Humbug's Holiday Homecoming Read online

  Humbug’sHoliday Homecoming

  A Romantic Holiday Story

  JA Armstrong

  Text © Copyright 2018 Bumbling Bard Creations

  All Rights Reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced without permission.

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  Chapter One

  Snow. Mick hated snow. Snow meant it was wintertime, and winter was Mick’s nemesis. Why had she decided to come back to Connecticut? She’d asked herself that question millions of times, and she’d only arrived yesterday. It was the right thing to do. She missed her mother, and her mother could use help with the house. Mick loved her mother more than she hated Connecticut—more than she loathed winter, even more than she despised Christmas. Michaela (Mick) Mulligan was an admitted humbug. She’d managed to avoid the holidays for the last five years. Work. Work provided the perfect excuse to escape the madness. Doctors worked on the holidays, at least, this doctor did—any holiday and every holiday possible, save Halloween because that was all about costumes and candy. Plus, who didn’t love a good scare? Christmas? That was another story.

  It didn’t matter what argument anyone presented Mick. She’d been told countless times that she needed to embrace the “holiday spirit.” As far as Mick was concerned, there were two ways to look at Christmas: a religious holiday that celebrated a virgin birth (because that ever happened) or commercial chaos. Neither approach enticed her, and both caused people immense, unnecessary pressure. Mick wasn’t a Grinch. She liked to help people, and she loved people. Why anyone needed a holiday to decide to give a gift or send a sentiment failed to make sense to her. Nope. A humbug she had always been and a humbug she would continue to be—even if her mother insisted on turning the house into the North Pole.

  “Mick!”

  Mick threw her head back and took a deep breath. “In here, Mom!”

  “There you are.”

  “Yep. Right where you left me.”

  “Now, what has you in such a sour mood?”

  “I’m not sour,” Mick replied.

  Leona sighed. “I know how much you dread the holidays. I wish you would—”

  “Mom, please, not the Christmas spirit lecture again.”

  “No lecture.”

  Mick smiled at the older woman. Leona Bradley Mulligan was her hero—always had been and always would be. Life had not always been kind to Mick’s family, least of all to Leona. Somehow, Mick’s mother still managed to maintain a positive outlook on life. Mick admired that about her mom. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

  Leona patted Mick’s shoulder. “No need to apologize, sweetheart. I thought that you were headed into the hospital today?”

  “I am in about an hour.”

  “Anxious to start?”

  Mick shrugged. “It does feel strange—all this downtime.”

  “Well, far be it from me to tell you what to do—”

  Mick sniggered. Leona wasn’t meddlesome. She did like to give advice.

  “I hear you giggling. Now, far be it from me to tell you what to do, but it might pay to enjoy this short break you have.”

  “It might.”

  Leona laughed. “That was painful to admit, wasn’t it?”

  “Only a little,” Mick said. “I can’t remember the last time I had a month off.”

  “Enjoy it. You know, you should take today and stay home. It’s blustery out there. You can help bake!”

  “Bake?”

  “You used to love to make cookies with me when you were little.”

  “Mom, that was like thirty-five years ago, and it wasn’t the baking I loved.”

  “No?”

  “It was sneaking the dough.”

  Leona rolled her eyes. “You’ll never change.”

  “Safe bet. I am your daughter.”

  “You really do have an amazing sense of humor for a doctor.”

  Mick roared with laughter. “Why does that always surprise you?”

  “I don’t know. Most doctors I’ve known are always a bit dour.”

  “As opposed to sour?” Mick laughed some more.

  “Yes.”

  “You are too much, Mom.”

  “That’s probably why I’ve stayed single all these years—inflation.”

  Mick shook her head. “I don’t think I could argue with that.”

  ***

  Five more minutes, please let him stay quiet for five more minutes. Ruby repeated the mantra over and over, almost as if offering a silent prayer to anyone who might be listening.

  “Mom!”

  Ruby’s eyes closed, and she smiled. “In here!” Okay, so maybe my five minutes were up twenty-five minutes ago. She hurriedly stuffed some boxes into her closet and shut the door.

  “I can’t find my boots,” Logan told his mother.

  “Are you going somewhere?” Ruby asked.

  “Mom—”

  “Yes?”

  “Are we going yet?”

  Ruby smiled. Snowy days often meant a day out of school for Logan. Snow did not allow Ruby the same reprieve from work. Impromptu days off from school meant that Logan got to spend time at Mrs. Mulligan’s house, or Grandma Lee as he called her. Ruby was grateful for her neighbor. She’d moved into the house next door to Leona Mulligan five years ago. Leona had become Ruby’s confidante and friend. Each filled a void for the other. She secretly wondered what would happen now that Leona’s daughter had moved home.

  “In a few minutes,” Ruby told her son.

  “Where are my boots?”

  “I would imagine they’re where you left them.”

  Logan huffed.

  Ruby suppressed a laugh. “I think they’re in the kitchen by the radiator.”

  Logan smiled and bolted from the room.

  “You’re welcome!” Ruby called after him.

  ***

  Mick looked out the kitchen window and grumbled. “God, I hate snow.” Her ears perked to the sound of the front door opening and animated voices.

  “Hi, Grandma!”

  “Well, look who’s here,” Leona greeted Logan.

  “Thanks so much,” Ruby said.

  “Oh, don’t thank me. Logan’s going to get put to work.”

  “I am?” he asked.

  “You are. I have cookies to bake.”

  Logan grinned and pumped his fist in the air.

  “He never gets that excited when I make cookies,” Ruby commented.

  “Logan, say goodbye to your mom,” Leona instructed the boy.

  “Bye, Mom!”

  Ruby shook her head and laughed. “He’s heartbroken.”

  “Now, you listen to me,” Leona began. “Don’t you try to drive home in this snow later if it’s bad outside. You stay at the hospital until it clears. Logan will be fine here. I have the key to the house if he needs anything.”

  “Leona, I can’t ask you—”

  “You didn’t ask me, and anyway, that’s what grandmothers are for.” She winked at Ruby.

  Ruby caught sight of Logan ready to sprint through the house. “Boots, Logan,” she reminded him.

  Logan pulled his boots off and placed them by the door. That was fine by him. Grandma Lee had hardwood floors in her hallways and that meant he could run and slide.

  “And, he is off,” Ruby said with a laugh. “I wish I could bottle that energy.”

  “Don’t we all,” Leona agreed. “You be careful out there.”

  “I promise.”

  “I mean it, Ruby,”

  “I promise.” Ruby leaned in and kissed Leona on the cheek.

  Leona le
t out a long sigh. Oh, Ruby.

  ***

  Logan gained as much speed as he could down the hallway. He shifted his weight and slid straight into Leona’s kitchen. Bam!

  Mick snapped to attention.

  Logan looked up at the immovable object with which he had collided. “Who are you?” he asked.

  Mick looked at the six-year-old seriously. “Who are you?” she returned his question.

  “Uh, Logan,” he said.

  “Ah, the infamous first-grader.”

  Logan grasped his bottom lip with his teeth and nodded.

  “What are you two up to in here?” Leona asked.

  Logan spun to face the older woman.

  Leona suppressed her laughter. Both the little boy and her forty-year-old daughter looked like deer caught in the headlights. Some things never change.

  “Logan was just introducing himself,” Mick explained.

  Logan nodded.

  “I see. Logan, this is my daughter, Mick. Remember, I’ve told you all about her.”

  He nodded again.

  “Logan is going to help me make cookies today,” Leona told Mick. “I’m going to run upstairs to finish a couple of things,” she told Logan. “Mick will keep you company.”

  “Cookies, huh?” Mick asked

  “Yeah.”

  “My mom loves to bake cookies,” Mick said.

  “Do you?” Logan asked.

  “Do I like to bake cookies?”

  Logan nodded.

  “Not really my thing. I like to sneak the dough,” she told him.

  Logan grinned.

  “Ah, you too?” Mick guessed.

  He grinned and shrugged.

  “I won’t tell her,” Mick promised. “So, Mom tells me you live next door.”

  “Yep. Me and Mom. I get to come to Grandma Lee’s when I don’t have school.”

  Mick smiled. Her mother often spoke of Logan and Ruby. Mick had made her home three-thousand miles away for over twenty years. Until recently, Leona had always traveled to visit Mick in California. Six months ago, Leona told Mick that her arthritis was progressing. Traveling for extended periods would likely be difficult, and she was considering selling her home. The Cape Cod home had been Leona’s pride and joy for more than forty years. Mick couldn’t bear the thought of her mother selling it. She started making calls. She waited for the right job offer, one that would place her close enough to home so that she could move in with her mother. She sold her condo at the beach and made the trek back to the east coast. She’d never met Ruby and Logan. She felt she owed both a thank-you. It seemed to Mick that the pair had given Leona something to focus on that lifted her spirits. It wasn’t any secret to Mick that her mother loved children. While Leona never said anything, Mick suspected that she’d always hoped to be a grandmother. Logan filled that role.

  “Are you staying?” Logan asked.

  “I am,” Mick said.

  Logan nodded.

  Mick wasn’t certain what the youngster was thinking. “Hey, do you like cars?”

  Logan brightened and nodded again.

  “Yeah? I have a super cool remote control car in the basement. Do you want to see if it still works?”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, sure. Come on, we’ll go see if we can unearth my treasure box.”

  “You have a treasure box?” he asked wide-eyed.

  “Aye, Matey, I do!”

  Logan giggled.

  Mick winked at him and led him to the cellar door. Cars I can do.

  ***

  “Shit!” Ruby threw her hands in the air. “Damn snow.” She picked up her phone and called for help.

  ***

  “Are you all right?” Leona asked.

  Mick heard the slight panic in her mother’s voice. “Who’s on the phone?” she asked.

  “Ruby,” Leona covered the phone slightly. “Take a breath, sweetheart.”

  “I know. I can get a ride to the auto shop and call a cab from there. I called work. I just—”

  “Calm down. You aren’t hurt?”

  “No, just my car.”

  “What happened?” Mick asked.

  “Hold on,” Leona told Ruby. “Ruby hit a patch of ice, slid into a guardrail—mangled her front end and tire a bit. She’s supposed to be at the hospital already.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Ruby, where are you now?”

  “On the side of 84 near exit 60. The tow truck should be here in about twenty minutes.”

  Leona repeated the information to Mick.

  “I’ll go get her. Just warn her about the stranger in the Subaru,” Mick said.

  “Mick will come get you,” Leona told Ruby.

  “No, Leona, I can’t ask her to—”

  “She offered. You’re not far. Mick will probably get to you before the tow truck.” Leona was certain that Ruby was starting to cry. “Ruby, it’s just a car.”

  Ruby sniffled. Yes, it was just a car. It was also her only means of transportation.

  “Mick’s getting on her coat now. She’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  “Leona, I—”

  “You just be careful,” Leona said.

  “Mom?” Mick addressed Leona.

  “She’s shaken up.”

  “I’ll get her wherever she needs to go,” Mick promised.

  “Mick,” Leona grabbed her daughter’s hand. “Be careful.”

  “I promise, I will get everyone where they need to be safely.”

  I hope so.

  ***

  “Great first impression you’ll be making,” Ruby grumbled when she saw Mick’s Subaru approaching.

  Mick pulled slightly ahead of the tow truck on the shoulder of the road, flipped on her hazard lights, and exited the car. She nodded to the officer standing beside Ruby. “Officer.”

  “You must be the Calvary,” he said.

  “Not sure about that,” Mick replied. She turned her attention to the woman standing a foot away. “You must be Ruby.”

  “Guilty as charged.” Ruby extended her hand. “Thanks for coming out here. You didn’t have to. I could have—"

  “It’s no problem. I was watching your son crash my car into things. Seems only fair I should help you after you crash yours.”

  Ruby’s brow furrowed.

  “Toy car,” Mick explained. “My old toy car.”

  Ruby nodded.

  “All set,” the tow truck driver said. He handed Ruby a slip of paper. “It’ll be at Jerry’s on Oak Street.”

  ‘Thank you,” Ruby replied.

  “Let’s get you out of the cold,” Mick suggested. She watched as Ruby thanked the police officer again and led Ruby to her car.

  “I really owe you,” Ruby said when they were both inside.

  “Nah.” Mick pulled out and started down the highway toward the hospital where they both would be working soon. She glanced across the seat at Ruby and frowned. “Hey, are you okay?”

  “I guess I’m still a little shaky.”

  Mick’s doctor instincts kicked in. “Are you hurting anywhere?”

  “I’m okay.”

  Mick chanced a glance across the seat. Ruby rubbed a finger over her eyebrow and flinched. “You hit your head, didn’t you?”

  “I don’t know,” Ruby confessed.

  Mick sighed. “You need to get checked out.”

  “I’m okay.”

  “Well, then it won’t hurt to have someone take a look.”

  “Listen, Michaela, I—”

  “Mick.”

  “What?”

  “Call me Mick.”

  “Okay, Mick, I need to get to work.”

  Mick shook her head and chuckled.

  “What?”

  “You know what.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Aren’t you a nurse?”

  “Yes.”

  “You know better than to take a chance,” Mick said.

  “Look, I appreciate you coming out to get me, I d
o. I’m fine,” Ruby snapped.

  Mick sighed.

  “I’m sorry. I just met you and look at the mess—” Ruby lost her train of thought. “I need to work.” She closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest. “I really am okay.”

  “I’d really like us both to stay that way,” Mick offered.

  “What?”

  “If anything happened to you, my mom might kill us both. I promised her I’d get everyone where they needed to go. I didn’t say where that was. Just let someone take a look, Ruby. It’ll give you a little time to calm your nerves too.”

  “Hospitals don’t calm anyone’s nerves.”

  Mick chuckled. “You work there.”

  “Right. I’m not a patient.”

  Mick laughed.

  “Besides, you know how long it takes. You’re a doctor.”

  “And, that might just give me a tiny bit of pull,” Mick said.

  Ruby groaned. She knew Mick was right. She felt stupid, embarrassed, clumsy, guilty, and slightly nauseous. “I suck,” she muttered.

  Mick forced herself not to laugh. She’d listened to countless stories about Ruby and Logan. Her mother adored the pair. Leona also shared that she thought Ruby was a little nervous about meeting Mick. Ruby and her son spent long hours with Leona, and Mick knew that her mother was a frequent visitor next door. Leona raved about the pies and cakes Ruby often brought over, and the fact that the young mom had taken it upon herself to care for Leona’s yard whenever she could—leaves, snow and all. Mick was grateful that her mother had someone nearby to help. She also guessed that Ruby might worry her presence would somehow be needed less now, if not less welcome. From Mick’s perspective, nothing could be farther from the truth. She would be working long hours at the hospital—one week on, one week off. Having someone else to check in on Leona put Mick’s mind at ease. More than that, Leona considered the pair part of her family. Mick would never tread on that relationship. Still, she was an unknown quantity. She had to admit, she felt slightly concerned about Ruby’s opinion of her. What did the nurse think of Mick—a daughter who hadn’t visited home in five years? She groaned inwardly and let her eyes fall on the subject of her thoughts again.

  Ruby was clearly upset about everything. Even if nothing was medically wrong with Ruby, the experience she’d been through had frazzled the woman’s nerves. Either way, she was in no condition to focus on caring for anyone else, much less people who were sick. Mick was confident in that assessment. “It’s pretty slippery out here,” Mick offered. “I don’t think the snow and ice are your fault. And, what’s the worst thing that could happen—really? You’ll have a day off to watch the snow from underneath a warm blanket.”