My Christmas Doctor

"But Bri-Bri, it's our anniversary!"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "First of all, we're no longer married, Belle. Second of all, our wedding anniversary was on June tenth."

"Not that anniversary, silly, the anniversary of the day your mother introduced us."

I rolled my eyes and pushed the button for the elevator. "No. Not a day I want to celebrate, Belle."

She pouted. "Why not?" Her bottom lip quivered.

"I've told you before, I'm seeing someone, and I want nothing to do with you. Go away, Belle. And stay away." I stepped into the elevator car when the door opened, and pushed the close door button, leaving Belle standing on the other side with her jaw hanging open.

I was sure she figured if she came to see me, I'd cave. I always had before, but I was happy now and she wasn't going to ruin that. Smiling, I headed into work.

Three hours later, my cellphone rang, and I answered it. "Good morning, Mother. What can I do for you?"

"You can stop seeing that harlot in NYC and move back to the Hamptons and get back together with Belle for a start."

I groaned and turned into an empty room, closing the door behind me. "Not this again. Mother, Jane is not a harlot, she's an author and a damn good one, I might add. I'm not moving back to the Hamptons and I'm absolutely not getting back together with Belle, so please, for the love of all that is holy, stop trying to pressure me into doing what you want!"

"Your father wants you back here in the Hamptons, Brian darling, and we both want to see you settled with a good woman!"

"No, you want me under your thumb, married to a conniving, manipulative, daddy's girl who will drive me to an early grave! I swear to God, if you continue with this, Mother, I will block your number and I will never return to the Hamptons. Not even to visit. Do you understand me?"

She huffed into the phone, clearly affronted by my words. "Your father—"

I shook my head. She was never going to change. "Goodbye, Mother." I clicked off the phone, feeling the stress of the conversation in my neck. I couldn't wait for the day to be over so I could have dinner with Jane.Chapter 17JaneThe weekend with Brian at his place had been wonderful. I'd found it so easy to imagine myself living there with him. I could see myself in the curved room, writing during the day, snuggling with Brian in the evenings. And in the summer, sitting on the deck, writing in the sunshine, or reading… it was so serene there.

I couldn't think of any reason to tell him no, but something was holding me back. I was still waiting for him to fall off the pedestal I'd put him on. He was perfect. Too perfect and that made me wary. Aaron had seemed perfect too. Until he wasn't. Aaron had done a number on my trust instincts. Before him, I would have jumped in head and heart first without even considering what might happen if things went south. Now I was scared to put my toe in the deep end. I hated that.

I shouldn't let what Aaron did, ruin things between me and Brian. He was amazing. Caring, kind, considerate, always a gentleman… I can trust him, damn it. The man literally saved my life, for God's sake!

But the what if thoughts wouldn't stop, which was why I was sitting here staring at my computer screen at two o'clock in the afternoon on a Thursday not writing anything. Finally, I gave up and closed down my computer. I had one chapter left. One. And it had to be absolutely perfect.

I'd sent the first half of the book to my agent, Martin, earlier in the month and he'd been over the moon about it, even with it completely unedited. He'd been pestering me for a look at it, to make sure I was going to produce another hit, so I finally caved and sent him the first half. He knew I had more, and was close to finishing, so now I was on a deadline to have the entire thing finished and self-edited by Halloween. The publisher wanted to put it out for the holidays and pick up on those holiday sales. Of course, that wasn't going to happen if I couldn't write the final chapter!

Grabbing a bag of chips, I turned on the tv and flopped down on my sofa to watch a movie. Maybe after some chill time I'd be able to go back to it. Just as the show started, my cellphone rang. I didn't recognize the ringtone, or the number, so I didn't answer it. A few minutes later it rang again, same number, but they hadn't left a voicemail. I let it ring, still not answering. It rang a third time and feeling exasperated, I finally answered.