Mistletoe Mommy

didn’t.”

They stopped on an aisle that sold beds and toys. Adam stood back, letting the kids debate colors and laugh at jingly mice. He smiled, but his expression turned sheepish as he faced Brenna. “You probably think I’m a bad parent, bribing my kids to win their affection.”

It was odd-and unexpectedly touching-that he might care what she thought.

“No,” she said softly. “I still remember my first pet.” It had been right after her mother walked out on them. Brenna had been in emotional turmoil, but Josh-who’d gone through his parents’ divorce, a remarriage and now a sudden abandonment-had been equally overwrought. Fred had taken them to the animal shelter and picked out an exuberant golden retriever puppy they’d named Otis.

For Brenna, that dog had been a godsend. She’d spent far too much of her life, even the relatively quiet and happy times, dreading her mother’s next mood swing or capricious life change. And though Fred Pierce was a wonderful man who’d shown her nothing but affectionate welcome, Brenna’s ingrained trepidation had remained. If her own mother hadn’t wanted her, why would a man with no real obligation to her? Otis had shown her unconditional love until the day he’d gone to the great Dog Park in the Sky.

“You okay?” Adam asked.

She blinked, startled to find that her eyes stung. “Sorry, my mind wandered. I was thinking about a golden retriever Josh and I used to have. I realize that, as someone who works with animals, I’m biased, but pets can be a miraculous addition to your life. As long as you don’t mind the occasional messes, clawed drapes, getting up to let the dog out at three in the morning and their bringing you something dead to show their love.”

Adam’s laugh helped put her uncharacteristically sentimental moment behind them. “Wow, when you put it like that… No, I do know what you mean. There have been medical studies arguing tangible health benefits of owning pets, like lower blood pressure. A few people even maintain that chances of survival after a heart attack are higher for pet-owners.”

“This one?” Morgan asked suddenly, approaching with a small red-and-ivory cat bed.

After exchanging glances with Brenna, who shrugged, Adam nodded. His daughter put the bed into the cart, and the kids rounded the end of the lane into the next aisle. The adults followed at a more leisurely pace, Adam absently rubbing a purring Ellie as they walked.

“So what got you interested in cardiac medicine?” Brenna asked.

“My dad, indirectly. He was my hero when I was young-big, gruff, but with a truly gentle heart. He was an anesthesiologist, used to come home in awe of the surgeries performed at the hospital, the people who’d been healed and the lives that had been saved. I looked up to him, so I guess I decided early that I wanted to be like the doctors he looked up to.” Adam hesitated, his lips pursed. “Think I fell short of the mark, forgetting somewhere why my dad was such a hero to me in the first place. He was a great father.”

“And you don’t think you are?” Brenna hadn’t meant to ask-the answer, which was none of her business, anyway, was obvious. But the question escaped on a sigh of disbelief. “I realize I barely know you, but I think you’re being too hard on yourself.”

He flashed her a wan grin. “My ex-wife might disagree.”

“Even after this trip? Because I see a man who’s trying to sincerely connect with his children. You may have made some mistakes, but who hasn’t?”

He was quiet a beat, perhaps mulling over her words. When he spoke again, his tone was lighter, curious. “What about you? You have any mistakes you regret?”

“Me?” The question startled her.

“I’m sorry. That was probably rude to ask.”

He looked so chagrined that she blurted, “I make mistakes all the time. Just last week I forgot that a family had changed their alarm code and left my notebook in the car. Thirty seconds after I stepped into their house, the siren was blaring and two cops from the Mistletoe Police Department had to come out.

“The noise nearly gave the poor Chihuahua I was sitting a heart attack. Not to mention, I felt like an idiot in front of several clients, including the next-door neighbor and one of the policemen on call. He has a mynah bird and an African gray parrot.”

Her confession might not be emotionally on par with Adam’s parental concerns, but his smile was both grateful and sympathetic.

“So, lesson learned,” she concluded. “From now on I take my notebook inside even if I’ve done the assignment a hundred times and feel like I know everything. Especially if I feel like I know everything, because those are the times when you forget to notice what’s going on around you.”

He looked thoughtful. “The same could be said for marriage. I-”

“Dad, we found the food Dr. Higgs recommended,” Eliza called from her kneeling position in front of the shelf. “What size bag do we want?”

After that, the kids needed more input and there was less time for Brenna and Adam to talk. Helping the Varners plan for Ellie’s care, Brenna found herself back on familiar, neutral territory.

Until Adam pulled out his credit card for the cashier and turned to ask Brenna, “So, should we just follow you to your house now?”

“DAD, IS MS. PIERCE trying to lose us?” Geoff asked from the passenger seat.

“No, I’m sure that was an accident,” Adam said. Or a Freudian slip. Brenna had accelerated at a yellow light just as it became red, stranding Adam behind her. “Look, she’s already pulled over on the side of the road to wait for us.”

Since they’d agreed earlier that Ellie would stay with Brenna during the remainder of their vacation, he’d assumed he was bringing the cat over. But judging by Brenna’s startled expression when he’d asked about going to her house, she had not made the same assumption.

“Actually,” she’d explained back at the store, “I don’t normally allow customers to drop pets off at my house. It’s tougher on the animal. It’s more fun for them, more exciting, to ‘go for a ride,’ which a lot of pets love as much as going for a walk. On the other hand, when their owner leaves them somewhere and they’re stuck behind, feeling abandoned…”

She’d trailed off, just for a second, but long enough for Adam to register a fleeting change in her expression.

“Never mind all that,” she’d contradicted herself. “Your situation is unusual. Since you guys haven’t had time to establish a strong bond yet with Ellie, it makes just as much sense for you to come with me. Help her get settled, visit her a few times while you’re in Mistletoe. We don’t want her thinking she’s my cat at the end of three weeks.”

After the intersection, Adam caught up to Brenna and followed her onto a quaint street lined with a hodgepodge of houses-a brick ranch home sat between a two-story log cabin replica and a Cape Cod. It wasn’t like modern subdivisions with a grand name, private neighborhood pool and only about three different floor plans alternated between twenty houses. Brenna’s neighborhood-if a single strand of homes could be called that-was eclectic but well kept. Lawns were neatly trimmed, hydrangeas were in bloom and oaks and pear trees provided shady respite from the sweltering heat.

At the curve of the cul-de-sac Brenna pulled her car into the driveway of a stone-faced, cottage-style house. It wasn’t big, but it had a generous front yard and what looked to be a huge, fenced-in backyard.

She was out of her car and beside his before he even got his door open. “Sorry about leaving you back there. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She paused, her lips twisting in a self-deprecating smirk. “I lied. I do know what I was thinking. I had a sudden brain lapse where I thought if I hurried I might have a minute or two to straighten up before you arrived. Which is when it occurred to me that you didn’t know how to get here.”

He found the explanation endearing. “Don’t stress over the house. We’re the ones imposing.” Besides, how messy could her place be? She seemed too brisk and efficient, hardly the type to leave dishes in the sink or toss a towel on the floor.

She went up the front sidewalk, followed by his kids, and Adam felt as if he and the cat were bringing up the rear of a strange little parade. As Brenna unlocked the front door, frenetic barking came from inside.

“Don’t worry,” she said over her shoulder. “That’s my dog, Zoe. She’s occasionally noisy, but incredibly friendly.”

“Even with cats?” Morgan asked, casting an alarmed glance toward Ellie’s new carrier. The feline had flattened herself inside the towel, her ears twitching and her fur puffing with apprehension.