Carrolls and Firrs: A Christmas Novella Read online

  Her dad grabbed the countertop, his face pale, eyes wild. “Don’t you blame this on me young lady. You needed to be back where you belonged. We were trying to help you get your life together and that life doesn’t include him.” Her dad flung an arm in Doug’s direction.

  “And why wouldn’t it?” Ellie looked at Doug and actually smiled in spite of the fiasco filling the shop. “He’s smart and a good son.” She looked back at her dad. “And a very successful business owner.”

  It was meant as a dig. One she expected to draw a reaction.

  Dale looked at her, breathing heavy. He grabbed his chest and slumped to the ground, landing at her mother’s feet.

  “Oh no.” Her mother stared down at him like she couldn’t believe what was happening. She looked up at Ellie and Doug then back at Dale.

  Ellie dropped to her knees, cradling her dad’s clammy head as Doug kneeled beside her, his phone already against his ear.

  This was not the reaction she wanted.

  ***

  “Did you get ahold of Betsy?” Doug’s fingertips brushed gently against her cheek.

  Ellie let her head fall to his shoulder. “No. I left her a message. She’s probably at her prenatal yoga class. I’ll call her again later.” She took a deep breath, trying to relax but the heavy smell of antiseptic and cafeteria food made it impossible to forget where she was.

  Ellie opened her eyes and watched the woman delivering the evening’s suppers as the hospital employee moved from room to room. Her stomach was not appreciative of the plethora of smells filling the hall with each stop the dinner delivery woman made. “I think I need to walk around.”

  Ellie stood up from her chair in the waiting area where her mother banished she and Doug an hour ago so Dale could rest.

  “Is that your dad’s doctor?” Doug pointed past the food cart as the young cardiologist tending to her father came up the corridor.

  She stopped when she saw Ellie and gave her a warm smile. “I was just on my way to go talk to your mom and dad.”

  Ellie sucked in a breath trying to ready herself for the official news she successfully did what most kids only joke about.

  Gave her father a heart attack.

  Switching off her phone, she stepped in the room and went straight to her dad’s bedside. In some ways he looked significantly improved. His color was better. His breathing was back to normal. But Dale still looked worried.

  Her mother was no better. She sat in the corner, looking from Dale to Ellie, picking at the edge of her thumbnail.

  The cardiologist stood at the end of her dad’s bed, her long fingers resting on the side rail. “How are you feeling Mr. Carroll?”

  He looked at his wife, then at Ellie, then finally at the doctor. “A little better I guess.”

  Ellie waited for him to ask what they found. If there was damage to his heart. If he needed surgery. He and her mother sat silently, waiting.

  She was not so patient. “What did you find? Is he going to be okay?” A tiny hitch caught in her throat and her eyes burned. She was a horrible daughter.

  The doctor looked at her dad. “He is definitely going to be okay.”

  The breath she was holding left Ellie’s lungs in relief. “That’s wonderful.” She reached over to pat her dad’s arm. “Will he have to have any surgery or be on medication?”

  “Actually, we didn’t find any sign of a heart attack. All his tests came back completely normal.” The doctor wrinkled her nose a little. “I would recommend losing some weight but other than that, everything is fine.”

  Ellie looked at the doctor, confused. “Are you sure?” Ellie looked from her mom to her dad. Neither looked back.

  “Oh no.” She pulled her hand off her father’s arm and held her face in her hands as a sick realization hit her. “Please, please tell me you didn’t do this on purpose.”

  She peeked through her fingers and the look on her mother’s face said it all. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Now NoNo you were being rash and something had to be done.” Her dad’s voice was suddenly strong and booming.

  She was unimpressed by his attempt at authority. “You are horrible.”

  Dale pointed at his wife. “It was your mother’s idea.”

  Cris looked ready to slap him. “I suggested it as a joke. Who in the world actually fakes a heart attack?”

  “Apparently you do.” Ellie threw up her hands. “You two are the most manipulative people I have ever met.”

  The doctor looked down at her waist and fiddled with her pager. “I’m so sorry. I have to go.”

  Ellie couldn’t blame her. Better to fake a page than a coronary.

  “Everything was in place. It was going to be perfect. You would run the shop and bakery. The neighbors were going to sell you their house. I worked so hard on this.” Her mother stood up, hands on her hips. “And you were going to ruin it.”

  It wasn’t just her dad’s infraction that was a lie. “You two never cease to amaze me.” Ellie shook her head. “I’m not running your business and I’m not buying the house next door.” She slipped her hand into Doug’s. “I am going to be with Doug and I am going to live wherever I want because contrary to what you think I am an adult.” She took a deep breath. “Maybe someday if you two can learn how to act I’ll let you know where that is.”

  She turned and walked out.

  “You did good NoNo.” Doug gently bumped her with his elbow as they waited on the elevator.

  Ellie shook her head and glared at him. “Uh-uh. Not funny.”

  He grinned. “It’s a little funny.”

  “Not even a little bit Douggie.”

  His laughter filled the elevator as they stepped inside. “Fair enough.” He pulled her against his chest and held her close as the bell counted off the passing floors. “You feel any better?”

  She rested her cheek against his chest, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Yes and no. I’m glad I drew the line but I know I’ll probably always have to keep drawing it. They are pretty set in their ways.”

  “But they love you.”

  Ellie sighed loudly. “I know. I just wish they had a more normal way of showing it.”

  They stepped out of the elevator and into the foyer of the hospital’s main entrance. She fished her phone out of her purse and turned it back on. It immediately began buzzing in the palm of her hand.

  Doug led her out through the front door as she scrolled through the list of text messages she received while the phone was off. All fifteen of them.

  “Where to now sweetheart?”

  Ellie’s heart jumped to her throat.

  “Ellie?” Doug looked down at her.

  Grabbing his hand she turned back to the hospital. “We have to go back in.” She yanked his arm, dragging Doug behind her as she raced to the front desk for a pass.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She turned to him, her smile so wide it almost hurt her cheeks.

  “Betsy’s having the baby.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  ELLIE SQUATTED DOWN carefully, leaning back as she went, trying not to fall over in the process. Grabbing the large container of pastel colored sprinkles from under the counter she slowly stood back up, thighs burning, a line of sweat forming along her hairline.

  This was not as easy as it looked.

  The front door dinged and Janie held it open wide as two large decanters walked into the bakery, completely obscuring the men carrying them. Ellie walked around the display case as fast as her current situation allowed. “Morning boys. What’s the flavor of the day?”

  Doug set his insulated keg on the high top counter in the corner and helped his barista David get the other one in place. The high-schooler gave Ellie a quick wave as he zipped back out the door. “Hi Miss Carroll.”

  Ellie barely waved back before he was gone. “He’s fast.”

  “Kid’s a hard worker. Aspen’s still sour at me for moving him to the coffee shop.” Doug aligned the cups
and stir sticks beside the newly arrived beverages. He pointed to the decanters. “I did a French vanilla and the other is actually just warm milk.”

  Janie handed Ellie a large container filled with a brownish powder. She leaned in close. “He was up late grinding actual chocolate for this.” Her attention immediately turned to Ellie’s chest. “Hey sweet girl. How are you today?”

  “She’s hot.” Ellie used her sleeve to dab at her forehead. “Like having a furnace strapped to me.”

  “No take backsies.” Betsy breezed in from the kitchen with a large tray of egg shaped sugar cookies and placed them on the folding table set up in the middle of the bakery’s front room. “I carried her around for nine months. It’s someone else’s turn.”

  “Don’t fill this bakery with your lies.” Ellie patted Emma’s tiny bottom and bounced gently as the baby shifted in her carrier. “You only carried her eight-and-a-half months.”

  Betsy stopped to rub Emma’s back on her way back to the kitchen. “Don’t sass me or I’ll sneak out the back when you’re not looking and you’ll have to deal with all the kids and a baby by yourself.”

  “You’re vicious.” Ellie grinned at her. “That’s why we’re friends.”

  Doug dropped a kiss on Ellie’s cheek, letting his hand rest on Emma as he did. Out of the corner of her eye Ellie caught Janie put her hand over her heart.

  “I found it.” Cris stepped through the door between the shop and the bakery, shaking out a large Easter themed fabric table cloth. She paused, glancing around the full room. “Um, where would you like it?”

  Ellie lifted the tray of cookies Betsy just brought in off the folding table. “Can you spread it across this?”

  Cris nodded.

  “I can help.” Janie snagged two ends of the cloth. “It’s so hard to get the edges even by yourself.”

  Cris smiled. “Thank you.”

  “Do you ladies want me to stay here and help with the cookie decorating?” Janie smoothed the fabric on her side of the table.

  Betsy quickly stepped in, dropping a divided container of different colored frostings on the freshly clothed table. “That would be awesome. We will go through sprinkles as fast as we can set them out. The kids can’t get enough of them”

  “That works out then because I was planning on stealing this one for a bit.” Doug rested his hands on Ellie’s shoulders. “I need her.”

  Betsy rolled her eyes. “So dramatic.” She elbowed Cris as she passed. “Probably can’t live without her either.”

  Cris smiled. As outrageous as it was when her parents found out, they’d warmed to the idea of her with Doug pretty quickly. Their main problem now was all the crow they’d been eating.

  Ellie untied the stretchy length of thick grey jersey Betsy wrapped around her this morning to hold Emma snugly in place. “Come get baby linebacker Bets.”

  Cris was on her before Betsy could even clear the kitchen door. “I’ll take her.” She turned to Betsy, hands still slowly working their way around Emma’s little body. “If that’s okay.”

  “Are you kidding? I’ll take any break I can get.” Betsy adjusted the apron looped over her neck. “I’ll wrangle the ones that can at least feed themselves.”

  “Hang on.” Ellie ran behind the counter and grabbed the small box she packed up this morning. “If I forget this I’ll never hear the end of it.” She tucked the custom insulated coffee cup Doug gave her for Christmas in the crook of her arm. Might as well take advantage of her lifetime of free coffee while she was there.

  “I’ll bring her back.” Doug put his hand on the small of Ellie’s back and gently guided her out the door. “Maybe.”

  Janie laughed behind them and Ellie could swear she heard her mother chuckle too.

  Doug pulled her in close to his side. “How’s it going?”

  “Surprisingly good.” Especially considering she basically told her parents the only way she would come back to run the shop and bakery was if they resigned. “My mom keeps showing up and hanging out.”

  “Old habits.”

  Ellie shrugged. “I think she’s just bored.”

  It turned out that was the whole point of the shop and bakery in the first place. Her parents didn’t need it to be successful. It was a write off and a hobby for her mother. At least until they thought of something better they could use it for. Like coercing their daughter back into town.

  Ellie wrapped her free arm around Doug’s waist. “So what do you need me for?”

  “Bathroom tile selection.”

  Ellie threw her head back and laughed. “I think you are more than capable of choosing bathroom tile.”

  “Of course I’m capable.” He leaned in and nuzzled against her ear. “I just like it better when you’re there.” Doug reached out and opened the coffee shop door, guiding her in with his other hand.

  “Welcome to The Beanery beautiful lady.” Bruce Firr gave her a wink as she stepped inside.

  “Speaking of bored.” Doug looked at his dad. “Someone has appointed themselves the official coffee shop greeter.”

  “There are people who come here just to see me.” Bruce eased his electric wheelchair out of the way of a couple leaving. “I’m bringing in business.”

  Ellie stepped beside Bruce and kissed him on the cheek. “That’s the whole reason I come here.”

  Bruce raised his brows at his son. “See? Told you.” He eyed the box in her hands.

  Ellie held it where he could see and opened the lid. “Key lime scones.”

  “At least someone appreciates me.” He gave her a wink as she set the box on his lap.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Doug wrapped his arm around Ellie and eased her toward the back of the shop, snagging her cup and setting it on the counter as they passed. “We’ll be back in a minute dad.”

  “Bring me some coffee for my scones.”

  Doug looked down at her. “You’ve spoiled him you know.”

  “It’s hard not to.” Ellie waved at David who was busy behind the coffee bar, brewing up specialty drinks and passing them out. He gave her a quick wave and went back to work setting his most recent creation on the bar beside her old dollhouse.

  She followed Doug up the stairs and into the second floor apartment’s main bathroom. Last week it was still studs. Now it was covered in a combination of green board and cement board. A line of different tiles was set across the floor.

  “They’ve been working hard huh?” Ellie looked over the options. “Which one did you pick?”

  “I want you to pick.” Doug pulled in a free-standing work light and switched it on, brightening up the space.

  Ellie looked over her shoulder at him. “No way. This is your dream.”

  He stepped in close. “I’ve got a custom replica downstairs that says this is as much your dream as it is mine.” He brushed his fingers across her cheek. “I decided I like to think of it more as our dream.”

  “Do you now.” Ellie rested her hands on his chest.

  He nodded. “I like to think of most things using terms like us and we and ours.”

  She smiled up at him. “I could probably get used to that.”

  Doug kissed the tip of her nose. “You’ll have to.”

  Ellie cocked one eyebrow at him, trying to look serious. “I don’t like to be told what to do.”

  Doug laughed the sound bouncing around in the small, unfinished space.

  “That’s my favorite thing about you.”

  Thank you for reading Carrolls and Firrs. Did you love it? Was it everything you hoped it would be? Tell the world how you feel by leaving a review here.

  If you have a book hangover and want to jump right back into a new fictional world check out my Never Waste a Second Chance series here. It is blue collar, small town romance at its finest (and comes with a hot and steamy warning).

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  />   Janice M. Whiteaker, Carrolls and Firrs: A Christmas Novella