Eggnog and Candy Canes: A Blueberry Springs Christmas Novella by Jean Oram

decorations earlier. Christmas dinner smelled so good.” She checked her watch. “You’d better get moving. Angelica said she’d hold the meal for you.”
    Katie stood. “She did?”
    Hillary walked her to the staff room so she could get her coat, while getting the rundown on how the day shift had been. Uneventful other than her father.
    “He looked fine, by the way,” Hillary said. “I took his vitals when I stopped in for some eggnog on my way here. And with you staying the night—you are staying at your mom’s and not going to try and get home after supper?” She waited for Katie to respond.
    Coat zipped, Katie stared out at the dark parking lot. The streetlights made the snow look beautiful, all crystals and white drifts of indeterminable depths. How was she going to get out?
    “Yeah, I guess I’ll stay in my old room. Johnny Depp on the walls…. He’s probably lonely,” she said, mostly to herself. Was she supposed to have redecorated the room when she moved out? Or was her mother that afraid to let go? Thinking her girl might need a place to land and want her old high school movie star crush to be there to catch her?
    “Well, have a good night. Merry Christmas.” Hillary turned and walked away, leaving Katie wondering how on earth she was going to get her car out from under that mound of snow, and then somehow plow her way across town to her parents’ place sometime before the New Year. She couldn’t even tell where the roads were.
    The whine of a snowmobile grew louder and Katie prepped herself for an emergency. Instead, Mary Alice pulled up, lumbered through the snow and wrenched open the door.
    “You coming or what?”
    “Or what,” Katie snapped.
    “Shut up.” Mary Alice tugged on her arm, reminding her of the one time she’d tried shoplifting, and had gotten caught. Worst. Day. Ever. Having Mary Alice take a round out of her and then hand her off to her parents, so they could take another round out of her.
    “Your folks are expecting you.” The woman shoved a helmet at Katie’s gut. “Your mother sent this.”
    Katie climbed on behind Mary Alice, secretly grateful. The helmet was warm and a bit too big. Mary Alice didn’t start the machine moving, and Katie followed her line of vision. A man in the hospital doorway. Big coat. Big boots. Alone.
    Christmas.
    Crap.
    “Are you coming?” Katie called to Nash. She swore Mary Alice nodded in approval.
    Without a word, he pushed through the snow and climbed on behind Katie.
    “Can it take us all, Mary Alice?” he asked over the roar of the engine. His voice in Katie’s ear, his body wrapped around hers…shiverama.
    She was starting to like winter storms. A lot.

    * * *
    Angelica dished an extra large scoop of mashed potatoes onto Nash’s plate and beamed at him. “Thank you for joining us tonight.”
    “Thank you for having me, Mrs. Reiter.”
    “Dear…” From her spot at the table’s end, opposite her husband, she reached to tap Nash’s hand. “Call me Angelica. Please.”
    Sitting beside Nash, Katie shifted, trying to avoid her sister-in-law’s questioning gaze. The aromas of warm turkey, spices, and the cranberry-scented candles lining the long table battled to calm her edgy nerves. She enjoyed having Nash here; that wasn’t the problem. It was her father, who was seated to her left. He should be in the hospital. He should be eating Jell-O, not a heavy meal.
    “Everyone got here okay?” Katie asked mildly, avoiding meeting Beth’s eye. “The snow wasn’t too bad?”
    “We live three houses away.” Oz flicked a pea at her, eliciting a giggle from his toddler son, Benji, who in turn threw a handful at his grandfather. The boy gave a giant laugh, his high chair rocking, as Harvey sent him a stunned look.
    “How are you feeling, Dad?” Katie asked.
    “Fine. And I have the best nurse and doctor in town at my table. What could go wrong?”
    She held her breath. No comment about her quitting? Really?
    “I heard a