ice cube before he made it into the warmth of the clinic.

  As he approached the door, a woman stepped out with a Great Dane. He smiled at her as he caught the door and slipped inside once she and her dog were clear.

  He shook his shoulders out as the warmth washed over him. He took a deep breath, savoring the smell of the clinic. Though most people couldn’t stand the smell of a clinic, stating it smelled like wet dog and pee—it did usually, for the record—he likened the smell to home. It was comforting to him because it reminded him of his work with animals.

  When he looked up, he saw that the people sitting in the waiting room were eyeing him curiously. He smiled tightly and turned to his right to greet the receptionist there.

  It was an older woman wearing a scrub top with dancing candy canes.

  “Hey, I’m here to see David,” he said, bringing his hands up to his mouth to blow on them.

  “You and everyone else in this town,” the woman said, not looking up at him.

  She was noting something down in a file, which she then snapped closed and pushed to the side before grabbing another from a tall stack.

  “I’m pretty sure you’ll see that I have an appointment with him in about ten minutes.”

  The woman sighed, but still didn’t look at him as she spoke. “You see that full waiting room? We’re already behind by thirty minutes today and I don’t see it getting any better. So you best get in line. He’ll get to you and your pet.”

  Ford arched a brow at the woman’s words. He waited to see if she’d look at him, but she didn’t bother. He turned to face the waiting room again and saw that most people in there were still looking at him with their pets either sitting in their laps or on the floor by their feet.

  If they were thirty minutes behind already, that meant that they would be even further behind if he insisted on meeting with David.

  He pursed his lips as he thought over what to do.

  After a few moments of thought, he made his decision and turned toward the door.

  He braced himself for the cold air slapping him and jogged across the parking lot to his truck. He unlocked the doors and grabbed his jacket, shrugging into it before opening his backseat where he’d stashed some of his work items, primarily his scrub top, stethoscope, favorite pen, and a few other items he needed to function until he was fully set up.

  He then slammed the door, locked his truck, and made his way back inside.

  Everyone, except for the rude receptionist, looked at him as he walked back in. He nodded and continued walking, opening the door he hoped led to the back.

  As he opened it, he smiled. He was right; it did. He stepped into the hallway.

  “Sir!”

  It seemed that he finally had the full attention of the receptionist, but it was too late, that was for sure.

  He cocked his head to the side before turning to his left and following the whimpers coming from that way. As he walked closer, he could hear the low murmurs of voices and assumed that David was likely with a patient and the owner.

  “Sir!” the receptionist called behind him, her voice louder.

  He could hear her shoes squeaking the closer she got to him, but he didn’t bother speeding up or slowing down. Her fate was sealed in his mind. He was now here to do a job, and sh
e would only slow him down.

  “Sir!” The receptionist slipped around him and planted her feet in front of him. “You can’t be back here.”

  He arched a brow. “Bit too late for that, don’t you think?”

  She put her arms on her hips and leveled him with a glare that he was sure normally made people tuck tail and run. But he wasn’t most people.

  “Sir, you can’t be back here. I’m sorry that you’ll have to wait for Dr. Phelps to be available…” She trailed off as the door behind her opened and David poked his head out.

  “Bertie, is everything okay?”

  Before she could say anything, David looked past her and saw Ford standing there. David’s head disappeared for a few moments before he stepped into the hall, closing the exam room door behind him.

  “Ford! I didn’t think you’d be here until later today.”

  Ford smirked as he saw the shock on Bertie’s face. He reached out and shook David’s hand, easily balancing his few things. “I woke up early and decided I wanted to get a move on with my day. Looks like it’s a good thing I did.”

  He slid his eyes to Bertie who was standing beside him silently, paler than she’d been a few moments before. “I understand you’re backed up.”

  David nodded. “We are, but you don’t need to worry about it. I know you need to get moved in and we need to finalize—“

  Ford cut him off. “I don’t care about that. Why don’t you show me where I can drop my stuff and where the files are so I can help out? If we can clear the waiting room, then we can probably worry about the other stuff over lunch.”

  David looked at him uncertainly. “You sure?”

  Ford nodded. “Yep.”

  “This way,” David said, turning to lead him down the hall.

  As Ford walked by Bertie, he looked at her and said, “You might want to get back to the front. Don’t want someone to think we’re not here.”

  Bertie jerked and quickly walked away from them. He turned back toward David and saw his raised brow. “What’s up with that?”

  “Let’s just say I think we need to hire a new receptionist.”

  David’s brows rose. “I’ll file that under something to talk about later. Follow me.”

  A few moments later, they stopped in front of a closed door. “This is Dr. Nancy’s old office. We cleaned it recently, but you might want to get rid of some stuff. I’ve tried to get rid of anything that was outdated…”

  David continued talking, telling Ford about what he might want to do with the office while he was led inside. David flicked a switch and Ford was greeted with an office that was the size of a shoebox stuffed with a large wooden desk, two filing cabinets, and not much else. Even though it was sparsely decorated, it was tight.

  Ford coughed. “I’ll probably replace that desk.”

  David grinned. “I figured you would. It’ll work until you’re able to get one in here.”

  Ford nodded and stepped further inside. It was obvious the office hadn’t been updated in some time. There was striped green and white wallpaper on the walls that had bright squares interspersed throughout that showed where Dr. Nancy hung his pictures.

  In addition to that, the carpet was an industrial grade weave, and it looked just as bad, showing stains everywhere he looked. He’d probably take a weekend to come out and do some updates so they didn’t have to do it while they were open for regular business hours since.

  He dropped his things on the desk, shrugging out of his coat and grabbing his scrub top, quickly changing into it.

  As he got ready to see patients, he asked David, “What do I need to know before getting started?”

  “Heather will be your tech. She’s familiar with the people here. She’s a local girl. I’ll make sure she knows to give you the full rundown before you go in. A lot of today is just shots and updating things. There are only a few follow-up appointments and I’ll handle those.”

  Ford nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

  Four

  Ford

  Several hours later, the waiting room was empty and he and David were sitting in the small break room by their offices.

  “Jesus,” Ford muttered, guzzling some water. “You weren’t kidding when we initially talked. That’s a lot of patients.”

  David nodded. “Yeah. It didn’t use to be this bad, but the other vet in the area recently retired. She did only big animals and with no one to take over her practice…”

  David trailed off and Ford filled in the blanks. “People are now coming to you.”

  “Yep.” David leaned back in his chair and drank from his own bottle of water. “I realized once she retired and I started getting some of her patients that I needed another doctor here with me so we could split the load.”

  “Makes sense,” Ford said while nodding.

  “I’m just glad I found you when I did. I’m telling you, I can’t breathe without someone finding me to ask about their animal.”

  Ford’s brows rose. “Even in town?”

  David snorted. “Especially in town. It’s like people have a radar for me. I love animals and my job, but when I was being stopped by people while out with my family or with friends, I knew that something needed to change. Another vet seemed like the solution.”

  Ford nodded. He could see the logic. They could split their cases, which would make their workload easier. Maybe they could even add in another vet if it was called for. But that was in the future.

  “What do you say we get some lunch, my treat, and then we sign those papers to make you an official owner?”

  Ford smiled. “Best offer I’ve had all day.”

  They each ducked into their offices to get ready to walk to the diner off Main.

  Ford changed from his scrubs and back into his shirt and shrugged into his jacket before patting his pockets to make sure his phone and keys were still in here. He zipped his jacket up as he stepped into the hall.

  “Ready?” David asked as he joined him.

  Ford nodded, and he fell into step behind David.

  Ford nodded to Bertie and Heather as they walked by reception and watched as David put a sign up stating the office was closed for lunch.

  After they were outside, David also locked the door.

  “You shut down for lunch?”

  David nodded as he flipped the locks. “Yeah. We used to do it every day, but it’s been impossible recently. We’ve had to stagger lunch and stay open because of the load.”

  Ford nodded. He was surprised to hear they closed down for lunch, but he guessed he shouldn’t have been. While they were a good-sized clinic, they were in a small town and they did things a little differently from what he was used to at the university hospital. Once they got into a pattern, it was likely they wouldn’t be so busy, so getting a lunch break wouldn’t be so rare.

  At the university clinic there had been plenty of vets on staff so getting a lunch break was guaranteed unless something unusual happened. He’d had fairly set hours, working most days from nine in the morning until around five in the evening. Some days he’d been able to leave early if he wasn’t in the field. But he spent most days in the field, so that meant long hours.

  It looked like those hours might continue for a while as they settled into a new routine.

  “So, let me tell you a bit about Haven Falls,” David said as they crossed the street at the corner. “This is the main drag and has the only stoplight in the county. It’ll go to a flashing light at nine every evening and flip back to a stoplight the next morning around five.

  “On this street you’ll find most of what you need. We’re heading to Over Easy Diner, which easily serves the best food in this area besides From the Hart, which is the bakery and coffee shop. They’re pretty tasty too. Bert’s is right down there,” David said as he pointed the storefront out, “and they have a small grocery section. For most of your groceries you’ll need to drive about twenty minutes to the Wal-Mart in Clarksville.”

  Ford nodded an
d looked around, using the opportunity to take in more of the landscape. He’d only glanced briefly when driving through, not taking in much more than the quaint buildings and the Christmas decorations.

  Now he could see that a lot of the stores were already decked out with holiday cheer and that a lot of people were walking through the downtown area even though it was cold as hell outside.

  He also noticed a few small piles of snow, which he zeroed in on as he asked his next question.

  “What’s the weather gonna be like?” he asked as he watched his breath fog in front of his face.

  David chuckled. “Cold as fuck. We’ll probably get some more snow at the start of December, maybe a little later. It really depends on what’s going on in the mountains proper. We’re really only in the foothills still, but we usually get our share of the powdery stuff.”

  Ford made a mental note to see about buying a thicker jacket and some other winter gear. He didn’t have much since Raleigh wasn’t known for getting snow; they got one snowfall a year in late winter, if even that.

  “Here we are,” David said a few minutes later, pulling open a clear glass door and stepping into a loud restaurant.

  Over Easy Diner was the place to be, it seemed. Most of the tables and booths were filled with people that waved and greeted David as he walked by. Ford could also feel their stares press into him as he followed behind David toward a booth in the back.

  They slid into their respective sides and Ford took the chance to quickly glance around the interior. It was obvious the diner was older, but well kept.

  The walls were wood-paneled and covered with various photographs and other memorabilia. A long counter stretched across the wall opposite them and had bar stools in front of it. He could make out the food window and just see someone working through it.

  The clang of plates was loud, and the smell was divine. His stomach growled, alerting him to the fact that the biscuit he’d had for breakfast had been too long ago.

  “Everything is good here,” David said as he handed him a menu.