After the Christmas Party...

Leave it to Jewel to point out the harsh reality.

Trinity laughed, the sound sparkly and warming something inside Riley.

He wanted to make her laugh that way.

“He tries, Jewel,

he really, really tries, but I’m damaged goods.”

“Damaged goods?”

“Lots of baggage. Plus, Christmas isn’t my favorite time of year.”

“Not a crime, but why not?”

“Long, long story, but the most recent installment would be that my boyfriend dumped me quite publicly a couple of years ago at our hospital Christmas party. I wasn’t much on the holiday prior to that, but gave up completely at that point. Nothing merry about a day that only reminds you of bad memories.”

“Sounds to me like I was right. You have been dating the wrong Prince Charming.” Jewel made a sound that could have been her clearing her throat or could have been her faking a gag. “Let’s hope this current guy you say you like has more sense.”

“Let’s hope.”

Trinity’s voice held a dreamy quality that could only be defined as real hope. She hoped he had enough sense to be her Prince Charming? Was that it? Was he not giving her enough romance? He hadn’t really tried to be romantic, just himself. Although most men would say that cooking a candlelit dinner for her should have won him more than a few romance brownie points. He’d done more for her than he’d ever done for any woman. Was it not enough?

Still, she’d given him food for thought.

He’d planned to go in, check Jewel and see if sending her home for the holidays was a remote possibility.

Instead, he walked away from the room wondering what one had to do to be Trinity’s Prince Charming? Her right Prince Charming?

And wondering why making sure he did just that was so important when he wasn’t a happily-ever-after kind of guy.

Christmas Eve. Only a few more days of this nonsense and then the world would be focused on out with the old and in with the new and how many resolutions could everyone make that they didn’t really intend to keep.

Trinity could barely wait.

Sure, so far she’d made it through the holiday season with a lot fewer tears than last year.

Actually, she hadn’t cried much at all, and she knew why.

Riley.

Since the Christmas party they’d been together pretty much non-stop and she hadn’t had time to dwell on Christmases past.

Just Christmas present.

No way would she even consider Christmas future. She had to make it through the rest of the current holiday season first.

As in, what the heck was she going to buy his family? She’d forced herself into a few shops and hadn’t found one thing that said, Buy me because Riley’s family will love me.

How the devil was she supposed to know what to purchase for people she’d never met? She’d considered buying everything from gourmet cheese and fruit to the latest bestseller. She’d even done several late night frantic internet searches on gifts for people one didn’t know.

Nothing had seemed just right.

She’d yet to see Riley today as the cardiology group he was a part of had closed up shop for the next two days, but she knew he’d be by at some point to check on his hospital patients. He was the kind of doctor who would do a round on his own patients rather than have the on-call doc do so.

“Hey, before you leave today, make sure you find me,” Karen said as she came around the nurses’ station. “I have a little something for you.”

“You do?” Trinity asked, thankful for the little something she’d picked up for her coworker while searching for Riley’s family something. The small gift was stuck inside a Christmas bag with Karen’s name on it inside her purse.