Sleigh Bell Dreams (Mistletoe Meadows Sweet Christmas #1)

Chapter 18

Judd stood at the stove, glancing at the clock. It was almost six. And he expected Terry to be home at any time. He’d made his poppy seed chicken and was hoping that she would let him know if it was good enough for him to take to her family’s Thanksgiving. Since his parents’ Thanksgiving was a little bit later, he figured he could do two, although he wouldn’t be expected to eat a lot at his parents’ place. His mom probably wouldn’t even notice if he ate anything.

He wondered what they’d do if he brought Terry.

His mom wasn’t demanding that he be with anyone, but her question as to whether or not he liked men had been a little...irritating. Disappointing, maybe even hurtful.

He couldn’t wait to find out how Terry’s day had been, and he hoped that she wouldn’t notice that he’d been bleeding under his bandage.

She hadn’t left any extra bandages, maybe because she had assumed that if he needed any help, she could do it herself. Or maybe she just hadn’t thought about it. Or maybe he should have bought his own. But by the time he was done working today, he hadn’t had time to go to the store.

So, he just did what he could to hide it, putting a glove over top of it, which didn’t really help. The bloody parts kind of stuck to the glove and were emphasized by the fact that they looked a little wet and obviously red.

Anyway, maybe she would be so excited about her first day at the clinic that she wouldn’t notice.

He heard the door rattle, and his heart skipped several beats. His hands started to sweat.

He almost laughed. Why did she have that effect on him?

“Something smells amazing,” she said as she came in the door.

“I almost texted you and asked if you like poppy seeds, but then I realized that I’d never gotten your contact info.” He spoke while he was opening the oven, using mitts to pull out the casserole.

“I’m sorry. I can fix that right now. If you give me your number.”

“I didn’t mean to jump on you the second you got home. I wanted to know how your day was.”

“It was fabulous.” There was no doubt that there was a huge amount of happiness in her tone.

“Boy, I don’t know if you’re sincere,” he teased.

She was grinning from ear to ear as she walked in the kitchen, pulling off her coat and shoving her gloves in her pockets. “I know that this will wear off, but I am thrilled. It feels so good to be able to go into your own clinic, talk to people as long as you want to, and just be a part of the community. I’ve been missing this for so long.”

He didn’t doubt it. She disappeared down the hall to hang up her coat and then came back to the kitchen and went directly to the sink.

“It’s so much different treating people from a small town. They come in, and they’re chatting about their day and what is going on, and even more so from my hometown, because most of the people that I saw today knew me.”

“A good reason to have a good reputation.”

“Amen!” she exclaimed.

They both laughed. “I know you do, because I knew you in high school, and I don’t think there’s anyone who had a better one.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” She came over and stood at his elbow, sniffing the casserole. “Man, I don’t know what that is, but you can make that all day long.”

“Watch it, my head’s going to get too big to fit in the doorway,” he said as he pulled the foil off and then grabbed the dish to take it to the table.

She moved to the cupboard and pulled out two plates. The plates clanked as she pulled out the drawer and put silverware on them, and then carried them to the table.

He had gone back and taken the oven mitts off, and tried not to be obvious about hiding his hand as he came back to the table.

She must have been looking for it, because she gasped immediately. “Your hand is bleeding!”

“I’m sorry. I was going to change the bandage, but you didn’t leave any extra and I didn’t have time to stop and go to the store and grab some and still have supper ready in time. So I just skipped it.”

“Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry. I never thought about leaving extra bandages. But I certainly could have.”

“You weren’t charging before, and I would have felt bad if you left them and I hadn’t paid.”

“What did you do to your hand to make it bleed?” She had come over and taken a hold of his hand and held it up for her inspection.

The blood had definitely gone through the bandages.

“I bet you popped a stitch. At least one. Maybe more. What in the world have you done?”

“Well, I do work a little, sometimes,” he said softly. He didn’t want to be rude, but he needed to be on the job. She would too. She only wanted the best for him. “I can’t just not work,” he said, looking down into her eyes and hoping that at the very least she understood that he hadn’t been deliberately disobeying her or not caring about the work she’d done on him. He did. Truly.

But he had to do some yard work for some elderly ladies in town, and Wilson had found out that they were going to be out of town today, and he had wanted to get it done.

Plus, tonight, if everything went well, he’d be putting the Christmas decorations up, so it was likely that he would be using his hand even more than he had today. Of course, he wasn’t going to tell her that.

She nodded with her lips pressed together. “I guess there’s no point stitching it up if you’re just going to break them again.”

“I’m not doing it on purpose. I promise. I respect your work and your orders, but at the same time, there are certain things I have to do.”

She nodded, and her lips relaxed slightly, like she understood what he was saying. He wasn’t trying to be disrespectful.

“All right. Are you going to be okay if I unwrap this?”

He put his good hand on top of hers as she started to unpin the bandage. Stopping her. She looked up at him, and he lifted his brows.

“Doc, you had a big day. Sit down, eat some supper. Take care of yourself. My hand will be here whenever you get done. I promise.”

He wanted to take care of her. He didn’t want her to work herself into the ground, and especially not for him.

She tilted her head, and then her lips moved up slightly.

“That’s nice. The first time all day someone took care of me instead of the other way around. I...appreciate it.” She nodded her head, and while he knew that she reluctantly listened to him, he also believed that she truly did appreciate his care and concern.

She tugged her hand out from under his, slowly, and it almost gave him the impression that she really didn’t want to.

He didn’t know about her, but he liked the way their hands felt together, the way his skin rubbed against hers, and the closeness of their positions.

All things he really shouldn’t be thinking about. She was a doctor, for goodness’ sake. And he had chosen to be what he was, but in society’s eyes, it wasn’t much.

Without saying anything more, she went over and sat down.