“And where is that?” Millie asked, blushing with embarrassment as she felt the prying eyes of the congregation leveled on them.
“You’re mine, Millie. And now, these good people will share that news with the whole town.”
Biting her lip, Millie tilted her head back and stared at the man towering over her. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“I’m sure you’re what I want, and the more people that know it, the better,” Mack replied, soundly laying another kiss on her forehead before turning her toward the door. “Now, let’s go find our girl and go make some cookies.”
Nine: Please Christmas, Don’t Be Late
Wednesday, December 18
Two days later, Millie waved a cheerful hello at Aubrey Daniels as she carefully navigated her way through the packed I Don’t Care Café toward the table the other woman had claimed for them. Bree, luckily, had arrived before the current lunch rush and nabbed them a round table toward the back of the restaurant where both women knew Mack preferred to sit.
Peeling her coat off and draping it over the back of her chair, Millie offered the woman an apologetic smile. “Sorry I’m late. This has been an absolutely crazy day. Your brother will be along behind me; he sent me ahead to grab a table, but thankfully, you’ve already grabbed one for us. You didn’t have any problem finding the restaurant, did you?” she asked.
“Given that it’s the only real restaurant in this town and it’s the only place at all to eat on Main Street, I found it just fine,” Aubrey mocked with a mischievous grin.
“You know, I can really see the family resemblance between you and your brother at times like these,” Millie returned with a chuckle, pulling out her chair and sinking into it. She nearly groaned as she sat back in her seat, her busy morning finally catching up with her. Exhaling harshly, Millie closed her eyes for a moment. “I truly hope your morning has been a lot less taxing than mine has,” she declared upon opening her eyes and looking across the table at her newest friend.
“Taxing? No,” Bree denied with a shake of her head, her long blonde hair swinging against her shoulders. “Eventful, on the other hand. Absolutely,” she declared with an excited smile.
Finally focusing her tired eyes on the woman across the table, Mille noted the professional tailored black suit Aubrey wore, and her emerald eyes widened. “You had your interview with the hospital board at Paradise General today! How the heck did I forget that?” she asked out loud, frustrated that she’d forgotten something so important to both Bree and Mack. “How did it go? Spill, girl,” she demanded, leaning forward in her seat eagerly.
“We-ellll,” Aubrey drawled, drawing circles in the condensation on her cold glass of sweet tea. “The chairman of the board offered me the job.”
Millie squealed, throwing her hands in the air as she bounced in her seat. “Oh my God! That’s amazing, Aubrey! What did you say? Did you take the job?”
“Not yet,” Bree said slowly, shaking her head.
Millie’s eyes clouded. “What? Why? Was their offer that disappointing?”
“Not exactly disappointing, but not quite what I’d hoped to be offered. Plus, it is a lot less than I’m making in Portland. Which isn’t all that surprising when I put things in perspective. Portland is a large city on the West Coast. Paradise is a tiny country town in the South. The demand for therapists with my credentials isn’t exactly booming around here. Although, after visiting for just a couple of days, I can already tell that there is a market for my brand of therapy here. I think the Board recognized that, too. Those muck-a-mucks already called me in the last hour to up their offer by five thousand dollars.”
“Wow,” Millie breathed. “That’s great, Bree. What did you tell them?” she asked.
“I told them I needed 48 hours to think on it,” she answered, propping her chin in her hand. “I wanted time to talk to you and Mack about things.”
“Well, my vote is that if you can afford the pay cut, take it,” Millie proclaimed. “I love having another girl friend close at hand. And whether Mack admits it or not, he’d love having his family closer to him.”
Aubrey smiled. “I’m pretty sure Mack would deny that.”
“Probably, but believe me, I’ve seen him after he gets a phone call from you or his mom, Bree. He gets this distant, faraway look in his eyes. It’s sad. I’ve often wondered why he ever took the job in Paradise when it meant a move further away from you guys. The money couldn’t have been that great.”
“It wasn’t. But he wanted to put some mileage between him and his ex-wife. Right before he got the job here, she was making noises about wanting to reconcile. Evidently the Sugar Daddy she’d cheated on my brother with cast her aside as soon as her divorce was final. Turns out it wasn’t so much her that got the guy’s motor running as it was the forbidden act of screwing another man’s wife,” Aubrey explained, filling in the blanks that Millie had often wondered about during her time with Mack.
“What an asshole,” Millie spat, angry on Mack’s behalf at the witch that had hurt him. Hadn’t that stupid woman realized what a prize she’d held in being married to Mack?
“Yeah, the upside is that his dipshit of an ex-wife found herself alone with nothing but a small divorce settlement to keep her warm. It was poetic justice if you ask me. That bitch got what she deserved.”
Millie shook her head. “I still don’t understand how that woman could have ever cheated on Mack. He’s kind and sweet and hot….”
“Oh, please stop. You’re giving me indigestion and I haven’t even gotten to eat yet today. I was too nervous this morning. I’m sorry, chick, but I just can’t hear the words ‘Mack’ and ‘hot’ inside the same sentence. It just sounds wrong,” Bree begged, looking repulsed as she pressed one hand to her flat stomach.
Millie giggled. “Then I guess I shouldn’t tell you what a great kisser he is, huh?” she asked teasingly.
Glaring at the other woman, Bree growled, “You are evil, Millie Robbins. You look all sweet and innocent, but at your core, you’re just pure evil, aren’t you?”
“Fine,” Millie relented. “I’ll behave. Just know that my vote is that you stay here with us. Mack has been so much more relaxed with y’all here. Overall, he’s a lot less stressed… this morning not withstanding.”
“Honey, I think his decreased level of stress has a lot more to do with you than it does with Mom and me. If anything, we’re one of the primary sources of the anxiety in his life. I mean, honestly, have you met our mother?” Aubrey asked.
Millie grinned. “Just tell me, between us girls, which way are you leaning? Stay or go?”
“Truthfully, I’m ready for a change, Millie. Your town is open and friendly, which is not at all like the freeze most newcomers get from where I’m from. And I feel like I keep running into the same carbon-copied patient in Portland. I want to be challenged. I want to make a difference. And part of my job here would be working with some of the juvenile offenders over at the Paradise Alternative School. I think I could really help some of those kids. I’ve always wanted to do more work with children, and this would be a great opportunity.”
“What would be a so-called great opportunity?” a deep familiar voice questioned suspiciously.
Looking over her shoulder, Millie’s face brightened as her eyes connected with those of the man with whom she was quickly falling head over heels in love. “Hey, you made it out of the high school alive and in one piece. I was starting to get worried about you. When I left, it looked as though you were about three seconds away from popping a blood vessel in your temple.”
“Don’t worry for me; worry for those imbeciles that are supposed to be our future because seriously, if those kids are our future, the world is completely fucked,” Dr. Mack Daniels grumbled as he bent to capture Millie’s lips in a brief, hot hello kiss. Finally releasing her mouth, Mack lifted his head and grinned at the woman who’d managed to begin thawing out his frozen heart. “You taste like chocolate.”
Millie grinned. “It’s the lip gloss.”
Aubrey rolled her eyes as she sat across the table from the couple. “Okay, lovebirds. You’re making the single woman at the table nauseous. Save that stuff for the bedroom.”
“Hey, I’m being a gentleman here, Breebee. If you must know, we haven’t even been to the bedroom yet,” Mack growled, shooting his sister a dark look before he mumbled a grouchy, “Dammit.”
Bree’s gaze sharpened on the pair in front of her. “Well,” she tsked, her lips turned up in a wicked grin, “This is new. The great Dr. Mackenzie Daniels is playing by the rules and actually taking the time to woo a woman. I’m impressed, Mack.”
“Oh, shut up,” Mack grumbled, his own cheeks turning a ruddy red hue even as he linked his fingers with Millie’s on top of the table.
“Don’t tease him,” Millie chided Mack’s sister softly. “He’s had a rough morning.”
“Rough is the understatement of the century, babe, and you know it. I think I’ve been forced to interact with every frickin’ nutjob this damn town has to offer.”
Millie snorted, smiling at the waitress as the young woman dropped off three glasses of ice water at their table and assured them that she’d be back to take their orders in a minute.
Waiting until the waitress had stepped away from their table. “Okay, I’ve gotta know what got your panties in a bunch this morning, Big Brother. Enlighten me with the mental deficiencies of this fair town.”
“Well, it started with… we’ll call her Patient X to protect the guilty…. at 7:30 this morning. She’s was a patient of the practice when I took it over. At any rate, Patient X is married and in her early 30s. She’s got three children already, and she came in to see me this morning claiming she had a growth in her abdomen that she insisted was some kind of malignant cancer. When I got to the examination room, my Millie, here,” Mack said, squeezing Millie’s hand, “Well, she had already gotten her to change into one of our gowns and seated on the exam table. I’d reviewed the chart before I entered the room and was moderately concerned when I saw what the patient claimed her problem was, but upon reviewing the blood work and urinalysis that I’d had pulled when the patient arrived, I was relieved to note that my patient was simply pregnant. I walk in the room to give the patient the good news and this woman is, I kid you NOT, at LEAST seven months pregnant. Aubrey, the so-called tumor was MOVING inside her. Seriously, you could see the imprint of a little foot when it kicked her belly! And it STILL took me a blood test, a urinalysis AND 3D ultrasound where her kid basically waved at her to convince this woman that her freaking tumor was what turned out indeed to be an seven-month old healthy fetus! This crazy broad had literally convinced herself that she was dying from some kind of cancer!”
Bree rolled her eyes as she smacked her brother’s hand. “Well, Mack, obviously the poor woman was redirecting her fear of an unplanned pregnancy and becoming a mother for the fourth time in her life toward a cancer that she could possibly cure. She needs a good therapist, big brother, not to be ridiculed by a man that will never know the anxiety of pregnancy and childbirth.”
“Spoken like the true spewer of psychobabble that I know and love,” Mack grumbled before reaching for his ice water. “Face it, sis. Some patients are just whack-a-doodles that, in my humble opinion, I ought to be able to play whack-a-mole with their empty skulls.”
Shaking her head at her brother’s grumblings, Aubrey sighed. “I don’t know why you don’t get more compliments on your bedside manner, Mack.” his sister remarked dryly. “I can only imagined what a comfort you are during a mother’s labor and delivery.”
“Bite me,” Mack retorted, glaring at his younger sibling. “I’m a fucking delight in the delivery room, aren’t I, Millie? Besides, you haven’t been here long enough to judge me, woman. Just wait. If you decide to stay here, it won’t be long until the crazy starts to hang over your head like a black cloud.”
Millie grinned. “I think it’s important to point out at this juncture that your brother’s morning didn’t end with Patient X,” she interjected with a giggle. “Oh, no. This morning was Mack’s morning to talk to the junior class over at Paradise High about the pitfalls of teenage pregnancy and the dangers of the sexually transmitted disease.”
“Oh, Lord,” Aubrey murmured, lifting her eyes heavenward as if searching for spiritual guidance from Above. “They turned Mack loose on innocent children? Whose idea was that?”
“The idiot Principal over at the high school conned me into stepping into this morning’s trap of pure quicksand, and believe me, Bree, those kids are anything but innocent. They told me about things that I’d never heard of before! But, sadly, they are dumber than rocks where birth control is concerned,” Mack proclaimed irritably with a disgusted shake of his head.
“They’re kids, Mack. You gotta give them a pass. Kids are allowed to be stupid; it’s a fringe benefit of youth,” Millie reminded Mack gently.
“Oh, please. I think half those morons in the auditorium this morning were dropped on their heads while they were infants, and the other half’s parents must have smoked everything but their socks before the kids were born. It’s the only explanation I can come up with for some of the idiotic things that came out of their mouths. Seriously, babe, there’s stupid, and then there’s being a dumbass. A lot of those kids have drifted right on over the line.”
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Bree scoffed.
“Yes, it could,” Mack and Millie declared in perfect harmony.
“Bree, one young man shared that when he ran low on condoms, he’d found saran wrap to be a pretty kickass alternative. But the same young man couldn’t understand how the girlfriend sitting next to him was four months pregnant,” Mack relayed sharply.
“No,” Bree denied, staring at her brother in sickened horror.
“Oh, yeah….it gets worse. One of the other young jackasses in the audience couldn’t understand why his girlfriend insisted he wear a condom during anal intercourse because…and I’m quoting here, ’Hey man, everybody knows you can’t catch any kind of crotch rot if you do your bitch in the ass’,” Mack declared, mimicking the boy deep gangsta-like voice.
“Sweet mercy, Mack!” Bree blustered, her eyes widening. “Where in the world are they getting these misguided ideas from?”
“Hell if I know,” Mack growled. “I did my duty and did what I could to dispel some of their more foolish notions, but you can bet your last dollar some of those kids didn’t hear a single word I was trying to say to them. I mean, c’mon… who’s enough of a dumbass to use saran wrap around their dick!”
Millie buried her face in her hand as a throat cleared behind Mack’s chair, silencing his righteous rant on the dangers of cling wrap.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Honor McKinnon’s kind voice said softly. “But I think I need to remind the good doctor here that this is a family friendly restaurant and we’re in the busiest part of our day,” the beautiful young woman chided Mack quietly.
“Be nice, Mackenzie,” Bree ordered in a hushed voice, well-accustomed to her growly brother’s mercurial mood swings.
Of course, Millie could have told her that she needn’t have worried. Bree was new to town and didn’t know that not even the ugliest soul would say a single nasty word to the youngest McKinnon sister. Between the horrible kidnapping and rape that had nearly taken Honor’s life years ago and the younger woman’s genuinely loving personality, there were very few individuals that would ever try to hurt Honor’s feelings. And for those few souls that were, in fact, stupid enough to try and hurt Honor, they generally found Paradise’s own Sheriff standing in their way, ready to defend the sweet woman in whatever way he needed to do it. And as far as Mackenzie went, Millie knew well enough that Honor was one of the few people that Mack truly liked. She was a patient and a friend.
Looking over his shoulder, Mack frowned. “Sorry, Honor. Well, I’m sorry for being too loud. I’m not the least bit sorry for that other thing,” he
remarked, his frown quickly becoming a grin as he spotted the man approaching their table.
Honor looked momentarily perplexed. “What other thing,” she asked as another deep voice joined the conversation.
“Oh, he’s probably talking about the text he sent me about two hours ago. You know, when you should have been at your doctor’s appointment,” that deep voice accused, growing angrier with every word he spoke.
“You told on me?” Honor yelled, her blue eyes flashing with anger as she stared at her doctor.
Millie bit her lip as both Mack and Zeke Monroe, Paradise’s sheriff, stared, unaffected, at a fuming Honor McKinnon.
“Millie, you let him tell on me to Zeke?” Honor asked in a voice that clearly reflected that she felt a small bit betrayed.
“Not exactly. I just told him that you were going to reschedule your appointment, and he said, ‘Like hell,’ and went off to contact the sheriff,” Millie returned quickly, shooting Honor a sympathetic smile.
“I thought we were friends,” Honor mumbled unhappily, ignoring Zeke’s angry snort as the Sheriff crossed his arms over his chest. “And you,” she growled, poking Mack in the shoulder. “Have you ever heard of HIPAA? I have a right to confidentiality as your patient.”
Mack shook his head as he pointed at Millie. “She is your friend. She refused to call Zeke. Now, as to your other concerns, first off, you only have a right to confidentiality if you show up to the appointment, my dear patient.” He paused while flashing a look of understanding toward the Sheriff. “And second, if you don’t want the good Sheriff to know anything about your doctor’s appointments, then don’t make him a point of contact in your file.”
“Oh, this is ridiculous. I didn’t make him anything at all!” Honor shouted. “Aunt Orla did!”
Mack shrugged. “Six of one, half dozen of the other. I’m not lettin’ you suck me into any of your manic McKinnon madness. Be at my office this afternoon at three o’clock, Honor. You were in a serious car accident just a few weeks ago. You very nearly died. You’re recovering from major surgery, woman! You need to be monitored by your doctor. I know you’re feeling better, but I need to make sure you’re healing. I promise you, I’ll hunt you down. If you don’t show up this time, then I’ll come here and do your examination,” he threatened grimly, his stern gaze focused on his young patient.
The Homespun Holiday Page 10
