Doctor Holliday (Doctors of Eastport General)

Chapter 13

Friday, December 15 th

Lucy

“It’s Aunt Kim,” Callie announced from her slouched position over Lucy’s bed. Lucy narrowed her eyes at her daughter.

“Do not answer it!” she hissed as Callie slid her phone closer. “I don’t have time?—”

“Hey, Aunt Kim.”

Lucy aimed an over-the-top frown at Callie when she tapped the button.

“Hey, Cal. Your mom around?”

Lucy backed into her closet shaking her head no.

“Yeah, she’s right here. She’s getting ready for a date,” Callie told Kim.

“Dammit.” Lucy rolled her eyes, but she had to laugh.

“A date…Hmmm.”

“It’s just a date,” Lucy lied as she turned to study the items hanging in the closet. It wasn’t just a date. At least she hoped not. She wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted from tonight. While the idea of finding herself skin to skin with Keaton Thatcher was very appealing—she had dreamt about it the night before last—she didn’t want to jump into it, into bed, that fast. Lucy kind of wanted to be courted. Wooed.

She was too old for games. She wanted this to matter.

“Then why have you been staring into your closet for a decade?” Callie asked.

Lucy planted her hands on her hips and looked over her shoulder. Callie, now propped on her pillows, answered with only an insolent grin.

“I haven’t.”

“She has, Aunt Kim. She’s also tried on three dresses.”

If Callie were a girlfriend and not her daughter, she would flip her off.

“Go with the sluttiest look you have,” Kim coached over the phone.

“That one’s at the dry cleaners.”

Lucy spun around and stared at Callie, mouth agape.

“Seriously, Luce. You should get laid. It’s almost Christmas time. Even Santa comes once a year.”

“Kimberly.” Lucy groaned and dropped her head to her hands to hide her face. “Your niece is sitting right here.”

“You are way out of touch if you think your eighteen-year-old daughter doesn’t know what it means to come.”

Lucy lifted her head enough to peek at Callie, her heart crashing at her feet when Callie’s face turned beet read and she looked away. Of course, Callie had messed around with boys. And yes, Lucy assumed she’d had sex. They had talked about it when Callie was fifteen. And because Lucy was an ob-gyn and not just the mother of a beautiful teenage girl, Callie had been on birth control since she was sixteen.

Never mind that the mother in Lucy pretended it was to keep her periods regular and not to allow her to explore her sexuality.

“Maybe she doesn’t particularly want to hear about her mother in the same sentence as the word come .”

A painful sound drew Lucy’s eyes to her daughter again. Callie coughed and laughed at the same time.

“You could give me some space here,” Lucy suggested with her brows raised.

“Nope. Remember my first date? You were on me like syrup on a pancake while I was getting ready.”

“I’m your mother.”

Callie shrugged.

“Who’re you going out with? Do I know him?”

On the occasion Lucy had a date, that was usually Kim’s first question. Eastport—Rhode Island, itself—wasn’t that big, but then again, it wasn’t like everyone knew everyone in the state or city for that matter.

“Keaton Thatcher,” Lucy answered as she browsed the hangers in her closet again.

“Don’t know him.” Kim’s answer was punctuated with the deep breath that told Lucy she had just lit a cigarette. Lucy glanced at her alarm clock—the one it seemed she only used when she was rushing to get ready to go somewhere and Kim was yakking her ear off, nearly making her late.

“Let me, Mom.” Callie climbed off the bed. Lucy, clad in sweats and t-shirt, perched on the edge of her bed and watched while Callie took her turn perusing the clothes in the closet.

“What’s he like?” Kim asked.

“Sexy,” Callie called with her back to the phone.

“You think he’s sexy?”

Callie looked at Lucy over her shoulder. “Yeah. For an old guy.”

“Ouch.” Lucy laid her hand over her heart.

“I got the TV for Mom and Dad,” Kim told her.

“Good. What do I owe you?”

“Here, Mom.” Callie pulled a sleeveless burgundy dress from the closet and turned to her. “It’s not black, so you’re not, like screaming, I’m sexy. But it’s classy…kind of subtle sexy.”

“Why do you assume I want to even whisper sexy?”

“I mean, Aunt Kim had a point,” Callie mumbled.

“Ohmygod.” Lucy groaned.

“Put it on,” Kim commanded. “Cal, send me a picture.”

“Really?” Lucy took the hanger from Callie, but she remained seated.

“And…” Callie squatted in front of Lucy’s shoe rack. “These.”

Lucy stared at the knee-high black leather boots. The sexy kitten heels.

“C’mon, Mom. It’s not like they’re fuc?—”

“Do. Not. Even. Say. It.” Lucy stood up and pointed a motherly finger at Callie.

“Man, I wish I was there,” Kim cackled. “Next time you go on a date, tell me so I can come hang out with Cal.”

“C’mon.” Callie nodded at the dress.

Lucy wasn’t thrilled with the idea of taking her clothes off in front of Callie. The one thing she had donned for the date with no hemming and hawing was a sexy thong and a see-through lace bra in matching black.

“What time’s your date?” Kim’s question threw Lucy into action. If she didn’t get moving soon, Keaton might show up to get her while she was decked out in sweats. If they became a thing, it would be something he saw often. But maybe not appropriate for a first date at The Harbourview.

“He’ll be here in about fifteen minutes,” Callie announced.

Lucy groaned and tossed the dress on her bed. She pulled her t-shirt off and reached for the dress.

“Eww.” Callie rolled her eyes.

“What? Does she need to shave her legs?” Kim asked.

“Worse. I can see her boobs through her bra.”

“Out.” Lucy shooed Callie to the door, but her daughter threw her hands out to catch herself on the doorframe. “I have a thong on, too, Cal. You wanna see that?”

“Damn.” Kim’s whistle made Lucy’s cheeks flush a deep, hot red.

“You can wear that stuff just for yourself,” Callie said quietly.

“What?” Lucy slipped the dress carefully over her head, so she wouldn’t mess with her hair and makeup.

“I mean, sure, guys like it.” Callie blushed this time. Lucy did a mental run through of Callie’s intimate laundry. Did she have this kind of stuff? Seemed kind of unfair. Lucy hadn’t owned sexy lingerie when she was in high school. After all, high school boys could get their rocks off at just a peek of a matronly white bra and the idea of what was in the bra. Why spend a fortune on sexy lingerie if boys didn’t know how to appreciate it?

“But, if it makes you feel sexy and powerful, then you’re wearing it for you. Not Keaton. Right, Mom?”

Lucy agreed with the sentiment, but she wondered if her little girl was desperately grasping at an innocent reason her mother was wearing sexy underwear.

“Right.” Lucy agreed. She tugged her sweats off and smoothed the skirt of her dress over her hips all in one smooth motion. Confident she hadn’t mooned her daughter, she perched on the bed again to slip into the boots.

“How’s she look, Callie?” Kim asked. Lucy gritted her teeth when Kim took another deep drag on her cigarette.

“How about you quit smoking?” she suggested.

“Beautiful, Aunt Kim.” Callie’s voice drew Lucy’s attention to where she remained in the doorway. “Mom looks beautiful.”

“I won’t keep you,” Kim announced. “Just wanted to let you know I got the TV.”

“Great.” Before Lucy could say another word, Kim disconnected the call. Lucy glanced at Callie with exasperation. “She didn’t tell me what I owe her.”

“She will.”

Lucy nodded. Kim would probably text her and Marty both. Still, she felt a little frazzled as she hurried into the ensuite bathroom to check her makeup.

“You look good, Mom.”

Lucy lifted her eyes to look at Callie in the mirror behind her.

“You know I’m not wearing this because I think?—”

“I know.” Callie nodded. “I was teasing.”

“’kay.”

“But I do think you like him.”

Lucy turned away from the mirror and took a deep breath. She was nervous. Because she loved seafood, she hadn’t overdone it at lunch, so she would be hungry. But her belly was a twitter with butterfly wings now, and she wondered if she would be able to eat.

“I do.”

“He seems like a nice guy,” Callie offered.

“I think so, too.”

“And he is pretty good-looking.”

Lucy laughed as she turned the light off. “For an old guy.”

“Nah. Just good-looking.”

They crossed the room as the doorbell rang.

“Mom?”

“Hmm?” Lucy looked back at Callie as she headed down the entry hall to answer the door.

“It’s okay.”

“What is?” Lucy shook her head.

“If you don’t come home tonight. It’s okay. I get it.”

“Cal.” Lucy sighed, but Callie vanished into the living room, leaving Lucy alone with her out-of-control thoughts and her racing heart. She took a deep breath before pulling the door open. Keaton Thatcher, dressed in gray trousers and a black button-down shirt, made her heart plunge into her belly, sending those butterflies down to stroke their wings over other body parts.

“You.” He shook his head as he dragged his eyes over her from head to toe and back. “Look stunning.”

Glad Callie had talked her into leaving her hair in loose curls around her face and shoulders, Lucy pressed her lips together and nodded. “You do, too, Mr. Shucks-in-a-Flannel-Shirt.”

His laughter shot through her like top-shelf whiskey. Warmth radiated through her belly and her arms, making her fingertips tingle.,

“Let’s go. I can’t wait to show you off.”