It Must Be Christmas Read online

  There was a long pause before he answered again.

  Okay. Talk soon.

  That was it. Short and sweet. No suggestion of when they might get together next. She was relieved. Wasn’t she? She should be. She’d given herself a firm talking-to after she’d gotten some sleep. Put things in perspective. Did she even have time for dating right now? She looked down at the carrier which doubled as a seat. The baby was awake and staring up at her with big blue eyes. She’d been up twice during the night to feed him. Babies took up a lot of time.

  The truth was, she was nearly thirty. She figured that any man she got involved with pretty much had to come with keeper potential. It was simply the way she was wired. She’d never wasted time on things that were going nowhere. Sometimes she wondered what that would be like. Pointless? Or liberating? Either way, she had her laundry list of attributes for her future partner. Top of it were marriage and father material. Dave certainly seemed devoted to his daughter, but how long would he stay in Jewell Cove?

  She enlisted Robin’s help in caring for the baby, putting his seat in the reception area, taking turns changing him or carrying him around when he was fussy. Midmorning, two cups of coffee and four patients later, Robin came back and let her know that Todd Smith was in the waiting room and wanted to talk to her. Figuring it could only be about the baby, she checked her watch and nodded. “Bring him back here, Robin. If it’s about the investigation, we won’t want to talk where everyone can hear.”

  “Sure thing, Charlie.” Robin smiled and scooted out, returning only seconds later with Officer Smith trailing behind her.

  Next to the petite receptionist, Todd Smith looked big and imposing, especially in his uniform. He’d removed his hat and had it tucked under his arm, and she realized some of his bulk came from the impressive array of gear on his belt as well as the probability of a flak jacket beneath his clothing.

  “Morning, Dr. Yang,” he greeted.

  She smiled. “You can call me Charlie,” she offered. “Unless you prefer the title for official business.”

  He smiled back. “Too bad I am on official business.” Before she could dissect that particular comment, he motioned toward a chair. “May I?”

  “Oh, of course. Do you want a coffee or anything?”

  There was a tap on the door frame and Robin came in, carrying a steaming mug. “Here you go, Todd. Heavy on the cream, no sugar.”

  “Thanks, Robin.” He smiled at the receptionist and then grinned at Charlie. “Robin already asked when I arrived. Thanks for the offer, though.” He took a sip and sighed. “That’s way better than what Bryce makes up at the station.”

  Charlie sat in her chair and crossed her ankles. “So. I take it you have news?”

  He took another drink of coffee and then put the cup down on the corner of her desk. “Well, yes. But not the kind we hoped for.” His gaze met hers. “We did a records check. Couldn’t find any unaccounted-for babies from any of the nearby hospitals. We went back over three weeks.”

  She frowned. “Huh. I really thought that would work, you know?” She thought for a second and then voiced an idea. “What if the baby had been born at home? It happens. Not often, but it happens.”

  “You mean with a midwife or something?”

  “Sure, that too. Couldn’t you cross-check birth-certificate registrations against the hospital records?”

  He nodded and smiled. “Actually, we’ve already started on that.”

  Charlie sat back in her chair and pondered. It was hard to hide a pregnancy, or any record of it if the mom had been receiving regular prenatal care. Surely it would only be a matter of time until they found the baby’s mother. “Well, something will hopefully turn up.”

  “It takes time. The wheels of bureaucracy and all that. I just wanted to give you an update, seeing as how you’ve got a stake in this too. I was surprised to see him with you today.”

  She gave a little laugh. “I couldn’t resist. He’s sweet. Even though he kept me up all night.”

  Smith shuddered. “Yuck. Been there done that. During a few of my Uncle of the Year moments.” He laughed. “I like my sister’s kids much better now that they’re mobile. It’ll be even better when they hit Little League.”

  She looked at the officer closely, took quick stock of him. Tall, handsome, stable job, liked kids, settled … he ticked all the right boxes. But she didn’t get that tummy-lifting, butterfly sensation that she did when she saw Dave. How inconvenient.

  “Charlie, would you mind stopping by the station, maybe tomorrow? It might be good to go over your statement from Saturday night. See if you remember anything else that might help us out.”

  “I don’t work until one. I can probably pop in tomorrow morning.”

  “That’d be great. Well, I’d better be going.” He hesitated for a minute, then caught her gaze and held it. “This Ricker guy that was here on Saturday. Are you…”

  “No.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. But she couldn’t deny that Todd looked relieved at her answer.

  “Oh. It seemed like you were.”

  “We were merely walking to meet Josh and some others at the pub. He didn’t want me to be alone is all.”

  Liar.

  She checked her watch. “Listen, thanks for stopping by. I do have another patient waiting, though.”

  He stood and nodded. “And I’ve got to get back to work. Take care, Charlie.” His smile was warm enough to melt icicles.

  “Thanks, Todd. You too.”

  When he was gone, she took a minute to sit and recover. Unless she was greatly mistaken, and she could be—her romantic radar wasn’t the best—Officer Smith had been sending out some signals. On Saturday night he’d been rather protective of her too, she remembered. She didn’t know him well, but they’d met on several occasions …

  “Charlie? Exam room one is waiting.” Robin appeared in the doorway with a smile. “Can’t blame you for needing to sit down, though. Todd Smith in uniform is…” She stopped talking and merely made the motion of fanning herself.

  Charlie couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t let Josh hear you talking like that.”

  “I suppose we shouldn’t let on that we call him Dr. Hottie then?”

  Charlie nearly choked. “Oh my God. He’d die.”

  With a cheeky grin, Robin disappeared and Charlie made her way to the exam room, grabbing the chart off the door. Enough fun—it was time to get back to work.

  Chapter Six

  Charlie wished this wasn’t the first time she’d had to give a police statement, but she’d done her share during her ER rotation. Then there was the time she’d stopped at a gas station for a pint of ice cream and had found herself in the middle of a domestic dispute. As the boyfriend had come charging across the parking lot, the cashier had locked the outside door. Charlie hadn’t thought twice. She’d taken the girl into the storage closet and locked them in until police arrived, spending several minutes trying to calm the girl down.

  Her parents had been livid that she’d inserted herself into a potentially dangerous situation. That had been the day that she’d realized that she simply did not think the same way as her mother and father did and she’d known exactly what she was going to do. She asked herself why she’d become a doctor and the answer had been clear—she’d done it to help people. That was the marker of her success—not acclaim or status or money. She didn’t give a rat’s ass about becoming chief of anything or top of her field. Prestige meant nothing to her. She’d been around it her whole life and found it to be an empty ambition. And so she’d stood up for herself for the first time ever, put her foot down, and found herself part of a small practice here in Jewell Cove. No regrets. Not one.

  Now here she was again, in the middle of a situation that wasn’t her doing, sitting, waiting. Drinking terrible police station coffee while the baby sat in his car seat, his bright eyes open and staring at a colorful toy bar she’d bought during a very necessary trip to shop for the necessities like clothing and a