A Christmas Wish by Evie Knight

Chapter One
     
    “Are you going to do it?”
Laurie asked.
    “Ssh….”
Jasmine glanced around the office, making sure none of the nurses or medical
assistants walking by heard. “No.” She wrote a note and signed the medical
record in her hand. “That Wishing Well is a hoax.”
    Laurie
took the folder from Jasmine and handed her another. “It is not.”
    “It is
too.” Jasmine adjusted her glasses and flipped the file open. “Please tell me
you’re not that naïve,” she said, scanning the lab results printed on the sheet.
“That Cinderella Wishing Well can’t make your dreams come true anymore than I
can.”
    “You’re
like the Grinch. Can you, just this once, let yourself believe magic is
possible? That sometimes wishes do come true?”
    When
would Laurie and others leave her alone? Jasmine hated Christmas. She wanted
nothing to do with the darn holiday. Yet everywhere she went, everyone she talked
to had the holiday in their head. Goodness. And she had four more weeks to
endure before this madness ended.
    “Really?”
Annoyed, she looked at Laurie. “You expect me to believe the Cinderella Wishing
Well at Walt Disney World is magical. That if I go there and make a wish, my
one true love will come to me?”
    Shaking
her head, Laurie said, “Yes. Rumor has it everyone who makes a wish on
Christmas Eve finds their true, everlasting love on Christmas Day.”
    “You’re
out of your mind.”
    “She’s
not.”
    Hearing
the familiar huskiness of Ethan’s voice, a thrill shot down her spine and her
back stiffened. Jasmine busied herself signing the lab results, handed the file
to Laurie, and grabbed another one. “Let me guess. It found your true love.”
    His
low chuckle reverberated through her. “Not mine. My sister’s.”
    “Then,
maybe you should try it,” Jasmine said, still not looking at him, though she
could feel the intensity of his hot gaze on her.
    “But
why would he? True love would ruin his fabulous life,” Laurie said.
    “What,
according to you, is my fabulous life?” Ethan asked.
    “You
fuck anything with a skirt, Dr. Sinclair.”
    Shocked
at Laurie’s reply, Jasmine gasped.
    “Rumors,
that’s all they are,” he said.
    She risked
lifting her gaze to him. As it happened time and time again, his piercing dark
gray-green eyes, ringed with long lashes, captured hers. She drew in her
breath, trying to slow down the sudden spike in her pulse. “Rumors?”
    Crossing
his arms, he said, “Maybe, I’m looking for the one.”
    “She’s
lucky you haven’t found her,” Laurie said.
    “If
you weren’t so efficient, I’d fire you right now,” Ethan said to Laurie,
keeping his gaze trained on Jasmine.
    “Only
you can’t, because she’s my assistant, not yours.” Breaking their eye contact, Jasmine
took the rest of the charts from Laurie. She’d rather busy herself going
through the rest of her patients’ files than continue their foolish chat. Right
now she’d do anything to erase the image of Ethan’s dirty-blond hair, the
cynical twist to his mouth, and his suntanned skin. Why didn’t he stay wherever
it was he went on vacation? Why did he have to come back? Jasmine headed for
her office. “Laurie’s right. Whoever you’re looking for is lucky you haven’t
found her.”
    “I
promise you, Jas, she’d be the luckiest woman on earth when I find her,” he
said.
    Jasmine
stole one last glance at him, and said over her shoulder, “ If you find
her.”
     
    * * * *
     
    “It’s on my wish list for
Santa Claus this year,” he said to her back, taking in the sway of her hips in
her scrubs and the golden locks escaping her tousled pony tail.
    “I hope
Santa Claus doesn’t misplace your list, then.” Jasmine shut the door to her
office.
    What
is her problem? Ethan stood in the hallway, staring at the
name plaque on her closed door. Dr. Lamont. Since they’ve been working
at the same practice for the last three years, no matter what he did to have an
amicable work