Doctor Holliday (Doctors of Eastport General)

Chapter 7

Sunday, December 10 th

Lucy

Christmas shopping with Callie had always been a big deal for Lucy. Shopping and lunch—whether Callie was dropping hints to Lucy about what she wanted or if they were looking for something for Lucy’s family gift exchange or the angel tree at church. This year felt different to Lucy, because next year was already weighing heavily on her. Sure, Callie would come home for Christmas—Lucy hoped she would, anyway. But what if her daughter met the love of her life her first semester away at college and opted to stay with him and his family for the holidays?

Even if she didn’t, even if Callie did come home next Christmas, their time together would feel different. There would be an expiration date; Callie would have to go back to school. And Lucy didn’t want to admit it, but family dynamics all started to shift when a kid went off to school. She had seen it, felt it, with her siblings, and she had lived it once she moved out. Lucy had always been close to her family, her mom included, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t enjoyed college life. Her friends. Her boyfriends.

The man who had given her Callie when she was only twenty. Too young, too career-driven to be a mom, and yet Callie came along and changed her life for the better. Unfortunately, Callie’s father had been a small man, and Lucy’s determination to succeed, to do well in school and be a doctor, had made him feel threatened. He had tried his damnedest to tear her down, to belittle her. Aaron was a medical student, too, but Lucy knew he wasn’t cut out for the work, the time, involved. He had picked at everything she did their entire year long marriage, including how she nursed their daughter. As if he could have done it better.

“Mom?”

Callie’s tone suggested she had been talking to her and Lucy had zoned out. She gave herself a mental shake and met her daughter’s eyes.

“What do you think?”

Lucy blinked at the beige sweater Callie held out for her approval.

“Cute.” She nodded.

“You could add it to my list,” the girl suggested with a little grin.

“Why don’t you ever wear bright colors?” Lucy asked her, but she pulled her phone from the butt pocket of her jeans and took a picture of the sweater. Through the years, she had found it was the easiest way of remembering Callie’s hints.

“Because bright colors aren’t in.”

She might not have rolled her eyes, but her voice gave away her impatience. Callie was a good kid, but she was still a teenager and liked to remind Lucy that she was cool and Lucy, being a mom, was not.

“Then why is that rack of stuff over there bright blue and green?”

“The question you should be asking yourself,” Callie folded the beige sweater and put it back on the shelf and continued, “is why are all those tops still on the rack? See that sale sign? They can’t get rid of them, because those colors are out of style.”

Lucy laughed and shook her head as they walked through the department store.

“I like blue,” she argued just for the sake of keeping the conversation going.

“That’s because you’re old.”

The feeling of Callie’s arm slung over her shoulder took any sting out of Callie’s teasing.

“You hungry?” Lucy asked her.

“Yep.”

“Too bad. You called me old. You’re gonna have to starve.”

Callie snorted softly.

“How about The Burrito Barn?”

“Sure.”

They left the department store and “Silver Bells” behind and blended into the light crowd in the mall. Lucy rarely ventured into malls now. Not that there were that many surviving shopping malls left across the country. But she loved the Eastport Galleria during the holidays. The closer they got to Christmas Day, the bigger the crowds would be. Santaland still drew in all sorts of young families and children. Either Christmas carols were piped in through hidden speakers or a local choir or orchestra or something was here performing. And mostly, people were on their best behavior.

“You wanna sit on his lap?” Lucy nodded her head at the crowd gathered around Santaland.

“Creepy.” Callie shook her head.

“Is it, though? I mean, what if he’s just a nice old man who puts on the red suit each year to make kids happy? What if he’s a grandpa?”

“I’m eighteen,” Callie reminded her. They shared a laugh over the same conversation they’d been having for the past ten years.

“Aunt Kim wants to get Grandma and Grandpa a new TV this year,” Lucy said as they walked. In no hurry, they both strained and stretched their necks to look at the mall decorations for Santaland—the decorated trees, the toy soldiers, the elves—and Santa himself. A blond-headed toddler sat on his lap at the moment.

“That’s cool.” Callie nodded. “Grandma would love that for football.”

Lucy smiled. Her mother was a passionate Giants fan; she never missed a televised game.

“Ice cream? After lunch?”

Lucy laughed as she looked at her daughter. Every year on their big shopping days, they ate at The Burrito Barn for lunch and ended their outing later with ice cream treats. And then both of them complained the rest of the evening about how stuffed they were.

“Of course.” She rolled her eyes.

“Two,” Callie told the hostess as they approached the popular Mexican restaurant. The young girl nodded and selected two menus from the stack. They didn’t need them. Lucy wasn’t sure either of them had ever ordered anything other than their regular choices.

“Just a second.”

Callie turned to her as the hostess wandered off, presumably checking to make sure a table was free.

“Mac got into UCLA.”

Mac—Amy MacKenzie, Callie’s best friend since fourth grade—probably got a softball scholarship for UCLA. While Lucy was thrilled for Mac—the kid was like a second daughter—the thought of Callie being all the way across the country made her shiver. Lucy didn’t even like that Mac would be so far away. She would miss her nearly as much as she would miss her own daughter.

“That’s so far away,” she mumbled.

“See? So if I go to Notre Dame, I’m that much closer.”

“Thirteen hours is not close.” Lucy sighed.

The hostess appeared and motioned for them to follow her.

“But closer than UCLA,” Callie said sweetly. “And there are planes, Mother. It’s not like I’d have to drive thirteen hours to get home when I want to come home.”

“You got airfare?” Lucy asked as she scooted into the booth the hostess indicated. “Plane tickets aren’t cheap.”

“My mom’s a doctor,” Callie answered, eyes now on her open menu.

“What’s wrong with Boston? It’s a great school.”

“Can I get a margarita?”

Lucy rolled her eyes and shook her head.

It was almost as if this conversation was scripted, because they played it over and over again.

“How about a Shirley Temple?”

“Mac’s mom doesn’t want her to go.”

Lucy shrugged behind her own menu.

“Imagine that.”

She swept her gaze over the menu and then closed it and put it down. To her right, she heard a young voice chattering away about a science experiment. The low-timbered voice that answered made Lucy turn her head.

Keaton Thatcher and his daughter sat in a booth just across from them.