Eggnog and Candy Canes: A Blueberry Springs Christmas Novella (12 page)

“I have missed Blueberry Springs,” Nash said, as though testing the idea. “It might be nice to move back.”

“Really?” Beth squealed, grabbing his arm. Oz shot Nash a glare and subtly angled himself between his wife and the man. Katie wished he’d remind his wife who she was married to.

“It’s a thought.” Nash kept his eyes trained on Katie. “But I’m not sure. I may stay in the city for a while, too.”

“I mean, it would be weird if you moved back.” Beth blinked rapidly a few times. “But this isn’t about me. It’s about you finally finding your mate, so I can get over any weirdness.” She beamed and threw up her hands. “Already am.”

“What? I think I missed something.” Mandy squinted at Beth.

“They’d make an
amazing
couple.” She gestured to Nash and Katie.

“Over my dead body,” Oz said, at the same as Harvey said, “I agree.”

Harvey slung an arm around Katie. “Best medical team in the world. I mean, look at me. Hardly any pain!”

Katie gently moved her father to a chair and forced him to sit. “If you don’t take it easy, you’ll be black-and-blue and miserable tomorrow.”

“Not that different from usual then?” Angelica asked, crossing her arms.

“Anyway, I’m leaving Blueberry Springs,” Katie said quietly. “I’ve decided.”

“What?” The room rang with surprised voices all rising to be heard.

“Katie’s not staying in nursing,” Nash announced calmly. “She’s seeking a new career.”

“This is Christmas, not April Fool’s!” Her father’s face was a dangerous red. Katie went to settle him again.

“Are you trying to give him a heart attack?” her mother asked.

“I already told you I’m quitting, Dad.”

“You can’t just drop a bomb like this,” Oz said, his voice tight.

“I thought it was all a joke,” Angelica murmured.

“What the hell are you doing to her?” Oz said, confronting Nash. “Why don’t you convince my mother to divorce my father while you’re at it? Maybe convince my son that I suck as a father? Huh?” He gave Nash a shove.

Mandy was between the men in a flash. “Hey, cool it. We should all get a chance at following our hearts.”

Oz leveled a finger at Nash. “He is
not
her heart!”

“So you can follow your dreams, but I can’t?” Katie blinked back tears and poked her brother in the chest. “Why? Because I’m a daughter and have to do whatever everyone wants, and be the good girl? The perfect one? The one who doesn’t get to do what she prefers because everyone else wants someone to take care of them in their old age? Is that it?”

She burst into tears, furious at herself for crying. Nash was at her side, his arms wrapped around her, in an instant. He felt great. Too great. She pushed at him. “I’m mad at you.”

“And I’ll be mad if you don’t seize your chance to be you, Katie,” he said, not allowing her to push him away.

“Okay,” Mandy said, a soothing voice among all the squabbling. “Enough. Katie wants to be a decorator. It’s obvious that is her calling, if we take a moment to think about all she’s done for family and friends over the past few years. She’s not going to be able to do both careers. Nursing served its purpose for her and now it is time to move on. So get over it. This is her life. She’s the one who gets to live it.”

Her family stared at anything and everything other than Katie and Mandy. All except Oz, who was listening to Mandy—really listening. Beth smacked her husband in the chest and he finally looked away.

“Mandy has a point,” he said.

“You’re with me, remember?” Beth muttered.

“You really don’t want to be a nurse?” Harvey asked, his voice thick. Katie shook her head. “But you did want to become a nurse at one point, right?”

“Not really.”

Her father’s face fell and Katie rushed to his side, hugging him. “But it was a good career, Dad. It’s just not me anymore.”

He brushed her off. “I can’t believe I did this to both of my children.” He dropped his face in his hands. “What kind of father am I?”

Katie rubbed his shoulder, taking the seat beside him as Beth began guiding everyone into the dining room. “Let’s have dessert so Angelica doesn’t get left with all this food,” she said.

“You are a great dad,” Katie whispered. His shoulders shook. “Dad, really. You wanted what was best for us. Wanted real careers. You didn’t want me to be waiting tables all my life, or stocking shelves. You knew that would drive me batty. I need to be in charge. And you helped me get a career that kept me satisfied for years. I don’t mind helping people as a nurse, it’s just not my passion. You know?”

He gazed at her through his hands, eyes red. “Did I really do okay by you?”

She hugged him tightly. “Of course you did. Do you think I’d let you do any different?”

He gave a thin laugh. “Then why didn’t you tell me you didn’t want to become a nurse?”

“Because I didn’t have anything better in mind.”

“How long have you wanted this change?”

Katie sighed. “A few years.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You’re so proud of me.” Katie’s own eyes filled with tears. “And what if you’re not when I become someone else?”

“You’ll still be my daughter, my Katie, and I’ll always be immensely proud of you. Always.” He placed his hand over hers. “No matter what you do with your life.” He tipped his head toward the dining room. “Or who you marry.”

“A little ahead of yourself, Dad.” But, oddly enough, not ahead of her imagination.

Chapter 7

So now what was she going to do?

Amber and Mandy had left after a few eggnogs, and Katie’s family had called it a night. Beth and Oz took Benji upstairs to stay in Oz’s old bedroom rather than stomp through the snow back to their own home, since they would be helping Angelica first thing in the morning, anyway. Which made Katie think they were up to something. Something such as keeping an eye on her and Nash, who were the only ones still up in the living room.

Katie now had her father’s blessing not only to toss off the career he’d helped her afford, but to pursue the man who had, up until two days ago, been her arch enemy.

She gazed at the cold fireplace, its bricks blackened from when Oz forgot to open the flue once when they were kids. She half wondered if jolly ol’ Saint Nick had given her a gift tonight. A change in plans, a life.

Or maybe it was Nash. Maybe it was him giving her a gift. She leaned into him with a shoulder bump. He smiled and lifted his arm to draw her in.

“So,” he began, “I know it’s been a big day and all, but I was wondering…did you really decide to move to the city and work for Monica?”

Katie stopped herself from blurting out a defensive rejection.

“She’d pay me, right?”

He nodded.

It was such a risk. No matter how she looked at the situation, it would mean a pay cut. No medical insurance or benefits. No retirement fund. She’d have to move to the city and away from everyone. What if she sucked at it? What if in the real world she didn’t have an eye for decorating? And when she was ready to come home, was Blueberry Springs big enough or cosmopolitan enough to support a decorating business? Who would want to pay her for choosing paint colors? Probably nobody.

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“There’s always a choice.”

She laughed. “Right. If I backtrack on what I said today I’ll get laughed out of town for being a big chicken.” And if she didn’t move to the city, would anything further happen between her and Nash?

“Katie?” Nash played with a strand of her hair that had escaped her ponytail.

“Yeah?”

“You wouldn’t have told Mary Alice—someone you knew would tell everyone—if you didn’t truly want to do this.”

Damn smarty-pants. How many psychology courses had he taken in his time?

He reached down beside the couch and handed Katie a small box wrapped in gold foil. The paper was folded so neatly, so crisply, that she knew he had done it himself.

“For me? Thank you.”

She tugged at the green velvet bow, then unwrapped the gift. It was a beautiful antique snow globe, unlike any she’d ever seen. Beautiful polished wood for its base, the flakes inside delicate… In the middle was a couple on skates, embracing.

“Nash, it’s gorgeous.” She could barely breathe. The gift was so extraordinary and unexpected. She threw her arms around him in a quick hug, loving the way his body fit just right against hers. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” His cheeks were pink. “I wasn’t sure what you had in your collection, so I figured an antique was likely a safe bet.”

“It is. It’s amazing. One of a kind.” Like Nash. She shifted to face him, honored that he remembered that she had a snow globe collection. “Would you really take Dr. Nesbit’s job? Maybe we could live in Blueberry Springs when I’m done in the city. We could move back together.”

“Are you asking me to marry you, Katie Reiter?”

She laughed and snuggled against his side, feeling warm and comfortable. “Okay, so I move a little fast sometimes, but yeah. Maybe. One day. If we decide we actually like each other.”

He tipped her chin up to kiss her. “I happen to like fast. And I already know I like you.”

“Good,” she said, then kissed him back. Nash was all the things she wanted in a man. And more. Much more than what she’d ever dreamed of having.

But could she really have him? Could she have it all? Her heart beat fast and hard. So much was unknown, but instead of scaring her, it made her excited—especially knowing that Nash might be there, too.

She was ready, for the first time in her life, to not overthink things and simply start walking forward to see what happened.

She’d had a big plan with nursing and Will, and had stayed with it because she’d feared there was nothing else out there for her. She’d believed Will was her one chance at happiness and marriage.

Now she knew better.

She kissed Nash on the lips and smiled. “Thank you, Nash. You’re the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.”

“Anything for you, Katie bear.”

“Did you really just call me that?”

“Whatever it takes to get you to the city with me, until we are both ready to come back to Blueberry Springs.”

“Moving rather fast, aren’t you?”

“I told you I like fast. Are you going to have a problem with that?”

She swung around so she was straddling his lap. “Not at all.”

“I know what I want, Katie. I want to date you. You are the reason I came back to Blueberry Springs. I could have spent the days off with my parents, so remember that if you ever doubt me and my intentions. I couldn’t get you—” he clutched her chin, ensuring she was listening, his voice gentle, yet demanding “—out of my mind.”

Katie paused, her chest tight with emotion. She rested a hand in the dip below his shoulder. She loved this man. And not just because he was saying things she’d always longed to hear. “Thank you for joining my family for the holidays.”

“I’d like to again next year.”

Katie pushed herself to standing. She needed to get her brain on track. When she was this close to him, everything he said sounded good. Easy. She let out a laugh. “For once I am thinking of not planning my life, and here you are, planning it. Believe it or not, you might be moving too fast for me, Nash Leham.”

* * *

Katie slipped into the kitchen, the light above the stove casting a quiet glow over the room. A shot of something strong would be nice to settle her nerves right about now.

A figure moved at the table. Beth.

“Can’t sleep?” Katie asked, digging through the cupboard for peppermint schnapps.

“I’m pregnant, so of course not. It’s like my body is telling me to get used to it. Driving me crazy.”

Katie sat with her friend, who was clutching a cup of hot chocolate.

“Remember when you lived with Nash and his pretentious coffeemaker?”

Beth smiled wanly.

Katie had been angry with her for living that high on the hog with Nash. But mostly it was misdirected anger at her friend for changing. For daring to want something more from her life and for being brave enough to take it. For knowing she deserved to be happy, and claiming it any way she could.

How silly and immature Katie had been.

“So? Are you going back to Dakota with him?” Beth asked, breaking the peaceful, middle-of-the-night silence.

“I am going to talk to his friend who is a decorator, but I’m not…I’m not moving in with him, if that’s what you are asking.”

“He’s a good man.”

Katie nodded. “I know.”

Beth scrunched her big brown eyes shut, let out a breath, then opened them again. “You should date him. Really.”

“Is this Pregnant Beth talking or Whatever is Good for My BFF talking?”

Beth let out a tinkling laugh. “Everyone but your pigheaded brother agrees you two are a good fit.”

“Won’t it be weird?” To know that her best friend had been with the man who held her heart. Would Katie ever be able to let the twinges of jealousy go?

“We dated some of the same guys in high school.”

“Yeah, because there was no selection. You had to share men and then stay friends with them after dumping their sorry selves, because there was nobody else in town.”

“Is that why you stayed with Will for so long? Lack of selection?”

“Lack of understanding myself, too.”

“You need to do this, Katie.” Beth reached across the table. “The two of you are a better fit than we ever were. He came into my life for a reason, but it wasn’t to marry him. Maybe he’s come into your life for a bigger, longer-term reason.”

“You’re putting the cart before the horse here, don’t you think?”

Everyone was moving so darn fast!

“Shh. Quit fighting. You’re finally getting what you want.”

“What if it’s wrong?” Katie whispered. “What if I am on the rebound? What if…” She tried to think of more excuses. None were coming.

“What if you are being a big chicken and need to follow your heart? You were never scared with Will, and you want to know why? Because you always knew he wasn’t ever going to break your heart. And you know why?”

Fierce Beth had come to town. “Why?” Katie asked in a feeble voice.

“Because you never loved him! He can’t break your heart if he doesn’t have access to it!”