Page 16 of Holly, Jolly, and Oh So Naughty

“So, are you going to give me a hint as to who you are dating?”

“Why does it matter?”

“My life is helping others.” Margret scoffs. “The least you can do is fuel me with the exciting twists and turns in your own life.”

“You just want the gossip so you can smile like that to everyone in town so they know you have a secret,” I say, stopping at my door with one hand on the handle. “So I’m not telling you.”

“Not even a tiny hint?”

“Okay, I’ll give you one.”

It’s comical the way Margret’s face lights up with hope.

“She’ll be at the charity party.”

Margret’s face falls immediately, and she curses me under her breath as I laugh myself into my office and kick the door closed. By the time I reach my desk after a few sips of coffee, I realize Taylor might be right. The coffee here is amazing. I don’t think I can ever go back to what they serve in the city.

Not that I have plans to ever head back there.

As if she could read my thoughts, my cell blares into life, and my mother’s number splashes across the screen. Her calls are becoming impossible to dodge. I can’t do anything on my phone without risking hitting the answer call button while trying to access an app, but if I block her, I know she’ll go as far as to report me missing to the police.

With no patients lined up, I take a chance and answer.

“Hello?”

“James! Oh, my goodness!” My mother’s powdery tones make my chest tighten suddenly, and my heart rate picks up.

“What is it?”

“Is that any way to greet your mother? I haven’t spoken to you in weeks and yet you speak to me as if I’m some cold caller!”

“That’s not?—”

“Whatever did I do to earn such an ungrateful son? When I need you the most, you swan off across the country and stop taking calls. Bernice and I are worried sick about you in case something happens. When your own fiancée can’t get in touch with you, it makes everyone fear something is wrong!”

Sagging forward onto my desk, I press my fingers against the bridge of my nose. “Mom.”

“And to think, after everything I have done for you, when I need you the most, you run away. No warning. Just up in the night and disappearing. Do you have any idea what that’s done for my nerves? You need to make this right, understand? You need to come home.”

She pauses for a breath, finally, and I can speak. “Mom. You know Bernice is not my fiancée anymore. She hasn’t been for six months.”

“Oh, nonsense. It’s just a hiccup that will work itself out. I know for a fact that she will forgive you when you come back.”

“I’m not coming back. And even if I did, just because you want something to work out doesn’t mean it will. Don’t you see? Didn’t Dad’s death teach you anything? You can’t plan every single detail of my life, okay? Things change. Disasters happen.”

“Your father would beashamedto hear you say such things! You should be here with your family, grieving around loved ones, not away in some backwater town doing God knows what. Now, I gave you space and time, but enough of this foolishness, James. You need to come home now.”

“No.”

“What?” Her gasp is so loud I have to jerk the phone away from my ear.

“I said no. I’ve moved on. Changed things. I’m trying to be happy, Mom. I wasn’t happy there. I hated my job. Bernice and I didn’t like each other, never mind love. I… I’m sorry, but I can’t live to make you happy anymore. I need to makemehappy.”

“James, are you listening to yourself? Of course Bernice loves you, what a silly thing to say! If you would just come back and speak to her?—”

“No.”

“I’m not well, James.”

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