Page 3 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

Kyra’s mother shook her head, smiling.

Susie howled with laughter as Doc marched over to her. Feigning his most serious expression, he said, “I’m going to need my beard and belly back.”

“I don’t have them!” she said between laughs.

“You don’t?” He scratched his head and wrinkled his brow, looking around the room. Spotting a teddy bear, he went over to it and said, “Did you take my beard and belly?” He put the bear’s mouth to his ear, pretending to listen. “Uh-huh. I see. Thank you.” He put the bear down and dramatically wiped his brow. “Whew. That’s a relief.”

“What did he say?” Kyra asked.

“He said I don’t need the belly or the beard to give you gifts!”

The girls exchanged giddy glances.

“Let’s see what we have in here.” He reached into the sack and pulled out the last two gift-wrapped boxes.

“I hope it’s not socks,” Susie said.

“Susie,” her father gently chided.

“That’s all right. I don’t much like socks, either,” Doc said.

“I like fuzzy socks,” Kyra exclaimed.

Doc shook the gifts, knowing they weren’t socks, and said, “I wonder what they are.” He handed each girl a box, and they tore them open, gasping with delight as they pulled out their stuffed toys.

“A Squishmallow unicorn!” Susie exclaimed, hugging hers.

“I got a Squishmallow kitty!” Kyra waved at Susie.

“Thank you!” the girls said in unison, and then they chattered with each other about their gifts.

Doc soaked in their joy. “Happy holidays, sweet girls.”

“Happy holidays!” they said, and started playing with their toys together, a sight that warmed his heart.

“Thank you,” the parents said in unison.

Doc gave another nod, wishing he had something comforting to give them, too, but he knew seeing their daughters’ smiles could only be outdone by handing them a cure. If only he could do that. When he walked out of their room, he threw a silent prayer up to the powers that be for the girls and their families, just as he’d been doing all day.

“There you are!” Birdie hurried purposefully toward him looking like some kind of vampish elf in an off-the-shoulder red minidress with white and green hearts trailing above a white fur-trimmed hem, elbow-length, red-green-and-white-striped fingerless gloves, and red platform boots. Striped suspenders were attached to a thick green belt circling her tiny waist, and a headband with two stuffed candy canes sticking up like ears trapped her wild dark hair.

“I just finished.” Doc took off his Santa hat. “I’m heading out.”

“Not that way, you’re not.” She grabbed his arm, dragging him in the opposite direction.

“The elevator is the other way.”

“We’re taking a different one. Unless you want to see Mandy, who’s chatting up another nurse by those elevators.”

“Shit.” Mandy was a nurse he’d gone out with for much longer than he’d intended, and even though he’d been honest from the start about not looking for more than occasional company, she’d had a hard time letting go. “Thanks for helping me dodge that bullet.”

They turned down one hall, then another, and came to a set of elevators. Birdie pushed the button. “If you’re going to keep doing this extended-stay-motel dating thing, I suggest you do it outside of Hope Valley.”

He ground his back teeth against the phrase his brothers had coined about his dating life, because his relationships never lasted longer than two or three months. They weren’t wrong, but hearing his little sister say it annoyed the crap out of him.

“Where did you hear that extended-stay shit?”

She rolled her eyes. “First of all, everyone is aware of your MO, and God only knows why women still find you mysterious and sexy.” She opened her mouth and pretended to put her finger in it and gag.