Page 101 of Stay this Christmas
“Thank you.” She lifted her chin for a quick kiss. “I could get used to having an errand boy.”
“Good, because you’re stuck with me.”
After a minute, she seemed to snap out of the dreamy daze the man’s appearance put her in, and focused on us. “Dean, do you know Sam Donnelly?”
“Only by name.” He reached across the mountains of soaps to shake my hand. “I think you were in Irwin’s talking with my brother Grant a while back.”
“We talked a little about his last climb.” Grant Irwin had found a balance, getting in climbs on the side while maintaining a good job in the outdoor gear business full-time. I’d hoped to find that kind of balance, too, but it seemed an either/or for me at the moment.
“He said your credentials were impressive.”
To someone like Grant, maybe. To any potential employer…debatable.
“That’s because Sam’s been traveling the world having adventures,” Eliza said. “Speaking of, we’re going on a hike at The Grotto on Thursday. You guys want to join us?”
“I’m up for that. Harper?”
She looked almost as pained as she had when Eliza preemptively invited me to Christmas dinner. “I don’t think I can.”
“What? Why not? You’ve finally got a week off.” Eliza’s mouth curled again. “Unless you have other plans.”
She made it sound like anyother planswould directly involve me, but I sure hadn’t heard about them yet if they did.
“No, it’s just…they asked me to come in a few times next week to see patients. So I couldn’t do a day trip. Sorry.”
“Harper, why—”
She cut off Eliza’s question with a sharp look. “I’m not thrilled about it, either, but they need me.”
“They don’t need you when you’re supposed to be on vacation,” I said, not hiding my frustration.
I was no doctor, but even I understood that physical therapy wasn’t like setting a bone or cutting out a burst appendix. Her patients weren’t suffering from emergencies, they simply wanted continuing care because they could get it. Nothing in their concerns should have prevented her from being off the clock all week and taking care of them again next Monday.
“Some of them told Olivia they wanted to see me this week.”
“So? You should have told her no.”
I hated how easily Olivia could strip Harper of her time off, but I hated even more the suspicion she hadn’t put up much of a fight.
“She’s my boss.”
Her firm tone let me know I was skating on thin ice here, but I kept on skating anyway.
“That doesn’t mean she gets to dictate your whole life. First it’s evenings and weekends, then it’s the crazy on-call idea. Now your vacation. When are you going to put a stop to it? When are you going to chooseyou, Harper?”
If she could have exploded me with her mind, I would have been nothing but bloody bits right then. The pink spots on her cheek flared to red as she glowered at me several long seconds. Finally, she turned to Eliza.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she said, before leaving them—and me—behind.
THIRTY-ONE
harper
I marcheddown the market aisle, ignoring the barrage of Christmas cheer all around me and absolutely pretending Sam wasn’t walking by my side. Reverting to my old game seemed a whole lot safer than what I really wanted to do. We needed to escape the crowds before I did something stupid like slap him upside the head for his audacity.
“When are you going to choose you?”Made total sense from the guy who’d chosen himself for eleven years straight.
We reached the edge of town square before Sam grabbed my hand, tugging me to a stop beneath a street light. Christmas carols still drifted on the night air, but I didn’t feel nearly as jolly as Mariah Carey wanted me to.
