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Love Beneath the Christmas Tree
Love Beneath the Christmas Tree
Love Beneath the Christmas Tree
Ebook80 pages58 minutes

Love Beneath the Christmas Tree

By Jae

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About this ebook

Three short stories that follow the lives of Rachel Lewis, self-confessed Christmas Grump, and Lillian Coleman, the woman who makes her believe in the magic of Christmas again.

The Christmas Grump
For Rachel Lewis, a security guard at the mall, the Christmas holiday season is one big headache. She wants nothing to do with the celebration of love, peace, and family harmony. Her disenchantment with the holiday slowly begins to change when she meets seven-year-old Tyler and his mother.

Kissing Ms. Santa Claus
Rachel is counting the days until she and Lillian celebrate their first Christmas together as a couple. She is filled with longing for only one thing to make her holiday complete: a long-term commitment from Lillian. She sets out to find the perfect gift that will reflect her love and devotion.

The Christmas Elf
After her home state finally recognizes same-sex marriages, Rachel wants to propose to Lillian. Rachel is confident she has it all covered. She plans to take a second job as the mall Santa Claus to earn the money for Lillian's ring. But luck is not on her side, so Rachel finds herself with bells on her toes, playing a Christmas Elf.

Note:
"The Christmas Grump" and "Kissing Ms. Santa Claus" have been previously published in the anthology "Gingerbread Hearts".

LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 6, 2013
ISBN9783955331368
Love Beneath the Christmas Tree
Author

Jae

Jae grew up amidst the vineyards of southern Germany. She spent her childhood with her nose buried in a book, earning her the nickname "professor." The writing bug bit her at the age of eleven. For the last seven years, she has been writing mostly in English.She works as a psychologist. When she's not writing, she likes to spend her time reading, indulging her ice cream and office supply addiction, and watching way too many crime shows.

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    Book preview

    Love Beneath the Christmas Tree - Jae

    Love Beneath the Christmas Tree

    by Jae

    Published by Ylva Publishing, legal entity of Ylva Verlag, e.Kfr.

    http://www.ylva-publishing.com

    Copyright 2013 Ylva Publishing

    Smashwords Edition

    Edited by Judy Underwood and Anna Genoese

    Cover Design by Amanda Chron

    This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Love Beneath the Christmas Tree

    JAE

    Table of contents

    The Christmas Grump

    Kissing Ms. Santa Claus

    The Christmas Elf

    About Jae

    Other books from Ylva Publishing

    Coming from Ylva Publishing in Spring 2014

    The Christmas Grump

    Rachel Lewis glanced at her wristwatch and groaned. Not even six. Wonderful. Five more hours in this seventh level of hell, otherwise known as the shopping mall one week before Christmas.

    Jingle Bells blared from the mall’s sound system for the hundredth time. Rachel weaved around shoppers loaded down with bags, keeping an eye out for shoplifters and pickpockets. Normally, she stopped to chat with the cute barista in the coffee shop and the grandfatherly man working in the toy store, but today, the overworked salespeople were busy with the flood of customers, so Rachel just peeked in on the crowded stores and continued on her patrol.

    Oh, yeah. Christmas—time of quiet contemplation. Right.

    Her walkie-talkie flared to life. Phillips to Lewis. Mike’s voice was almost drowned out by Christmas carols and shouts in the background. Where are you?

    Rachel pressed the button on her two-way radio. Heading up to the food court.

    Want to meet me for a quick break?

    Sure.

    They met up in front of the pretzel stand, as they always did. Mike handed her a paper cup of coffee while Rachel bought two pretzels. Thanks. She sipped her coffee and, over the rim of the cup, let her gaze sweep over the crowd. I can’t wait for this carnage to be over and for things to go back to the normal level of craziness.

    Carnage? Mike laughed. Where’s your Christmas spirit?

    Maybe one of the fourteen pickpockets and shoplifters I caught this week stole it, Rachel said.

    Oh, come on. Mike nudged her, nearly making her spill coffee over her light gray uniform shirt and the black tie. Don’t be such a Christmas grump just because we’ve got a few more pickpockets and shoplifters than during the rest of the year.

    Rachel squinted against the blinking lights of the giant Christmas tree, wishing she had brought her sunglasses to work. Oh, it’s not just the shoplifters. Or the hours of incident reports and paperwork we have to fill out for each of them. Look around. Does this look like a celebration of love, peace, and family harmony? She pointed at a red-faced mother who yanked a little girl out of a store by her arm, making the girl cry as if she were being dragged over hot coals. They nearly collided with the stretched-out legs of a man who sat on a bench, surrounded by half a dozen shopping bags. With his glassy-eyed stare, his lolling chin, and his arms hanging limply down his sides, he looked as if he had just returned from a trip through the desert. In front of a jewelry store, a young couple was having a shouting match that nearly drowned out Bing Crosby’s White Christmas.

    Mike waved around his half-eaten pretzel as if to wipe away her arguments. Crumbs landed all over the security services badge above his left breast pocket. A few hours of stressful Christmas shopping is a small price to pay for the glow in your partner’s eyes or the happy laughter of a child when they open their presents in front of the Christmas tree.

    Rachel didn’t even have a Christmas tree. Her ex had taken her artificial Christmas tree with her when she left, and Rachel hadn’t bothered to get a new one this year. Wow. She forced a grin. Were you always such a softie, or did having a family turn you into a big marshmallow?

    He flicked a piece of pretzel in her direction. Maybe you should try it. Might help your attitude.

    Still keeping an eye on the shoppers around them, Rachel quirked an eyebrow at her colleague. There’s one problem with that.

    "Your sexual orientation? Lame excuse! I have

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