Page 3 of His Christmas Promise

Chapter One

Zoe Fisher

Ten years later

Iwalk out of It’s Beginning to Look A Latte Like Christmas, my new favorite coffee shop, with a large peppermint mocha. As I walk to my car, I spot someone across the street who looks an awful lot like Alex but shake my head in disbelief. When I look back, the man is gone. I have no idea where Alex is now, but I doubt it’s in Mistletoe, Montana. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s married with a few kids by now, living the life he should have had before his parents tragically died.

I hear from him once a year, at Christmas. I guess it’s his way of fulfilling his promise to me all those years ago. Whatever the reason, I look forward to hearing from him every year. He always sends a gift I would never think to buy for myself, but it always turns out to be just what I needed to turn my year around. The first few years, I tried getting his address to send him something in return, but he never responded to my messages. Still, every year I buy him a gift that goes in a box, my Alex box. It’s silly, but one day I hope to return the favor.

I get into my beat-up Honda Civic I bought myself when I started my first job as a nurse. It’s not the ideal vehicle for living in snowy Mistletoe, Montana, but it’s all I have. At least it gets me to and from work. What more could a girl ask for? I turn the key, trying to start it up, but the engine stutters. “Oh, come on, Sweet Baby,” I say, talking to my car. “Give me another year, just one. I know you’re old, but you can make it, can’t you girl?” I ask, petting my dashboard, hoping to sweeten her up and get her running again. I try turning the key again, and she starts up with no problem. Thank God. “That’s a good girl.”

I crank the heat and make sure it’s pointed at my toes. It may be freezing out, but I can’t handle all that heat blowing in my face. I take a sip of my peppermint mocha without thinking, my mind still on Alex. Son of a gun, that’s hot. I wince as it burns my tongue. I should have waited a few more minutes to take a sip, but I needed that hit of sweet caffeine to get me started.

Pulling out of the parking spot in front of the coffee shop, I head to work. I’m an emergency room nurse at Mistletoe General Hospital, and I absolutely love it. It’s not a huge hospital by any means, more like a large clinic, but it serves its purpose here in Mistletoe.

When I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to do something to help people. So, I went to college and graduated with a degree in nursing. I worked at a hospital in Reno for a few too many years and absolutely hated it. After years of working eighty-hour workweeks, enough was enough. I had no time for a life, let alone time to enjoy it, so I started looking for nursing jobs all over the country. One day I got a message from a doctor here at Mistletoe General telling me they had a position they thought I’d be a perfect fit for. A few phone interviews later, I was offered the job. I moved to town a few months ago and haven’t regretted my decision once. This place is everything I imagined it would be and then some.

I can’t help but smile at my surroundings. Decorations are strung up all over town, from the garland around light poles to the decorated trees in store windows. I’m in awe of where I live. Mistletoe takes Christmas to the next level, celebrating the holiday all year long, and when the holidays hit, it’s like Christmas on steroids. This is exactly why I chose to move here.

The ride to work is a short one, even on the icy winter streets. When I park, I take a tentative sip of my peppermint mocha, not wanting to burn my tongue again. It’s the perfect temperature, so I take a larger sip and revel in the flavors hitting my tongue. Dear lord, this coffee is delicious. I’m only sad I didn’t buy a second one to heat up later on in my shift. Oh well, that just means I’ll have to grab one on the way home, I tell myself happily.

“Good morning,” I say to Franklin, smiling as I walk into the hospital.

“Good morning, Miss Zoe. How are you doing today?” Franklin, one of the retired auxiliary volunteers, smiles at me, tilting his cap as he nods. We became fast friends the first day I started here. We even have a standing date for dinner at Blitzen’s Burgers once a week.

“I’m doing fantastic. I’ve got my coffee, and I’m ready for another beautiful day. How are you doing, Franklin?”

“Oh, better than I deserve.” He grins.

“Well, I better get going before I’m late. I’ll come and check on you later, okay?”

“Missy, how many times do I have to tell you that you don’t need to check on me?” He grumbles.

“I know, I know. I just want to make sure no one is giving you any problems.” I laugh, walking away.

Franklin grumbles something behind me, but I can’t make out what he said.

After clocking in and putting my bag and coat in my locker, I walk out to the nurse’s station to get my day started. The desk is decorated for Christmas, just like the rest of the hospital is. “Good morning, my fellow nurse people,” I say, smiling at Joanna, Kiely, and George.

“What has you so giddy this morning?” George asks, eyeing me.

“I’m not giddy,” I say, trying to hide my smile by biting my bottom lip.

“No, he’s right. You’re happier than normal.” Kiley says, looking me up and down. “What do you have in that coffee, Baileys?”

I throw my head back and laugh. “I wish. But no, I’m just in a really good mood.”

“Uh uh, it’s something else. We’re going to get it out of you. You wait and see,” Joanna says before walking into a patient’s room.

I roll my eyes and take another sip from my coffee before going to see my first patient.

Christmas is my favorite holiday, even though it can be hard. It sucks not having a family, but the people I do have mean the world to me. I talk to Shelly and Ralph, my foster parents, at least once a week. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I didn’t have them in my corner, pushing me to make something of my life. Without them, I wouldn’t have met Alex.

A few hours later, I walk back to the desk and find a large bouquet of red roses in a glass vase sitting there.

“Oh my goodness, who got flowers? These are gorgeous!” I say, smelling them.

“Apparently, they’re for you,” Joanna says, arching her brow in my direction.

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