My Christmas Doctor

Feeling depressed, I walked away. As I got back in my car, I tried her number one more time, but it was still going straight to voicemail. When I couldn't reach her, I decided to call Bill and cancel our appointment. Well, not cancel, but postpone indefinitely. I still felt that whatever was going on with Jane would be resolved, and we'd get back to our happy selves.

A week passed and every day I had tried to get Jane to talk to me, but she ignored my calls and wouldn't come to the door when I stopped by. I had no idea what I'd done to upset her. I really missed her, and my heart was broken that she wouldn't even talk to me.

I had the weekend off, and I decided to just stay in, put up a few Halloween decorations. The holiday was still two weeks away, but I always decorated for Halloween and Christmas. If I didn't have to work, I passed out candy, if I did have to work, I hired the teenager that lived next door to pass it out for me. This Halloween, I was off, so I wanted to do something a little more elaborate.

I had just finished spooking up the house with fake spiderwebs, a pair of werewolves posed on one end of the porch, a witch on a broomstick hanging from the large tree in the front yard, and several carved pumpkins on the steps, when I'd gone in for a cold beer and there was a knock on the door. Without paying attention to who was on the other side of the glass, I opened it and was suddenly annoyed.

"What do you want, Belle?" I frowned. "Why are you here?"

Belle smiled. She was beautiful in that plastic celebrity kind of way, but I no longer found her all that attractive. "Aren't you going to invite me in? It's a bit chilly out here on the porch, Bri-bri."

"No, and if you thought it was so chilly out, you should have worn something more appropriate to the weather." I stared at her as I blocked her entrance to my house. She was wearing a dress that barely covered her assets and had a deep Vee neck, along with strappy sandals like it was July and she was on her way to some club, and not mid-October.

She pouted, "I just came to keep you company, considering you're newly single. I just want us to be happy again, Bri.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "How did you know Jane and I are taking some time apart?"

"Oh…um…" Her gray eyes widened, and I could see the guilt written in their depths.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the house, so we weren't having this conversation where my neighbors could overhear, and growled, "What did you do?" through my teeth.

"Oh, come on, Bri, it's not like that skank is one of us! You belong with our type of people! She's not one of us!"

I dropped her arm like it was on fire. She disgusted me. "She is better than all of you. Now tell me what the fuck you did."

Belle shrugged. "Ask your mother. She just wants us happy together, Bri. She and your father. You know how my daddy and yours are such good friends? They just want us to be family again. The way we should be."

I pushed the door open and pointed. "Get out. If I ever… ever see you again, Belle, I will get a restraining order."

"But, Bri—"

"Save it, Belle. I'm not joking or playing games. I see you or hear from you and I will get that restraining order. Goodbye, Belle." I slammed the door on her.

"Bri!" she called through the door.

Ignoring her, I called my mother.

"Brian, darling! To what do I owe the hon—"

"Cut the crap, Mother. What did you do?"

"Sweetheart, I don't know what you—"

"I know you spoke to Jane. Do not lie to me, Mother. What did you say to her?"

She sighed. "Darling, it was for your own good—"

"Mother, if I have to drive down to the Hamptons and shake the bloody words out of you, I fucking will. Now tell me the truth!"

"Really, such language—"

"You have one minute, Mother. You either tell me the fucking truth or you will never see or hear from me again. Do you understand me? I will cut you out of my life forever. Don't think I'm playing around here. I'm not. The truth, Mother."

She was quiet for a moment. "Very well. If you must know. I told her that you were a nefarious cheat who slept with patients and that was why Belle left you but that she wants you to go to marriage counseling to save your marriage and that she was in the way of that."

"Goodbye, Mother. If I can't repair this with Jane, I will never speak to you again. You've meddled in my life for the last time."