Mistletoe Magic
© Copyright 2013 Melissa McClone
The Tule Publishing Group, LLC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Smashwords Edition
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-940296-19-7
Contents
Title page
Copyright
MISTLETOE MAGIC
A Copper Mountain Christmas Novellas
Excerpt: Home for Christmas
About the Author
Mistletoe Magic
On December twenty-fourth, a rousing rendition of “Deck the Halls” played on iPod speakers in the living room. Caitlin Butler hummed along to the merry tune, waiting for Jay and Jen Patterson and their children, Justin and Jasmine, to finish packing and leave on vacation. Going away for the holiday hadn’t stopped them from decorating the house. No space was left un-decked.
Inside or out.
Not that Santa needed to stop by here tonight. Jolly Old St. Nicholas would deliver the kids’ gifts to their grandparents’ house in Idaho, rather than slide down the chimney in Montana. Unless he wanted to leave something for Caitlin. The idea of waking up to a stocking full of goodies and a mysterious present under the tree brought a smile to her face.
But she knew better than to believe.
Still, she rubbed her thumbs over her fingertips, her excitement growing over housesitting for friends. She loved this old house, full of character and charm and within walking distance of Marietta’s Main Street. She’d babysat the kids many times, but she’d never spent the night.
Now she had the place to herself. Well, almost.
Her heart beat with anticipation.
Spending a week in this house would be like winning the blackout jackpot at the St. James monthly Friday night bingo. Much more festive than spending winter break in her above-a-garage studio apartment on the wrong side of town. Bet the sink never backed up and all stove burners worked in this house.
Warmth settled in the center of her chest. She glanced around the living room, with its wide slipcovered chairs for reading with the kids, knick-knacks, photographs, and a wood painted sign that read: Life takes you to unexpected places. Love brings you home.
Jay and Jen Patterson had created a home.
Something Caitlin missed since her parents moved away. She’d dated, but still hadn’t found anyone to bring her home.
Someday…
Not today.
Anything she lacked would be filled with the holiday spirit, something overflowing here.
The scents of pine and cinnamon lingered in the air. Red plush stockings hung from the white brick fireplace’s wood mantel covered with boughs, holly, white candles, and miniature teddy bears wearing Santa hats. A beautiful, six-foot-tall tree filled one corner of the living room. Cranberry and popcorn garland was strung around the branches. Ornaments hung by strands of twine. Twinkling white lights reminded her of tiny stars.
Caitlin sighed. She couldn’t wait to read and watch movies and enjoy time off. Relaxing, doing what she loved, sounded like the perfect way to spend this week.
Justin, a student in the preschool class she taught, ran into the living room like a bull out of a rodeo chute. He wore a red and black plaid shirt, elastic waistband jeans and black cowboy boots. Formal attire around these parts. Eyes wide, he skidded to a stop in front of her. “Miss Caitlin. You’re here.”
“I am.” She ruffled his curly brown hair. “It’s almost time for you to go to your grandparents’ house. I’m going to stay here and watch yours.”
“And feed Butler.”
“Yes, I’ll take good care of your fish.”
Justin marched around the room clapping his hands. “Almost time for Santa. Santa. Santa.”
Jay stood under the archway to the living room, a blue parka in hand and a smile on his face. “Santa knows where to find you, buddy. Time to put on your coat so we can get to Nana and Papa’s house before dinnertime.”
Justin stuck out his arm. “Nana always has candy.”
“Yes, she does. But she’s baking a ham tonight.” Jay helped his son into the jacket. He looked at Caitlin. “Like the tree?”
“Love it.” The three-foot tall, bought-on-clearance fiber-optic tree that changed colors was in the trunk of her car. She hadn’t wanted to wake up on Christmas morning without one. The two presents she’d bought herself—a novel featuring a hot cowboy hero by her favorite romance author and a DVD starring her current man-crush—needed to be under the tree. “I thought you said you weren’t putting one up this year.”
“I voted against a tree since we’ll be in Idaho Falls.” Jay let go of his son. “But I was overruled.”
“I like the tree.” Justin was a mini version of his dad, cute with the same smile, a goofy grin that had lit up their classroom years ago at Marietta Elementary School. “Do you like trees, Miss Caitlin?”
“I do.” The ornaments hanging on this one looked sturdy and unbreakable, a lesson learned after Justin climbed last year’s tree. The thing toppled over and he ended up with four stitches on his forehead. “You have a pretty one.”
“Carson Tree Farms.” Jen, a bursting-with-energy twenty-six-year old who volunteered at the preschool, entered the living room with a bag hanging from her left shoulder and eighteen-month-old Jasmine held against her right hip. The little girl wore a pink snowsuit and matching boots. “Getting a tree there is tradition. Doesn’t matter where we spend Christmas. We also picked up that gingerbread house kit there. The kids had lots of fun decorating.”
“The kids had fun eating the leftover candy.” Jay nodded toward the dining room. “Take a peek at Jen’s handiwork on the table.”
Caitlin did. An elaborate gingerbread house, with white scalloped icing on the roof and colorful candy pieces symmetrically placed, sat in the center of the washed pine table. “Wow. That looks amazing. Incredible job.”
“Thank you.” Jen beamed, shifting Jasmine against her other hip. “The secret’s the pre-packed icing tubes.”
Jay shook his head, but he couldn’t mask the pride in his gaze. “Jen’s found a new calling thanks to Rachel Murphy.”
“Rachel.” Caitlin had heard the name mentioned around town and by a few parents at the preschool. “She’s Ty’s sister. The baker from Arizona?”
Jay nodded. “We bought a dozen of her gingerbread cookies, but they didn’t last long.”
Justin rubbed his stomach. “Yummy for my tummy.”
Jasmine pointed toward the back window. “Ki-iy.”
Hurt flashed across Jen’s face.
Caitlin reached out to her friend.
“Miss Kitty ran away, honey.” Jen’s voice cracked. “I know you miss her. We all do.”
Including Caitlin.
When she babysat, Miss Kitty would curl next to her after the kids went to bed. The cat loved to be brushed and purred like a snowmobile. She’d escaped through an open door in September. No signs or reward offers or going door-to-door turned up any clues, even though the cat had been micro-chipped.
Justin pressed against his father’s legs. “Maybe Santa will find her.”
>
“I don’t know, little man. It’s been three months,” Jay said. “Miss Kitty might have found another home.”
“Remember, Christmas is a time for magic. For miracles.” Jen stroked Jasmine’s hair. “Anything is possible.”
Caitlin hoped so. She glanced at a clock on the wall. “You’d better hit the road if you want to arrive by dinnertime.”
“You’re right.” Jen headed to the door. “You know where everything is. Clean sheets are on the bed and fresh towels in the bathroom.”
“Wait.” Jay stopped reaching for the suitcases. “I forgot to bring in the garbage can.”
Caitlin shooed them toward the front door. “No worries. I’ll get it.”
“Sure?” Jay asked.
“Positive.” She gave each a hug. “You have a four-hour drive ahead of you. Go.”
“Call if you need anything,” Jen said.
“I will.” Caitlin watched them put the suitcases into the back and load the kids into the small SUV. “Have a safe drive and Merry Christmas.”
Jay waved. “You, too.”
A feeling of contentment settled over her. She had a feeling this was going to be a very Merry Christmas.
For her friends, and for her.
“Is that… ?” Dr. Noah Sullivan took a second look at the greenery tied with a red satin bow and hanging from the ceiling in the Copper Mountain Animal Hospital’s waiting room “… mistletoe?”
Veronica, the receptionist behind the front desk, nodded. Her wire-rimmed glasses slid down her nose. The felt antlers in the older woman’s short, white hair bobbed. “Mistletoe on Christmas Eve is tradition, doc.”
“I get the Christmas tree, the lights, even the display of cards, but this isn’t a pickup joint. Owners will be bringing in sick and injured pets tonight. Mistletoe is completely inappropriate.”
“Don’t be such a Scrooge or you won’t be getting any kisses.”
His jaw tensed. “I’m no Scrooge. I like Christmas, but I take my job seriously.”
“We all do, but there’s no harm in a little fun. Or kissing.”
“Do I look like the kind of man who wants a kiss under the mistletoe?”
Veronica’s hazel eyed narrowed.
“At work,” he clarified, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. He adjusted the hem of his scrub shirt. Sure, he was the new guy here, used to people staring, but she studied him as if he were a biopsy specimen and couldn’t decide whether to diagnose him as benign or malignant.
Maybe he’d started off on the wrong foot with the staff. He’d been at the clinic for only five weeks, the beginning of his three-year commitment to a program that brought veterinarians to rural areas in exchange for a vet school loan repayment. No sense making each of the remaining one thousand seventy-four days miserable. He leaned against the front counter, smiled. “So?”
She tsked. “Hate to say it, but you look like a man who desperately needs to be kissed.”
His mouth gaped. He straightened, but his insides twisted. “Okay, I deserve that.”
“That’s a better attitude. You’re an attractive young man, but wound tighter than a brand new mattress spring.” Veronica adjusted her glasses. “When was the last time you relaxed? Enjoyed a nice meal with a woman?”
“I haven’t been in town that long.”
“How about the last time you went out before you arrived?”
He tried to recall, but he’d been so busy finishing up his residency and making plans…
“It’s been so long you don’t remember.”
Unbelievable. How did she know? Was his non-dating status stamped on his forehead?
She’d nailed him somehow. The least he could do was admit the truth. Lying never got him anywhere. He nodded.
Veronica’s gaze softened, not with pity, but compassion. Something he was used to giving out, but not receiving. “You’re overdue then, honey. Don’t turn into another Doc Seeley. He used to work here, put everything into caring for animals and nothing into his personal life. Don’t be a workaholic. You finished school. You have a job. Hang out at Grey’s Saloon on a Saturday night and find yourself a pretty woman to spend the rest of your life with.”
“Slow down. I’ve barely unpacked. Give me time to settle in before mailing out the wedding invitations.”
Veronica leaned over the front counter. She looked down the hallway to the treatment area, but Kelly, the certified vet tech, was in the back with Chewey, a naughty Chihuahua with a chocolate-eating induced stomach ache.
“So who was she?” Veronica asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Not what. Who. The woman who broke your heart and turned the blood running through your veins to ice.”
He half-laughed.
She patted his hand. “I have two sons. It happens. But just like riding, when you fall off you have to get right back on the horse. Get out there. Go on lots of dates. That’s the only way to move on and keep your heart from hardening.”
Sincerity filled Veronica’s voice. She wasn’t butting in—okay, a little—but she was also being a mom. He appreciated her concern, especially since his parents were spending Christmas in Oregon with his sister and her family.
“No ice and my heart’s not hardened.” He mentally ran though the list of women he’d dated over the years. The timing had always been wrong for a more serious relationship. But one stuck out—a pretty freshman he’d dumped right before graduating because he thought continuing a long distance relationship might affect his vet school studies. He’d tried to find her when he realized over the summer how much he’d missed her. But her cellphone number had been disconnected. She hadn’t re-enrolled at Montana State for her sophomore year. His fault, he realized, and after that he stuck to casual dating, always putting school first—and now his job.
These days he didn’t have time to date. Sleep was his favorite hobby. Being the newest vet at the clinic meant working the worst shifts. Like tonight. His Christmas would be spent working or being on call alone. Maybe Veronica was right. Maybe he needed to put himself out there instead of falling into bed when he got off work. “I wasn’t dumped and I’m not emotionally scarred. I’ve been focused on my career. Probably a little too focused, now that you mention it.”
Veronica pushed her glasses lower on her nose. “I knew it. You reminded me of Doc Seeley so much. Though he was a skinny fellow. You could see his veins. Beady eyes. Yellow teeth. Not exactly a hottie, if you know what I mean, so I understood why he worked so much. But you—”
The clinic’s front door opened.
A woman in a puffy powder blue down coat entered. Her hat pushed long strands of brown hair over her face. She carried something bundled in a black and white checked fleece blanket. “Please help me.”
The crack in her voice and pale complexion sent him into action. Two long strides, he was at her side. “I’m Noah. A vet.”
Worried green eyes met his. Familiar eyes, except these weren’t as young and innocent as the ones he remembered. These eyes were wary and concerned. But they still reminded him of that girl he’d just thought about, the freshman with cute freckles and twinkling jade-green eyes.
Her gaze widened with recognition. “Noah. It’s you.”
His heart crashed against his chest. His world tilted.
“Caitlin.” His arm reached forward, as if touching her would assure him this—she—was real. That of all the vet clinics in Montana, she’d walked into this one. “I can’t believe it.”
“Me, either.” She gave her head a shake, then lifted the blanket toward him. “I found a kitten in the snow. Something’s wrong with him. Or her. I don’t know which. Can you help?”
Noah remembered where he was, what he was. He took the bundle, ignoring the million questions racing through his mind. Talking could wait. “I’m going back to the triage area. Does she have a name?”
“A stray. I think.” Caitlin glanced around the waiting room. Looked up. Her gaze narrowed. “But it’s
Christmas time. Mistletoe sounds like a good name, don’t you think?”
Noah nodded. He preferred that use of the word to the offending greenery overhead. But he wondered if Caitlin’s kiss was still as sweet and if his kiss might put the spark back into her eyes.
What the hell was he thinking?
He hurried down the hall, forcing himself not to glance over his shoulder to look at her again. His vet skills to help the kitten were all she cared about. What they’d shared had been in the past. He’d been a fool for walking away. She had no idea he’d had regrets and tried to find her. But now she might be someone’s girlfriend, someone’s wife, someone’s mother.
Damn, he hadn’t noticed if she was wearing a ring. Of course not, idiot, she was wearing gloves. But a woman as beautiful as that most likely had a man in her life.
No matter what her relationship status, Noah knew one thing. She was still the same Caitlin he’d known and loved, a woman who thought nothing of rescuing a kitten on Christmas Eve.
He might not be able to make up for his past mistake—okay, stupidity—but he wanted Caitlin to know how sorry he was, how much he regretted breaking up the way he had. And he would tell her and apologize.
But first the kitten needed his full attention.
Mistletoe.
Caitlin leaned back against the padded chair in the waiting room. She pulled off her gloves and beanie.
Not exactly her finest name-the-cat moment.
But she had a good excuse—a six-foot-tall, dressed in surgical scrubs, sandy-blond hair, high forehead and cheekbones, blue-eyed honest-to-goodness excuse. Standing next to him under mistletoe hadn’t helped.
No. Do. Not. Think. About. Kisses.
Not with Noah.
Seeing him had awakened places inside her she’d forgotten existed. Wrong on so many levels she didn’t know where to begin.
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