“You can draw an embarrassing photo of me and hang it in the doctors’ lounge if you want!” she adds hurriedly. “Just to even the score.”

  My gaze levels with hers and I reply as seriously as possible. “All right. You can pose for me after breakfast.”

  Her eyes widen as she catches my meaning and she flushes from head to toe.

  “Matt.”

  I smirk and drop the picture back into the box. “Consider us even.”

  “You’re not mad?”

  “Not at all. In fact, I love both of my gifts. Now finish your breakfast. I need to head over to check on June while the roads are still clear, and you can come with me if you want.”

  She scrambles for her fork. “Yes!”

  The days leading up to Christmas pass quickly. I’d planned on taking full advantage of an empty office to catch up on work, but somehow it never happens. It’s easy to see where I go wrong, and it’s largely in my inability to say no to Bailey. On that first day, after we check on June, we drive by an outdoor holiday market with vendors selling last-minute Christmas gifts. There are carolers and food trucks and even a little skating rink.

  “We have to take Josie!” Bailey exclaims, her face and hands pressed to my passenger window. “She’ll love it!”

  So, of course, we do. But first, we stop off at my house so I can shower and change into some clean clothes. After I rinse off, I step back into my room with a towel wrapped around my waist and find Bailey packing some of my clothes into one of my duffle bags.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, glancing down to see what she’s packed. There are like 45 pairs of socks, but not much else.

  “I figured it’d just be easier for you to have some clothes at my house.”

  “Oh?”

  She turns toward me in a panic, face suddenly pale. “Unless I’m reading this situation wrong? Oh crap—was this just a one-night-stand sort of thing?”

  Before I can reply, she proceeds to turn the duffle bag over and spill the contents of it out onto my bed. Just as I suspected, it’s all socks. At least there’s an assorted variety.

  I laugh. “No, Bailey. I was actually going to pack some clothes, but you were off to a good start.”

  She watches me as I walk into my closet to grab a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt.

  “Wait, umm…before you get dressed…”

  Her voice drifts off as she rubs her arm, clears her throat, and stares up at the ceiling. I carry my clothes back into my bedroom and lay them across the bench in front of my bed. I know she’s suggesting we have sex, and the idea that she thinks I was planning on leaving my house without doing that first is adorable.

  I smile tauntingly. “Finish your sentence.”

  She turns away and scrunches her nose then squints her eyes at my headboard like she’s deep in thought. “I was just going to say…because you have a king bed and we only had my twin bed last night…” I step toward her and start to tug her shirt up over her stomach and chest. She holds up her arms dutifully and her shirt gets tossed to the floor. “Not to mention, you have an empty house and Josie thinks we’re still checking in on June…” I unbutton her jeans and start to slide them down her legs. “It really just makes sense for us to have sex right now!” she finally finishes on a heavy exhale.

  I smirk and bend down to kiss her.

  “Funny, I was just going to suggest the same thing.”

  The morning after the holiday market, I force myself to spend a couple hours up at the hospital. I need to check in on a few patients and catch up on work, but it doesn’t last.

  Bailey: Are you done yet?

  Matt: I’ve only been up here for a couple of hours. I just finished with my patients.

  Bailey: Well, our Christmas tree is officially dead. Apparently, there’s a finite number of decorations one tiny tree can withstand. I think we’ll have to go get a new one. Poor guy sort of split in two.

  Then she sends a picture of Josie leaning over the tree, frowning, and doing a thumbs-down.

  I wonder if Bailey ever just has a normal, boring day. Somehow, I doubt it.

  That evening, we drive to a tree farm and luck out when we see that all the trees are on sale.

  “Duh!” Josie says from the back seat. “It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow!”

  I hadn’t even realized. Crap. I should have called my mom back days ago, but it completely slipped my mind. She’s probably given up my spot at the Christmas dinner table, or if not, she’ll have ordered a cutout version of me to place there. It’d probably be as jovial as I tend to be during the holidays.

  I leave Bailey and Josie to browse through the trees and tell them to find a good one, and then I head back toward my car to dial my mom.

  “Well, if it isn’t a Christmas miracle,” she teases as soon as she picks up.

  I smile. “Hey. Sorry, it’s been a crazy few days.”

  “Aren’t they always? Let me guess, you’re up at the office now, working even though you should be enjoying the holidays?”

  I rub the scruff of my neck and turn in time to see Josie point to the back of the lot, where they keep the behemoths, and then I hear her tell the attendant, “We’re looking for something bigger!”

  Oh lord.

  “Actually, I’m at a tree farm with Bailey and her sister.”

  “Bailey…” She says the name like she’s trying to jog her memory.

  “The woman I’m seeing,” I clarify at the same moment she exclaims, “Your surgical assistant?! The woman Cooper brought as his date to Molly’s wedding?”

  I watch as Josie points to what I swear is the biggest, widest tree in the whole damn lot and then asks the attendant to wrap it up. Bailey turns back to me and holds up her hands like, What are we going to do?

  I laugh and shake my head. There is a 110% chance I’ll be driving home with that tree attached to the roof of my Prius.

  My mom makes a funny, well-isn’t-that-interesting noise. “So she got you out of the office, huh?”

  I sigh. “Seems so.”

  “I’ll be damned. Are you going to spend Christmas Day with her as well?”

  Bailey made it clear I was welcome to. Well, technically, Josie was the first to insist upon it. “You have to! Bailey makes the best cinnamon rolls in the world! It’s a Christmas tradition!”

  “I might.”

  “Well, you’re welcome to bring them over to the house. It’ll just be a few of us. Your Uncle Pat and his wife are coming, and Molly and Thomas are back from their honeymoon so they’ll be there too. Cooper’s staying up in Cincinnati.”

  “Okay, let me run it by Bailey and I’ll let you know.”

  I expect Bailey to flinch at the idea of spending Christmas with my family, and I don’t even work up the courage to suggest it until we’re halfway home from the tree farm. It’s taking longer than usual because with the tree on my roof, I can barely see out the windshield.

  “Really?! I’d love to go to your parents’ house on Christmas!” she says, smiling. “Honestly, the holidays can get a little lonely with just Josie and me, and it’s a hassle making all that food for only two people. We usually just skip right to dessert.” She turns toward the back seat. “What do you think, Jos? Do you want to go?”

  Josie leans forward and props her hand on my headrest. “What kind of food are we talking? Your standard turkey and stuffing?”

  “And ham too, probably.”

  Her eyes narrow in serious contemplation. “Will there be sweet potato casserole?”

  “Always.”

  “Green bean casserole?”

  My grin widens. “Definitely.”

  “How many dessert options, give or take?”

  “Josie,” Bailey cuts in, eyes wide in warning.

  “At least half a dozen,” I brag.

  “Fresh-baked rolls?”

  I smirk, knowing full well I’ve got her. “My mom uses an old family recipe. Word is she uses half a stick of butter for each one.”

  She grins and taps my headrest twice. “All right then. I’ll wear my stretchiest pants.”

  Chapter 29

  BAILEY

  I’m so jolly on Christmas morning I might as well be Mrs. Claus. I wake up before the sun and am careful not to wake Matt as I sneak out of bed. For the record, he’s a cuddler, and I have to simultaneously pull my body out from beneath his arm and slide a big fluffy pillow into its place. It works like a charm.

  I’m a little elf doing Santa’s bidding as I tiptoe around the living room. I lay stockings out on the coffee table for Matt and Josie. Matt’s is homemade (Josie had some fun yesterday with felt letters and a hot glue gun), and sure, it’s a little wonky—she made M-A-T so big she had to put the last T on the back—but it’s the thought that counts. I fill both stockings with candy: cherry cordials for Josie and the darkest dark chocolate I could find for Matt. Josie and I both groaned in protest when he told us that was his favorite treat.

  Once that’s done, I light the tree and put out Josie’s “gift from Santa”. It’s tradition. I always wrap a few things for her, but the real present—the big kahuna, if you will—always sits unwrapped in front of the tree, waiting for her to run out and see it and squeal with delight. Last year, it was a Kindle. This year, I scrimped and saved and got her tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. We’ll take a train into the city and make a whole day of it. I’m giddy just thinking about it. She’s definitely going to scream, maybe even cry. I should set up my phone to record the whole thing.

  After everything is arranged in the living room, I head into the kitchen, AKA where the real magic happens on Christmas morning.

  I flip the light on and the quiet, empty room sends a pang straight to my heart. I’m careful around the holidays. After so many years without my parents, I’ve learned it’s a slippery slope to dwell on their absence too much this time of year. The first years without them, Josie was so young, to her it didn’t matter so much that our parents weren’t with us as long as there were presents waiting for her under the tree. Dollar store trinkets lit up her eyes and a frozen turkey dinner was as good as any. Meanwhile, all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cease to exist, but with Josie relying on me, I pulled myself together and cranked up the holiday spirit.

  In the years since, we’ve slowly started to incorporate my parents into the festivities more and more. It doesn’t scare me as much as it used to. Now we hang my mom’s vintage ornaments on the tree, and every time Feliz Navidad comes on the radio, we sing along at the top of our lungs just like my dad used to do. My favorite tradition is baking on Christmas morning. It’s something my mom and I used to do together. She and I would wake up first and take care to be extra quiet as we padded into the kitchen so we wouldn’t wake up my dad and Josie.

  Her maple-glazed cinnamon rolls were out of this world. To this day, Josie talks about them every day of December, discussing ad nauseum every little detail that makes them so dang delicious. The thought makes me smile as I pull the recipe card out of a tin box and run my finger pad across it. I know I shouldn’t. My mother’s instructions are written in pencil and they’re already fading, but I just can’t help myself. Being in here now makes me feel closer to her, as if she and I are still doing this together.

  God, I miss her.

  “Ugh, I could have sworn I already smelled cinnamon rolls, but I must have been dreaming.”

  I jump out of my skin and whip around to see Josie standing at the kitchen door, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her blonde hair is sticking up in every direction and there’s a little drool dried on her chin. Her sleeping shirt says, All I want for Christmas is you food.

  “Oh no. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

  She wraps her arms around herself to keep warm and shakes her head. “No. I was just too excited to sleep.”

  I quirk a brow. “You didn’t go into the living room yet, did you?”

  Her eyes light up with the realization that there are presents with her name on them waiting just in the other room. She turns as if preparing to sprint.

  “Wait!” I plead. “Help me bake first. Please? We’ll go look at your gifts in a minute.”

  She groans and I can tell she really wants to go see her presents, but something in my tone must tip her off to the things I’m not saying, to the memories we tiptoe around so carefully, because she relents and walks over to me. Her arms wrap around my waist and she rests her head against my shoulder.

  “Merry Christmas, Bailey,” she says wistfully.

  I lean down and kiss her forehead. “Merry Christmas, Josie.”

  I’m excited to go to Matt’s parents’ house for Christmas, but I wish he’d sprung it on me a little earlier, like maybe before all the stores closed. I would have liked to bring his mom something: a candle, a tea towel—I don’t know. I’ve never had a boyfriend, therefore I’ve never had to impress a boyfriend’s mom, so I’m just going off of what I think Reese Witherspoon or Joanna Gaines would do, and they’d sure as shit bring a gift for Mrs. Russell.

  Matt assures me it doesn’t matter, but when I persist, he caves and we swing by his place for some wine on our way to their house. I feel a lot better cradling that bottle on my lap. Josie also helped me bake snowball cookies after breakfast, so between the two gifts, Mrs. Russell will have to like me. Right?

  At least I look the part. I’m wearing a red cashmere sweater. I’ve never owned anything cashmere before and holy heck, how is this material so soft? The sweater was a gift from Josie. When I opened it this morning my first thought was, OMG I LOVE IT. My second thought was, Oh god, how did Josie afford this? I might have accused her of petty theft before she clued me in to the fact that she’s been shoveling the snow off Ms. Murphy’s sidewalk and taking out her trash for the last two months so she could afford to buy me something. It was such a sweet gesture that I cried. Josie told me to get it together, but the tears just kept coming. This morning has been one emotional gut punch after another. Like for instance, Matt somehow managed to sneak away long enough in the last few days to get both Josie and me a gift. I wasn’t expecting anything, but when he produced a present for each of us, the tears were back.

  Josie groaned. “Honestly, do you need a minute to compose yourself?”

  “No! I’m fine. I swear!” I protested, snot running down my face. “Here, let me use your pajamas to wipe my nose.”

  Josie opened her gift first.

  “It’s a journal,” Matt said, somewhat nervously. “I thought since you enjoy reading so much, you might enjoy writing as well.”

  What’s that painful feeling? Oh yes, it’s my heart swelling to ten times its normal size and encroaching on all my other organs.

  He brushed the back of his neck self-consciously. “Also, there’s a Barnes & Noble gift card in the bottom of the bag, just in case you hate that.”

  Josie—the girl who has never once had a difficult time finding words—was speechless. She stared down at the journal and nodded. Matt cleared his throat and picked up his empty coffee cup, inspected the contents, and then set it back down.

  “Also, I have the receipt in my wallet if—”

  She shook her head quickly. “No! It’s perfect.”

  Then she cradled it against her chest like it was a baby bird as Matt leaned forward to grab a tiny red gift bag off the coffee table for me. I took it from him with a smile and started tugging out tissue paper carefully. At the very bottom there was a small black velvet box.

  A ring box.

  OH MY GOD. WHOA. TOO SOON. BUT YES OKAY!

  I yanked that sucker out of there and whipped it open, a YES locked and loaded on my tongue right up until my eyes registered that there were not one but two twinkling diamonds nestled in the box, and they were attached to studs, not a band.

  “Earrings,” I said slowly, instantly regretting not showing more enthusiasm.

  THEY’RE DIAMOND-FREAKING-EARRINGS, BAILEY! Get it together!

  “I know jewelry is sort of cliché, but since you always wear your hair up at work—”

  Josie put up her hand to stop him from continuing. “Every girl wants diamonds. You did good.”

  “Bailey?” he asked.

  My mouth opened and words were supposed to be spilling out, but my brain couldn’t quite handle the shock of the last few minutes. I literally thought Matt was proposing to me after like a week of dating. I’ve gone mad.

  “They’re beautiful,” I whispered, hoping he wouldn’t scrutinize my reaction too much.

  I’m wearing the earrings now and I’ve already flipped open the mirror on the visor in Matt’s car twice to inspect how they look in my ears. I curled my hair and pulled it up into a ponytail so I could show them off. Combined with the red sweater, I can’t remember a time in my life when I felt more beautiful.

  “You like them?” Matt asks from the driver’s seat, glancing over to me.

  “They’re perfect,” I reply, reaching over to take his hand and cradle it in my lap.

  “All right, enough with the lovey-dovey stuff,” Josie groans in the back seat. “Can someone turn Christmas music on? I’m ready to sing!”

  Chapter 30

  BAILEY

  Normally, I’d feel a little sad to see the holidays go, but this year is different. I’m ready to start working again. I’m anxious to get back into the OR with Matt. His schedule will be jam-packed because of the cases we had to delay for June’s surgery, but I’ve already told him I’m willing to work as much as he needs me to. We’ll tackle it together.

  Even though I’m ready to get back to the hospital, I can’t believe how fast the holiday break flew by. Matt and I spent nearly every moment of it together. We were with his family on Christmas Day. After dominating a round of charades, his aunts and uncles enthusiastically embraced Josie and me as if we were one of them. His mom made me sit right by her during dinner, and she even stealthily showed me embarrassing photos of Matt and Cooper when they were babies. That night, Matt and I happily crammed ourselves onto my twin bed.