Page 5 of Take Me Home for Christmas

My other good friend Samantha Bashar, who was in specialized training at Children’s to become a pediatric anesthesiologist, was uncorking a wine bottle.

I was going to need that wine, because it felt like a race car was running laps in my chest. A wave of dizziness forced me to sit down, so stunned, I forgot to set down the scoop.

“I’m so sorry,” Gabe said, flicking his gaze downward in a way that I could tell he felt bad. He pried the scoop from myhand and replaced it with the glass of wine that Sam had just poured, which made me hate him a teeny bit less. “It’s just…Jason’s asked me to go home with him to meet his parents. That’s ahugestep.” He sat down at one of his nice leather counter stools and seemed, for the first time since I’d met him, almost as bewildered as I was. “I think he’s going to propose.”

“Oh, Gabriel,” Sam said, “that’s amazing.”

Tears of happiness filled my eyes despite my panicked state. Gabe and I had met the first day of pediatric residency and bonded over our mutual terror at having to care for fragile former preemies in what we residents affectionately called the Special Scare Nursery, and we’d been the best of friends ever since. He was one of those people who loved big and hard and who, because you trusted him so much, got you to overshare before you even understood you were doing it. Hence, he knew about everything—including blow-by-blow accounts of the two years of awful dates I’d endured before I’d met Brax.

“I’m really happy for you.” I walked around the huge island to join Sam in giving him a giant hug. We’d all had our share of dating heartaches, and Jason, Gabe’s beau of two years, was amazing. I couldn’t think of anyone who deserved better.

Meanwhile, I tried to tamp down my welling desperation. I had to produce a fake boyfriend in three days.Three.Where on earth was I going to find one?

Gabe stopped to give Queenie, who had rubbed up against his arm, a scratch behind her regal ears. “I think this is it for me.” He looked me straight in the eye, with a solemn, sure expression that I had to admit made me envious. “I think he’s The One.”

His happiness was obvious. And hard-earned. We’d been warriors together, on the wards and in the dating world. And he’d done it: he’d found love. Which should’ve given me hope that someday I might find it too. Underneath my terror and my joy, I felt a tiny twinge of sadness. “Who’ll console me with icecream and cheap but plentiful wine after I survive yet another awful date?”

“Ahem,” Sam said, pointing to herself.

I turned to her and said in a wry tone, “You’d console me by taking me to a bar and finding me a one-night stand.”

She lifted a perfect brow and tucked a lock of shiny black hair behind her ear past a pretty gold dangling triangle earring. I’d need to borrow those. “I can’t help it if I’m a problem solver. Maybe if you’d taken my dating advice, you’d be over Brax by now.”

Sam was beautiful, brainy, and sometimes brash. Adventurous and bold. Many things I wasn’t. Sometimes, I thought that maybe I connected with her so much because she reminded me of Gracie. She was also one of the kindest people I knew. When she wasn’t pushing me to be bolder, that is.

“I’m getting engaged,” Gabe said, “not moving to Alaska.”

The dizziness hit again, making the room spin. The effect of the tangled web I’d created all by myself, no doubt. Gabe coming home with me had always felt too good to be true—he knew the whole story, understood what I’d done, and hadn’t judged me. He’d just settled his steady, enveloping gaze on me and said in that calm, reassuring, I-got-your-back voice,When do we leave?

He would’ve done that—been an on-the-spot boyfriend. Even though it meant pretending to change his sexual orientation to help me. I couldn’t be angry with him.

Only myself. Yep, I had plenty of that pent up inside for getting myself into this stupid predicament.

“Look at it this way,” Gabe said. “I don’t exactly look like Brax. We wouldn’t have fooled your mom.”

“You’re both dark haired,” I said in protest. “Plus, the photos I’ve sent the past few months have been kind of out of focus.”

“How about you ask Brax?” he suggested gently. After giving me a good eye roll, that is. “He’s a logical choice. You two are close, even if you’re too bullheaded to date each other again.”

“Not to mention we’re competing for the same job. Remember that?” Another reason to stay far away.

Gabe waved a hand in the air like the fact that we were the last two candidates left wasn’t a big deal. “A job’s a job, and that can be sorted out.” He paused. “Did you know that the last time we went out, Brax told me that the chemistry between you two was positively animal?”

Sam covered her mouth with her hand in fake astonishment. “Shocker,” she said.

I frowned. “How much did he have to drink?”

“Enough to tell the truth. Look, maybe it’s time to sit down with him. You two have been tiptoeing around this obvious?—”

I shook my head. “He made things clear.” Crystal clear. He did not want to date me. Period.

“You know he’s complicated,” Gabe said. “Maybe he isn’t sure what he wants.”

I shook my head. “Last time I checked, Brax was an adult.” This time around, I was going to make certain my next boyfriend was one.

“Leave her alone, Gabe,” Sam said. “You know what happened with her ratty ex.”

Charlie had been a straight what-you-see-is-what-you-get arrow—but when I’d left for residency, he’d fooled around on me with someone he’d met at a football party. I guess he’d finally found someone as passionate about the Packers as he was.

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