spending the holidays with her family. She hadn’t mentioned Beau, the latest live-in boyfriend, so McKenzie wasn’t sure if Beau was going, staying or if he was history. Her father had planned a ski trip in Vermont with his bride and a group of their friends.
“We don’t celebrate the holidays like other folks.”
“How’s that?”
“We’ll meet up at some point in January and have dinner or something. We just don’t make a big deal of the day. It’s way too commercialized anyway, you know.”
“This coming from the winner of the best costume in the Christmas parade.”
She couldn’t quite keep her smile hidden. The call from the mayor telling her she’d won the award had surprised her, as had the Christmas ornament he’d dropped by the clinic to commemorate her honor.
“Cecilia is the one who should get all the kudos for that. She put my costume together.”
“But you wore it so well,” he assured her, giving her a once-over. “You wear that lab coat nicely, too, Dr. Sanders.”
She arched a brow at him and gave a mock-condescending shake of her head. “You hitting on me, Dr. Spencer?”
“With a baseball bat.”
She rolled her eyes. “Men, always talking about size.”
He laughed.
“Speaking of size, you should see the tree my mother put up in her family room. I swear she searches for the biggest one on the lot every year and that’s her sole criterion for buying.”
“She puts up a live tree?”
“She puts up a slew of trees. All are artificial except the one in the family room. There, she goes all out and insists on a real tree. There’s a row of evergreens behind my parents’ house, marking Christmases past.”
McKenzie couldn’t even recall the last Christmas tree her mother had put up. Maybe a skimpy tinsel one that had seen better days when McKenzie had still been young enough to ask about Santa and Christmas. Violet had never been much of a holiday person, especially not after McKenzie’s father had left.
“She wants to meet you.”
McKenzie’s brow arched. “Why would she want to do that? For that matter, how does she even know about me?”
“She asked if I was seeing anyone and I told her about you.”
Talking to his mother about her just seemed wrong.
“She shouldn’t meet me.”
“Why not?”
“Mothers should only meet significant others who have the potential for being around for a while.”
“Look, telling her I was dating someone was easier than showing up and there being some single female there eager to meet me and plan our future together. It’s really not as big a deal as you’re making it for you to come to my parents’ at Christmas.”
Maybe not to him, but the thought of meeting his family was a very big deal to her. She didn’t meet families. That implied things that just weren’t true.
“Obviously you haven’t been paying attention,” she pointed out. “I’ll be here on Christmas, working.”
“The shifts are abbreviated on the holidays. What time will you get off?”
“Oh, no. You’re not trapping me that way.”
He gave her an innocent look. “What way?”
“The way that whatever time I say you’re going to say, ‘Oh, that’s perfect. Just come on over when you’re finished.’”
“Hey, McKenzie?”
She frowned at him, knowing what he was about to say.
“The time you get off from the emergency room is perfect. Just come to my parents’ house when you’re finished.”
“Meeting parents implies a commitment you and I don’t have,” she reiterated.
“There’ll be lots of people there. Aunts. Uncles. Cousins. People even I’ve never met. It’s a party. You’ll have fun and it’s really not a big deal, except it saves me from my mother trying to set me up with every single nonrelated female she knows.”
How in the world had he talked her into this? McKenzie asked herself crossly as she pushed the Spencers’ doorbell.
She didn’t do this.
Only, apparently, this year she did.
Even to the point she’d made a dessert to bring with her to Lance’s parents. How corny was that?
She shouldn’t be here. She didn’t do “meet the parents.” She just didn’t.
Panic set in. She turned, determined to escape before anyone knew she was there.
At that moment the front door opened.
“You’re here.”
“Not really,” she countered. “Forget you saw me. I’m out of here.”
Shaking his head, he grinned. “Get in here.”
“I think I made a mistake.”
His brows rose. “McKenzie, you just drove almost an hour to get here and not so you could get here and leave without Christmas dinner.”
“I’ve done crazier things.” Like agree to come to Christmas dinner with Lance’s family in the first place.
“Did you make something?” He gestured to the dish she held.
“A dessert, but—”
“No buts, McKenzie. Get in here.”
She took a deep breath. He was right. She was being ridiculous. She had gotten off work, gone home, showered, grabbed the dessert she’d made the night before and typed his parents’ address into her GPS.
And driven almost an hour to get here.
“Fine, but you owe me.”
He leaned forward, kissed the tip of her nose. “Anything you want.”
“Promises. Promises.”
He grinned, took the dish from her, and motioned her inside. “I’m glad you’re here. I was afraid you’d change your mind.”
“I did,” she reminded him as she stepped into his parents’ foyer. “Only I waited a bit too late because you caught me before I could escape.”
“Then
