Page 14 of Through the Snow Globe
“I understand.” All too well, but most of Diana’s patients didn’t know she was in a relationship with Linus. Everyone had heard about his accident, of course. This was a small town. The owner of Snow Haven’s only toy store landing himself in a coma was big news. Their relationship was relatively new and a lot of folks just didn’t realize that Linus and Diana were linked. That was for the best. She was here to focus on her patients’ needs, not vice versa.
Diana gave Mrs. Pierce a small wave and turned, walking to the end of the hall and knocking on Addy’s bedroom door.
“Come in!” the girl called from the other side.
Diana pushed the cracked door open. “Hey, Addy. How are you this morning?”
Addy removed her earbuds. She was pale, but smiling, which Diana took as a good sign. “Good. It’s Christmas Eve after all.”
“So I hear.” Diana stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.
“I like your elf ears,” Addy said with a tiny laugh.
Mission accomplished. Laughter was, in fact, the best medicine. “Thanks. And I like your antlers.”
Addy was wearing reindeer antlers over a bandana that covered her thinning hair. She rolled her eyes slightly. “My mom kind of insisted I wear these. I’ll probably have to wear them tomorrow too along with some ugly sweater.” Addy gave Diana a conspiratorial look. “Unless you tell my mom that I might overheat in an ugly Christmas sweater and antlers. Then she’d have to listen and let me wear something cooler.”
Diana tapped a finger to the side of her chin as she feigned a thoughtful look. “Yes, I think that’s actually true. And the uglier the sweater, the hotter you would be while wearing it. That’s not healthy.”
“Exactly.” Addy gave a wide grin. “And since you’re being so cool, I think you should tell my mom that I need to skip straight to dessert tomorrow because I get full a lot faster these days. I would hate to miss my Aunt Becky’s ten-layer chocolate cake just because I was forced to eat Grandma Ann’s Brussel Sprouts Casserole first.” The girl wrinkled her nose, making Diana laugh. “I’m not a fan.”
“Well, perhaps if you eat just a bite or two of the actual meal prior to dessert . . .” Diana pulled her blood pressure cuff from her bag. She just needed to check Addy’s vitals and ask a few questions before getting on with therapy.
Addy stuck out her arm without Diana needing to ask. She knew the drill. “Have you seenHome Alone?” she asked.
“Of course. You know, Macaulay Culkin is older than I am now.”
“Wow, that’s old!” Addy said with a wide grin.
“Hey.” Diana flicked her gaze away from her laptop for a moment. “I’ll have you know, I’m only twenty-nine, and old is a state of mind.” In which case, Diana was feeling like a senior citizen these days. She’d been turning in every night by nine and waking with the birds the way that Grandma Denny used to.
“Who did you watch the movie with last?” Addy wanted to know.
“My, um, fiancé.” When Diana flicked her gaze up to meet Addy’s again, the girl’s eyes were narrowed.
“The one you’re not marrying just yet?”
“I only have one fiancé,” Diana said, hoping her sarcasm would deter the teen. No such luck.
“Oh, come on. Tell me something, at least. When is the wedding? Can I come? I can be the balding flower girl.”
Diana ignored Addy’s self-deprecating comments and focused on the blood pressure reading, which seemed to be having a hard time finding a pulse. “We still haven’t set a date.” That was Diana’s fault. And maybe her resistance was the whole reason Linus was in a coma right now. It was probably irrational of her to think so, but grief had a way of making a person believe things that weren’t exactly true—at least that’s what Rochelle claimed. Perhaps if Diana and Linus hadn’t fought the night before his accident, he would have allowed her to give him a ride to the toy store that morning. Then she would have had to pick him up later in the evening, and he wouldn’t have been hit by a delivery truck.
“Is your fiancé one of those guys who proposes, but then freaks out because he’s secretly afraid of commitment?” Addy asked, her pale brows lifting curiously.
Diana shook her head. That description was more fitting for Diana than Linus. “No. That’s not him at all. We’ve just been busy. And how do you know about those kinds of guys anyway?”
Addy shrugged, making her collar bones jut out more prominently above her scoop neck tee. “My dad. He didn’t freak out with marriage, but he freaked when I came along. Thus, the reason I’m being raised by a single parent.”
Diana blinked Addy into view. That was Diana’s story too. Diana’s dad had left when she was just a colicky baby. Then her mom had decided that being a single mother interfered with her drinking habit too much, and she’d handed Diana over to Grandma Denny, who’d barely had two pennies to scrape together.
“It’s complicated.” Addy’s blood pressure reading finally came through. Diana tapped her fingers along her keyboard and recorded the stats.
Addy sighed as the cuff deflated on her thin arm. “Too complicated for a teenager? My mom used to tell me that I could know and do all these off-limits things when I became an adult. She would tell me to be a kid for as long as I could. But I think chemo and radiation have earned me maturity points, don’t you?” Her gaze was still narrowed. The girl was destined to be a reporter one day.
“I do think you’re mature for your age, yes.” Diana removed the cuff from Addy’s arm. “But I’d still rather focus on you when I’m here. That’s my job.”
“Oh.” Addy’s gaze fell momentarily along with her smile. “That’s kind of my problem, I guess. Everyone’s always focused on me. That’s not how life is supposed to be, though. I mean, I’m not dying anymore. I’m still living, aren’t I?”
