Holly pulled up the hem of her black sweater, yanked it over her head, and tossed it onto her bed. She had grabbed it out of her dresser out of habit. “No black tonight,” she muttered. Rummaging through a drawer, she chose a deep red one instead. The next thing to go was her ponytail. She slid the hair tie down her restrained strands and shook her blonde hair free. Holly glanced at her new look in the mirror. “Hmm. Not bad.” She shimmied into a pair of thermal underwear and slipped her jeans over them. Noel did tell her to dress warm.
She had just zipped up her jeans when headlights flooded into her room. He was here. Holly jogged down the stairs, her woolen socks muting every hurried step. She paused at the bottom with one hand on the banister not wanting to seem anxious. Taking a deep breath, she slid her hand off the banister and walked coolly into the living room. Aunt Mae had already let him inside.
“Hello, Noel.”
Aunt Mae arched her eyebrows, her signal for, “Who are you fooling?”
The corners of Noel’s eyes crinkled upward. “Hi. I expected you in black, but wow, you’ll definitely stand out on the ice in that red sweater.”
Holly blinked. “Ice?”
“Surprise! We’re going ice skating, that is after burgers and fries at Callahan’s Pub.”
Her pulse bounded beneath the turtleneck of her sweater, her red sweater in which she’d have nowhere to hide in a crowd. She hadn’t skated since her teens and the last thing she wanted was to be noticed at Callahan’s, the place brimming with hospital staff she had taken great pains to avoid. Definitely back to black.
“I’ll be right back, Noel. I’m just going to change.”
“No,” her aunt and Mrs. Shale cried out.
Aunt Mae shot her finger at Holly. “Stay here.”
Holly pulled on her boots. “What’s going on?”
“You’ll see.” Noel said, a gleam in his eyes. A suspicious gleam, Holly thought.
Holly jabbed her hands onto her hips. “Why do I get the feeling I’m the only one who’s not privy to this evening’s plans?”
Noel shrugged. He lowered her hands from her hips and held up her down jacket. She threaded her arms into the sleeves and zipped it up. Noel plopped a knitted cap onto her head and handed her a pair of mittens. “Now you’re ready.”
“Noel, I don’t have a pair of….”
“Here they are. I found them,” Aunt Mae called. She tottered into the living room hugging a pair of ice skates.
Holly’s mouth dropped. “Mom’s,” she whispered.
“Take them,” Aunt Mae said.
She held the ice skates out to Holly. Holly stood frozen, her arms plastered to her sides.
“Take them,” her aunt repeated, shoving them closer to Holly. “Yours don’t fit anymore.”
Holly stared at the silver blades, shiny as the day she stashed them away in the attic. Her mother had polished them dry that last time they skated on Putney’s pond, hanging them neatly in the hall closet.
“Holly, clean your skates before putting them up,” she called.
“Yes, Mom. I’m going over Amy’s house.”
“Be home for supper.”
“Yes, Mom.”
It was the last time they had skated at the pond that winter. Thirteen and on holiday break, she had no time for her mom. Her best friend, Amy, had new skates, an “accidental” premature Christmas package pillage. All the kids would be at the pond that Saturday. She had bolted onto the ice, ditching her mom for her friends, save to mention to her how much she wanted a pair just like Amy’s.
Holly’s eyes burned. She bit her lower lip, restraining the tears. If she had known that her mom would never return to Putney’s Pond, she wouldn’t have acted like that. But if her mom was hurt by her daughter’s self-centeredness, she didn’t show it. Dad gone for the day, Mom skated alone, smiling and waving ever so slightly so as to not embarrass Holly in front of her teenage entourage. Up until last year, they had always skated together, mitten to mitten. Her mom had taught her to skate the minute she could walk. The clink, clink, clink of her choppy first tries had matured to rhythmic swooshes and whirs. Her mother would clap. “Hooray! Hooray! That’s my girl. Spin. Spin. Cross your arms in tight. Spin. Spin.”
She didn’t deserve these skates!
Aunt Mae took Holly’s hand. “Your mother would be thrilled for you to wear these. She was so proud of you.”
Holly shook her head. “No. I treated her so poorly that last time.”
“You were thirteen. Your mom understood that. She never loved you less. Please.”
Holly cradled the ice skates.
Aunt Mae pushed her and Noel towards the door. “Now go and have a good time.” She winked at Noel before closing the door.
Holly cocked her head. “What was that all about?”
She could tell he was stifling a grin.
Noel shrugged. “Beats me.”
Chapter Nine
Holly took a healthy bite of her burger.
“Glad to see you’re enjoying your dinner. It’s not Chez Jacques, but Callahan’s has the best burgers in New England. And I’ve downed a lot of hamburgers in my days.” Noel arched his brow. “I guess as a surgeon, I shouldn’t admit that.”
She patted her lips with a paper napkin. “I’ll forgive you this one time.”
Noel stuffed a French fry in his mouth. He chewed it with happy vigor and swallowed. “After tonight, I’m switching to salads.”
“It’s the holidays, Noel.” She waggled her finger at him. “And who brought me cookies?”
“Okay. After the holidays, I’ll make it my New Year’s resolution.” Noel chomped on his deluxe burger. After swallowing, he leaned across the booth’s table toward Holly. “So, what resolutions are you going to make?”
She hesitated. “I don’t believe in resolutions.”
“I know you’re not keen on Christmas, but New Year’s too?”
Holly bit into a French fry. “Yep.”
Noel propped his elbow onto the table and plunked his chin into his palm. “That’s tragic. Who am I going to kiss at midnight?”
She grinned and shrugged.
He leaned closer. “There’s always mistletoe. You better be careful where you step.”
“I’ll be safe. I’ll be at the hospital on call.”
Noel stole one of her fries and waved it in front of her. “I wouldn’t count on that because I’ll be on call also.” He bit into the fry.
Holly plucked a fry from his plate. “Then I’ll have to be extra careful.” She snapped the potato slice in two, eating one half and feeding the other half to him.
“Boy, it’s going to be tough giving up fries.”
The door to Callahan’s Pub squeaked open ushering a burst of winter air. The pub buzzed with the boisterous chatter of the gaggle of Granite State Medical Center staff. Holly peered from the booth’s edge. Nurses and doctors she knew hugged and high-fived one another.
“Hey, look. There’s Noel and…uh Holly Green?” The gossipy nurse from the locker room yelled above the crowd.
Holly sank in her seat. Oh, no. Not tonight.
The nurse tottered over to them. Every clop of her high-heeled boots jabbed at Holly, but she smiled over gritted teeth as the nurse leaned over and hugged Noel. Ashley stood behind her fellow nurse and shrugged.
Noel stiffened at her dramatic hug. “Hi. Good to see you.”
She whipped around to face Holly. “Dr. Green, what a surprise? I’ve never seen you here at Callahan’s.”
“Noel and I were just grabbing a quick dinner before going off for the rest of the evening.”
The nurse tilted her shoulders towards Noel. “Oh, you have to stay. The gang’s all here. I’m so happy you took us up on the invite to Callahan’s. You’ll have a great time.”
Noel reached for Holly’s hand. “I am having a great time, but we already have plans for the evening.”
“Well okay.” She shot her finger at him. “But come back again…soon.”
Ashley
tugged at her friend’s sweater sleeve. “Let’s go.” She smiled at Holly. “It is nice seeing you. I hope you and Noel will come back.”
“Thanks, Ashley. And I’m glad your brother will be home for Christmas.”
“Me too.” She waved to Holly and Noel and then dragged her friend away.
Noel squeezed her hands. “Sorry about that.”
Holly shook her head. “Don’t be. I avoided coming to Callahan’s, and I did have my reservations, but I’m actually thankful you’ve brought me here. The burgers are indeed the best.”
“You’re welcome.”
The waitress cleared their plates. Both passing on dessert, Noel paid the bill. He stood up and rounded the table. Grabbing Holly’s hand, he slid her across the wooden bench seat, grinning the whole time.
Holly laughed. “You have me skating before I hit the ice.”
Noel pulled Holly to her feet and yanked her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her, his embrace firm but not restraining. Noel pressed his lips to hers. Heat shot from her lips to her toes, enough to keep her toasty on the ice for the rest of the night.
When they eased apart, patrons pounded their fists on the pub’s bar counter and cheered, “Mistletoe! Mistletoe! Mistletoe!”
Noel pulled Holly past the Callahan’s Christmas tree and halted her beneath the doorway’s mistletoe.
“Not so safe now, are you?” he teased.
Holly tilted her head back. The tree’s twinkling lights flickered behind Noel. Her breathing rose to a crescendo as she waited for his kiss. And at that moment, she didn’t care whose eyes were upon them. The warmth of his breath caressed her cheeks as he leaned towards her, closer, and closer, her heart beating faster in tandem to the blinking Christmas lights. He rested his mouth upon hers and then pulled her in closer. She pressed harder galvanized by the revelry of the crowd, their pounding whirring in her ears.
“Longer. Longer. Longer,” they yelled.
They froze in their embrace, her arms swaddled about his broad shoulders, and his palms cupping her hips. His neck pulsed beneath her fingertips. Not since her parents had she felt that same soft comfort.
Holly blinked and widened her eyes when they parted. Adrenalin rushed through her. Grabbing his hand, she yanked Noel through the door of Callahan’s and into the snow covered parking lot.
“Anxious, aren’t we?”
She twirled around, tasting every snowflake on her tongue, before clutching the car door handle. She jerked it. Pulled on it again, thinking her fingers had not gotten an adequate purchase. Nothing.
Noel snickered and pressed the remote on his key ring. After two beeps and a flash of headlights, Holly swung the car door open and bounced into the seat.
Noel got into the car, buckled his seat belt, and slid the key into the ignition. He glanced at Holly.
She clicked her seatbelt closed and gave him a grin that tapped her cheekbones. “I’m going to skate circles around you!”
“Hmm.” He smiled. “Is that a challenge?”
“Yes, it is Dr. Shepherd.”
He pointed at her. “I accept, Dr. Green.”
***
Giddy from dinner and ooh, those two kisses, she hadn’t given any thought to where they’d whirl about on the ice until Noel pulled up to Putney’s Pond. He parked on the side of the road in full view of frolicking skaters. Her smile melted. Lips pressed tight, she gazed at a mother pulling her little girl up from the ice, dusting off her bottom, and then hugging her. They skated away, mitten to mitten.
Panic whirred in Holly’s chest. “Noel, I can’t.”
She turned to face him but he wasn’t there. The tap on her window made her jerk back into the seat.
Noel waved to her and held up her mother’s skates. “Come on. Give me everything you’ve got, Green!”
She couldn’t disappoint him. He had planned such a wonderful evening for them. Why ruin it? Holly took a deep breath and opened her door. Noel grasped her hand, and mitten-to-mitten, he pulled her to him and kissed her. With his skates slung over one of his shoulders and Holly’s skates over the other, they crunched over the snow holding hands all the way to the red wooden shed, the same place her mother would sit her down on a bench and lace up her skates before putting hers on.
The night before Christmas Eve and with the kids on holiday recess from school, the rural rink was packed with families, and teenagers snaking around them. Holly sat on a bench next to Noel who was furiously lacing up his skates.
“I’m going to beat you to the ice,” he teased.
She hesitated but then grabbed her skates. “No you’re not!”
Holly and Noel knotted their skates in synchrony and popped up from the bench at the same time.
“Go,” Holly yelled.
They “duck walked” from the shed to the ice, the silver blades of their skates chopping into the snow until they glided onto the frozen pond. Noel gripped Holly’s hand and whipped her ahead of him. She whipped him around her. They split from one another and half raced around the rink, careful of others stumbling about. After three laps, she raised her arms in victory.
“I win,” she shouted with glee.
Noel skated up to her, shearing a small fountain of ice with his hockey stop.
“Here’s your consolation prize.” She glided towards him, performing a perfect T-stop in front of him, and kissed him.
He smiled. “I like second place.”
Holly skated away from him. “Watch this. I hope I can still do it.”
She veered to her right, her right foot catching an outside edge and then an inside one. Hugging her arms to her chest, she spun, spinning faster and faster the tighter she held them in, lost in a blissful blur, her mother whispering in her ear, “Spin. Spin. Spin. My darling.”
Stabbing the ice with her toe pick, she stopped and held out her arms. “Ta da!”
Noel clapped. “Bravo! Bravo!”
Holly did it. She’d made her mother proud.
Their racing competition completed, Holly and Noel skated holding hands for a few more laps around the rink. An older couple passed them.
“That’s so sweet,” Holly cooed.
“I think it’s sad.”
She cocked her head up towards him, her mouth open. “Why would you think that?”
“Because they passed us,” he said, curtly nodding. “We can’t have that.” He tugged her hand. “Come on.”
They picked up pace and snuck by the couple. Noel spun around and skated backwards while holding both her hands. She pulled one hand away and smacked him on his shoulder. “You are so bad.”
“Yes, I’m absolutely wicked.” He peeled off her mitten and kissed her hand, his warm breath wafting in clouds above them.
Her fingers tingled, cradled in his touch.
“I’m sorry. Your hand must be cold.” He blew on her fingers and then slipped her mitten back onto her hand.
Her stomach fluttered and gooseflesh popped onto her skin beneath her red sweater, not the frigid kind, but the prickly, tiny bumps that nudged every hair on her neck to exhilarating attention.
“Noel, You’ve totally surprised me tonight. I can’t remember the last time I’ve…”
He hugged her and whispered in her ear, “Let go?”
“Yes,” she whispered back.
He pulled her off the rink. “Let’s get these skates off. The finale of surprises is yet to come.”
“Where to now?”
“You’ll see.”
***
Noel reached out to carry Holly’s skates to the car, but she gently resisted.
She clutched her mother’s ice skates to her chest. “Please, I’d like to carry them.
He smiled. “I understand.”
Holly held the skates to her heart. I’m so sorry I ignored you the last time we were here. I love you, Mommy.
A tear escaped down her cheek. She swiped her mitten across her face.
“Hey, hurry up slowpoke,” he teased.
 
; “Coming,” she called, turning to gaze once more at Putney’s Pond before trotting up next to Noel.
Holly let Noel open the car door for her. Scooting inside, she placed the ice skates at her feet and buckled her seatbelt.
“Ready?” he asked.
“I guess. It’s been a fun filled night thus far, so I trust you to lead me to the last surprise.”
“It will definitely top off tonight.”
Holly shimmied her shoulders into her seat. “Well let’s go then.”
Fifteen minutes later, Noel pulled into her drive.
“Okay, you have me stumped,” Holly said.
The lights were still on. She felt as if she was back in high school on a date, her Aunt Mae holding vigil until she returned safely, scolding her if she snuck in past curfew. The living room curtains shifted.
“I can’t believe she waited up for me.”
“Stay right where you are,” Noel said.
“Are you going to blindfold me?”
“Nope, but I wish I had thought of that.”
He rounded the car and opened her door. Holly grabbed her skates, draping the tied laces over her shoulder. Noel offered her his hand. After helping her from the car, he held her hand all the way to the porch steps.
“We’re here,” he yelled.
“Noel, my aunt is not deaf.”
They trotted up the three steps.
Noel twisted the doorknob and pushed open the front door. “After you.”
Holly stepped inside her house.
“Surprise!” Noel, Aunt Mae, Mrs. Shale, and little Sam from across the street yelled.
Holly’s mouth dropped open. She blinked and shook her head.
A Christmas tree filled a corner of her living room. A red ribbon hung from a branch. It was the same tag she had watched the white bearded man tie to that evergreen with Noel next to his side. Boxes of ornaments circled the tree, boxes that she had stowed away safely in the attic. Her eyes roamed to the dining room table that was covered with plates of cheese and crackers, a bowl of popcorn, cups of cocoa and tea, and tiny tortes shaped like Christmas trees. A wave of bitterness washed up to the back of Holly’s throat.
She swallowed the acid back down. Her stomach clenched. It was such a wonderful night, and now this. Holly turned her head slowly towards Noel. “You lied to me,” she said flatly.
His eyes widened. “What?” Shock etched across his face.
Holly narrowed her eyes. “The night we went to the Christmas tree lot, you told me you bought that tree for yourself.”