My Christmas Doctor

"Darling, I've just had the strangest call from Belle. You've upset her terribly. How could you tell her you have a girlfriend? I assured her that it was impossible, as you would have introduced any new girlfriend to me and your father—"

"You shouldn't have done that. I do have a new girlfriend, and she's worth a million of Belle's heck, she's worth a million of Belle's snotty friends plus Belle."

"What are you talking about, darling? You've not been home to meet anyone new."

"Mother, there are other people in the world than those who live in the Hamptons," I said wryly.

"But, darling, you haven't introduced her to us. Are you ashamed of her? Is she poor?"

"God, Mother, do you even hear yourself sometimes? No, I'm not ashamed of her. It’s a fairly new relationship, too soon to introduce her to you and Father. And no, she isn't poor, fuck—"

"Language, Brian. I am still your mother!"

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I really like this woman and I'm going to keep seeing her—"

"Nevermind that, dear, if you do not wish to get back with Belle, there are several other suitable young women I can set you up with. In fact, Selina will be coming to the party Saturday, she is a lovely girl. Her father is on the Board of Directors for Stony Brook, old money—"

"Mother! You are not setting me up with anyone! I am seeing someone and I'm not going to have you throwing women at me all weekend! If that is your plan, then you can just forget it! I'm not coming home!"

"Brian James Chase! How dare you defy me!" she fumed, and I knew she was getting ready to let me have it. "You will be coming home, and you will either get back together with Belle or I will set you up with Selina, and then you will take a nice comfortable position at Stony Brook, or else!"

"Goodbye, Mother." I hung up. Her threats were empty, and I knew it. No longer would I kowtow to her wishes. She would probably go to Father, and he would make threats about cutting me off if I didn't comply, but what they didn't seem to understand was that I didn't need, nor did I want their money. I had my own.

I rubbed a hand over my eyes. I could feel a tension headache coming on, so I took some Tylenol and drank a bottle of water. I wished I could call Jane, but I knew she was busy writing, and I didn't want to disturb her. It was her job, and unlike my ex and my mother, I didn't want to disrupt her day. I'd call her later when I knew she'd be stopping for dinner. I could wait. Sighing, I got back to work going over the file for my next patient.Chapter 13JaneMid-JulyI smiled as I looked at the 'Good morning, beautiful' text I'd gotten from Brian that morning. He was so sweet. We'd been on several dates now, and things were going really well. He was kind, considerate, loving. I couldn't see any flaws in him, but I knew everyone had them and I kind of had to wonder when they'd rear their ugly head. Not that I wanted to borrow trouble or anything. I just wanted to be prepared for when it happened. For now, though, he made me feel good. I texted him back and then set my phone aside as I ate breakfast.

With that out of the way, I opened up my laptop and decided to go over what I'd written the day before. The story was coming along better than I'd even hoped. I was really excited about how it was all coming together. Brian had mentioned several times that he couldn't wait to read it, which made me giddy. I loved the fact that he was so into the stories I wrote. He'd even discovered the three anthologies I'd contributed to, and read those, then raved about them to me. The anthologies had been written for charity projects, so I didn't make anything on them, but they did pretty well.

I had almost finished going through the previous day's work when my phone rang. I picked it up and answered, "Hi, Mom, I'm working…what do you need?"

"Janie, is that anyway to start off a conversation? Immediately jumping to what do I need? I need to talk to my daughter! Isn't that enough reason for me to call?"

"Of course, it is, Mom, but, you know, I'm trying to write… I can't do that if I'm on the phone with you."

"Well la-de-da! If I try calling in the evenings, you don't answer!"

"Because those nights you've called, I was out on a date—"

"A date? You're seeing someone?" She almost sounded offended.

Stupid, Jane.

"Yes, actually. He's a doctor. Genuinely nice, kind, loving…"