Page 1 of Holiday Unscripted
CHAPTER 1
Elizabeth
SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS
November 2nd
“So this is Christmas.” I roll my eyes when I walk into the doctor’s lounge and hear the soft sound of the music coming out of the radio.
“Ugh,” I grunt, looking over at Ty, my coworker who’s sitting at the table, scrolling on his phone while he eats his breakfast bowl. “Isn’t it a bit early for this?” I point to where the music is coming from, just in case he didn’t know what I was talking about.
“It’s perfectly okay for Christmas music to be playing at the beginning of November,” he says, his Australian accent annunciating “ah” instead of “er.” “It’s kind of a global rule.”
“Who said this?” I ask, taking off my white doctor coat and opening my locker. “I want to know their actual names and not something you just made up.”
“Society,” he informs me and I roll my eyes as I hang up the jacket before grabbing my big tote bag. “I’m pretty sure society as a whole.”
I put the bag over my shoulder. “We should have a rule made where there should be no Christmas music playing in the common areas until the first of December. Or if we even want to tempt fate, dare I say, two weeks before Christmas. Just enough time for us to not be sick of it.”
“As soon as Halloween is done, it’s fair game.” He grabs a forkful of eggs, shoveling them in his mouth.
“How can you even think Christmas when it’s hot outside? When you think of Christmas, you think snow and cold.” After living in Australia for the past seven years, I’m still not used to it being summer during Christmas celebrations.
“That’s just in movies.” He winks at me, and if we didn’t work together, I might maybe, just maybe, think of hooking up with him. But I’ve seen it time and time again, nurses and doctors getting involved with each other and the breakup is felt through the whole department. It’s just too small a circle. So, I’ve made it a strict rule that I will never get involved with someone I work with. Not a nurse, not a doctor, not anyone who I will be seeing more than once in my workspace.
“Are you the kind of person who puts their tree up the second week of December and then takes it down the day after Christmas?”
“Pfft.” I fold my arms over my chest, shaking my head. “As if I put up a tree!” I shake my head. “I’m the type of person who likes to enjoy life and I value my time, so I do not even try to attempt to put up a tree,” I tell him. “Besides, for the last five years I’ve done nothing but work the whole two weeks around Christmas and then I take a glorious month off.” I exhale. “You should try it.”
“I love Christmas,” he says. “I can’t ever imagine not being able to have Christmas dinner with my family.”
“I’m feeling nauseous,” I tell him, making fun of him and putting my hand to my stomach. “I’m tired, so I’m going to head out, and you can enjoy your breakfast”—I point to the bowl—“and all things Christmas.” I hold up my hand to the sound of the music playing. “I think my ears are going to start bleeding soon.” I stick my hands over my ears, making him chuckle, as I walk out of the doctors’ lounge and notice the nurses changing shifts.
The whiteboard that hangs right in front of the nurses’ station is being tended to by Gayle, the head nurse in charge during the 8:00 p.m.-to-8:00 a.m. shift. She’s making sure she writes all the notes for the day nurse who is coming in to relieve her. “I’m off,” I tell Gayle, and she looks over her shoulder at me. Her black scrubs have prints of colorful Band-Aids all over them.
“See you tonight,” she replies and I nod my head.
“Just so you can be ready and prepared”—she moves the paper in her hand toward me—“my Christmas scrubs are coming out.”
I groan. “I might have to take this up with HR,” I stop and tell her and she just smirks at me. “I don’t know if I can work in these conditions.”
“I’m just giving you the heads-up so you can properly prepare yourself.”
“I’m going home right now and getting scrubs that are the color of the Grinch.”
She tosses her head back and a bark of laughter comes out of her, making her light-blonde bob move just a touch. “That will look like snot,” she states. “Highly do not recommend.” She smiles. “But I don’t know what the cool kids are wearing these days. You do you.”
“Great,” I mumble as I walk out of the swinging doors of the emergency room and head for the front of the hospital. The hustle and bustle of morning has people arriving as I head out after my twelve-hour shift. Nothing like walking out into the bright hot sun after spending the night going crazy in the darkness that is the emergency room night shift. I squint just a bit as I head over to the side of the parking lot where the staff parks.
I rummage through my big purse, tossing things aside and grabbing my keys and unlocking the door to get in. I start the car and roll down the windows as I pull out of the parking spot. Stopping at the closed barrier to scan my parking pass, I wait for it to open up so I can drive through.
I pull out of the parking lot, turning on the radio and listening to the non-Christmas songs as I make my way home. After a long night shift, I’m ready to be in my apartment. I drive up to my apartment complex, park in my assigned spot, and wait for the window to roll up. I grab my bag and head toward the stairs that lead up to my door. The stairs open to both sides, each floor has two apartments on it, four floors per unit. I walk up the two flights of stairs, finally making it home. The rug at the door is a gift from my brother Jack and his wife, Evie, when they came to stay with me for a week on their way to New Zealand. Jack and Evie met when they were both in the hospital at the same time for cancer treatments. They became the best of friends; they even had nicknames, Jack was called Jumping Jack and Evie was called Easy Evie, because she was so easy to make happy. Jack was lucky that our father could afford the treatment. Evie’s family were not as lucky, but my father made it possible that she got treatment also. They only found out when they both turned sixteen that our dad made it so Evie could afford the care. From then on they were even more attached at the hip. Then it quickly went past the best friends stage and they finally caved to their feelings. She and Jack finally got married six years ago and are looking at adopting their first child.
Welcome-ish, depends on who you are and how long you plan to stay.
I press my code into the door pad and wait for the lock to unlatch before turning the handle and stepping in. The shades are still drawn from when I left thirteen hours ago. I dump my bag off at the door and kick off my sneakers.
I make my way over to the living room, opening up the blinds before walking into the kitchen and doing the same thing to the window by the table. I walk into the back of the apartment, where my room is, heading straight for the shower. Opening the glass door, I turn on the water before undressing out of my scrubs.
