Eggnog and Candy Canes: A Blueberry Springs Christmas Novella by Jean Oram

rewound over and over again in her chick flicks and soap operas. And here she was, all ready to swoon over a doctor as though she was an old-fashioned heroine.
    She kind of liked the feeling.
    “I think you have acute appendicitis and are in danger of rupture. We will be removing your appendix. Immediately.” Nash paused between each sentence to allow her father to absorb the news.
    “Let’s do it. I’m needed home by five.”
    “Mr. Reiter, you will need to be under observation after surgery. I don’t think you are going home tonight.”
    “Please?” Harvey reached out, placing a hand on Nash’s. Katie watched the men, feeling as though she should disappear. To see her father in a weak moment was not what she’d come to work for. She came here to be strong, the one in charge, and she wanted to scream at her father to be stronger. “I need to be home. This night is very important to my wife,” he was saying.
    “I understand.”
    Katie couldn’t help but give Nash a hopeful, pleading look as well. Even though she knew there was no way her dad was going home tonight.
    “I’ll see what I can do to ensure Angelica’s party isn’t spoiled, but I can’t make any promises.” Nash turned to Katie, ushering her toward the door. “Scrub up, you’re assisting.”
    “But I don’t operate!” Katie backed up and hit the wall behind her.
    “You do today. I need Amy for anesthesiology.”
    “But she’s just a nurse. There’s no anethesiologist on today, and he’s family. You need more staff.”
    “There’s nobody else here and we don’t have time to wait.” Nash was doing that pause-between-sentences thing again. “If I’m bringing someone inexperienced into the operating room, I’m bringing in the brightest.”
    “That’s my Katie doll,” Harvey said, groaning as he curled into a ball of agony on the gurney.

    * * *
    Katie’s hands trembled as she finished prepping her father for laparoscopic surgery. She’d already shaved and cleaned the area where Nash would make his small incisions, and as she worked she kept up a steady stream of banter to keep herself distracted.
    Her father was a good man. She hoped she didn’t do something that would cause his untimely…
    No, don’t think that way.
    This was a standard operation, one Nash could do unassisted, if need be. But he wouldn’t need to. She was here. She knew her stuff. Or at least enough. He would be able to tell her where to be and when. They were a good team, and as he’d said, she was bright. All you needed to do was be in a few operations—which she had in school—and you had a pretty good lay of the land.
    Stay out of the way.
    Stay clean.
    Don’t kill the patient.
    So here she was, ready to slice open her father. Well, not Katie herself; her hallway kisser would be doing that. Not that he was hers. Not yet.
    Maybe not ever.
    She rubbed her face and Nash frowned.
    Realizing what she’d done, Katie turned on her heel and left the operating room to scrub up again. That was a stupid, rookie move, touching her face. Way to prove yourself, Katie.
    The door swung open and the doctor joined her in the sterile light, probing her with his intense gaze.
    “You okay?”
    “Yeah, fine.” She finished scrubbing, snapped on new gloves and smiled falsely.
    “Your father needs you at your best in there. This appendix could rupture and if it does—”
    “Yeah, I know.” Katie brushed past him and his delicious green scrubs, hands up so she’d remember not to touch anything this time. “Hey, Dad!” she said as she entered the operating room once again. “Ready?”
    “Sure, sweet pea. I’m glad you’re here.” He reached out to hold her hand, and after hesitating briefly, Katie took his and squeezed. When your father needed you, what was another pair of gloves and a scrub-up anyway?
    “I love you, Dad.”
    “What? Am I gonna die?” He was lying on his back, his eyes glazed from the painkillers. “Save that for after the operation.