The Grumpy Doctor's Christmas Healing

A Clean and Wholesome Holiday Romance

By: Melanie Oakley

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A burned-out PICU doctor. The art therapist he ghosted three years ago. One hospital garden project. Twenty-six days.

Dr. Ethan Rivera hasn't slept properly in three years — not since he pushed away the only woman who ever saw past his walls. He takes the stairs to avoid her floor. He declines every committee she chairs. He survives on espresso and avoidance.

Grace Thornton has spent those same three years rebuilding what Ethan shattered. She's a respected pediatric art therapist with published research, a gift for helping frightened children, and zero interest in giving second chances to doctors who vanish without explanation.

Then their hospital chief assigns them to co-lead a healing garden project — daily meetings, every morning at seven AM, for twenty-six days straight. He brings her coffee. She keeps him at arm's length. He remembers her exact order from three years ago. She pretends that doesn't matter.

But between therapy dog visits in reindeer antlers, a young patient's infectious optimism, and Christmas Eve confessions on a hospital rooftop, Grace starts to see the man Ethan is becoming — one who shows up, stays honest, and fights for what he almost lost.

When a career-defining job offer forces Grace to choose between her dream and their fragile new beginning, Ethan faces the one thing that terrified him most: proving he won't run again.

Twenty-six days to rebuild trust. One chance to get it right. And a love that never really ended — it just needed someone brave enough to stay.

✓ Second chance romance
✓ Grumpy sunshine
✓ Forced proximity
✓ Matchmaking boss
✓ Found family
✓ He falls first
✓ Workplace romance
✓ Christmas setting
✓ Grand gesture

Clean, closed-door romance. Dual POV, third person.

Book 3 in the Christmas at Mercy Children's Hospital series — interconnected standalones. Guaranteed HEA.

Fall in love with Mercy Children's Hospital — start the series today.