The Doctor Who Has No Closure - Victoria Quinn Page 0,37

look lingered, her eyes still bright even though the Christmas lights were behind her. “Well, thank you.” She looked down and started to rip through the paper.

“I know it’s not a nice wrap job, but…”

She chuckled and stuffed everything into her pockets. “I’m touched that you wrapped it yourself and didn’t put it into a gift bag.”

“A gift bag. Why didn’t I think of that?”

She laughed harder then opened the white box. The light pink scarf was there with the designer logo since I knew she liked to wear nice things. I thought the color would be perfect on her, to go with one of the big coats she wore to work and hung by the doorway. She reached inside and looked at it, felt it with her fingertips. “It’s beautiful.” She pulled it out of the box before setting the container on the snow beside her.

“Yeah? I’m glad you like it.”

She wrapped it around her neck, bundling herself up. “I love it. Thank you, Dex.”

I slid my hands into the pockets of my coat as I looked at her cuteness, the way she could shift from being a sexy lady in heels to this adorable, cute…thing.

She stared back, her smile slowly fading.

I continued to look at her instead of taking my cue to leave. It was Christmas night, so she probably had plans with her family, but I continued to take up more of her time, time that I didn’t deserve. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.”

I turned to step away. “I’ll let you get back to your family—”

“Dex.”

I pivoted back.

She was closer to me now. “Are you doing alright?”

“Never better.” I went to my usual scapegoat, pretending I was a happy guy with a big-ass smile on my face. I thought compensating with jokes and laughter would throw people off my scent, but the people who knew me best seemed to know exactly what I really felt, underneath the mask. Going through this pain had taught me so much about human emotion, how the people who smiled the brightest were sometimes in the most pain, and we should always be kind to everyone we interacted with because you had no idea what battle they were fighting.

She crossed her arms over her chest, bringing her coat tighter around her body. “The holidays can be hard sometimes.” As if she understood exactly what I was thinking and feeling without my even having to say it, she made me feel better. “I had planned on bringing Vince to meet my parents for Christmas, and that blew up in my face. It’s a bit embarrassing, telling your mother you’re bringing a man home, and then having to tell her he’s married to someone else…or was.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m over it,” she said quickly. “I don’t think about him anymore. I just think about how stupid and naïve I was. That’s what bothers me.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, Sic.”

A gentle smile crept on to her lips as she looked up at me. “Don’t beat yourself up either.”

My mind suddenly felt less heavy, my skin warm, my lungs relaxed and comfortable. Christmas was a time for peace on earth, but she was the one who delivered it to me. She was the one looking at me now, like she understood me better than anyone in the world. There were a lot of things that came across my mind that I wanted to say, but I didn’t say a single one and chose to keep them to myself. Somehow, it felt nice not saying anything at all, just looking at her in that warm scarf.

“You want to come inside?”

I was snapped out of the moment by the question. “No, that’s okay. You should spend time with your family.”

“I’ll still be spending time with them—with you. Besides, a fresh pie just came out of the oven.”

I inhaled a deep breath. “Fuuuuck, how am I supposed to say no to that?”

She smiled then hooked her arm through mine. “Come on.”

“What kind?”

“Dutch apple.” She grabbed the box from the ground then walked with me to the front door, hand in the crook of my arm.

“Oh, baby, you’re killing me.”

She chuckled. “And then we just made a pumpkin a couple minutes ago—”

I sprinted to the front door.

She laughed loudly, her hand moving to her stomach as she bent over slightly. “Wow, a way to a man’s heart really is through his stomach.”

9

Sicily

The holidays ended, and it was back to the fast-paced life of the city. Dex had a million patients to get through, his surgeries