Mistletoe in the Snow (New Hope Sweet Christmas Romance 1)

Jordan could feel the smile on his face stretching thin. If he had to watch Downton Abbey every weekend in this room where Christmas threw up, he might go insane. “Thank you. I guess I’ll have to see what’s on.”

His phone began buzzing again like a wasp caught in a can. He waved Eddie out the door, trying to get the old man to move as fast as his feet could handle.

“You’re going to love New Hope, young man,” Eddie said on his way out. A piece of ash from his cigarette fell on the carpet and smeared as he shuffled over it. “It’s a lovely place. Changes lives, it does. You might just find yourself wanting to stick around.”

“Doubtful,” Jordan mumbled. He waved goodbye to the old man and shut the door behind him. Pressing himself to the door, he waited for the cigarette smoke to fade before falling onto the comforter. It felt nice to be alone for a moment, the quiet soothing his tired head..

That moment didn’t last long. His phone began to ring for the third time. As he went to answer it, the elf began to sing and dance again. Throwing a pillow at the singing monstrosity, Jordan worried about the next few weeks. How was he going to survive without cable TV and a boss that harassed him every few minutes?

If he was lucky, the construction company would collapse the building on him as he slept, putting him in a coma for the rest of the holiday season. It was the only pleasant thought he could muster about the place and New Hope as a whole.

It’d be better than a Christmas stuck in New Hope.

Chapter Two

Children hung from the rafters of the church, howling

like monkeys and scratching their armpits. A few ran around old pews in circles, screaming at the top of their lungs. Chloe Walker looked upon her newly minted cast members of the Christmas Eve musical and tried to hold in the dramatic sigh she felt building up inside her. She’d wanted this job. It was a dream come true. If she kept saying that, maybe it’d stay true.

“They’re cute,” her friend and coworker Laurie Fink cooed beside her. She’d been cast as the angel, Gabriel, for the modern day manger scene and was sitting in as one half of Chloe’s audition panel.

“Yeah and I think I just felt my ovaries die,” Chloe mumbled back. She shooed the children toward the back door where their parents were devouring the free lunchtime snacks and coffee. “If I make it through the next three weeks without losing my sanity, I’ll call it a win. Even if the musical stinks to high heaven.”

“It won’t stink.” Laurie smiled and tilted her head, her long red hair falling across her shoulders. “I’ve read the script. It’s brilliant. There’s a reason they chose you to put on this year’s Christmas Eve play. I still can’t believe you wrote it.”

Chloe felt a pleasant heat rise to her cheeks. She grinned to herself and then fanned her face with a spare church bulletin that had been stuffed into the pew rack in front of her. “It’s always been a secret hobby of mine. Accountant by day - playwright by night. Like Clark Kent and Superman, I guess.”

“Or Bruce Wayne and Batman,” Laurie said with an eager nod of her head. “Except, without the billions of dollars.”

“Or the alien superpowers.”

“Or the helpful butler.”

“Why do I need a butler when I have you?” Chloe grinned.

Laurie gave her shoulder a playful shove and shook her head. “Yeah, right?”

The phone in Chloe’s front pocket began to trill an alarm. They were on an extended lunch break from work, so she had to keep on schedule. She hushed it and leaned back into the hard wooden pew.

Time for a new round of auditions for a much more important role. She needed a Joseph for her mini modern day Christmas musical. A man with the voice of an angel and enough acting skills to move an audience to tears. She was out there, but finding him in this town was going to be like searching for a needle in her mother’s junk drawer.

“Let’s bring out the first candidate,” she shouted to Vicky, the church secretary manning the front for Chloe.

Through the double doors to the rectory walked Calvin Nelson. He’d graduated two years behind her in New Hope’s public high school, but she remembered who he was. All star athlete. Handsome as a tall glass of lemonade on a hot summer’s day. Beautiful man, all around.

“Starting this show off on a good foot,” she whispered to Laurie, who giggled. “What do you have for us, Calvin?”

He smiled, displaying two rows of beautifully straight teeth. Then, running a hand through his jet black hair, he dropped to his knees and did a stunning rendition of an excerpt from Hamlet. The ladies watched breathlessly. They gripped the back of the next row of pews, hanging on his every word.

“Beautiful, beautiful,” Chloe said when he was finished, clapping her freshly polished red manicure. “I think we can call off the rest of the auditions,” she added to Laurie out of the corner of her mouth.

“I think you’re forgetting one minor thing.” Laurie held up her finger and shook her head.

“What?” Chloe wanted to throw the hymnal at her. “The man is perfect.”

“Yes, but can he sing?” She held up a copy of the piano music Chloe had given her that morning. “You seem to have forgotten that the manger scene you wrote includes a beautiful solo piece from Joseph. You might want to have Calvin sing.”

Chloe pressed her lips together and clenched her teeth, but she couldn’t get too angry. Her friend had a point. Maybe she was jumping the gun. “Okay, Calvin. I need you to sing a bar or two for us, just so we can get an idea of your singing voice.”