Unexpected Holidays

By Annie Reed

Christmastime, but with a twist.

 

That's what you'll find in this latest edition of the Unexpected series. Celebrations that will surprise you while they warm your heart in the very best way. Feel-good stories to cozy up with on a cold winter's night.

 

And stories of the best possible starts for a brand New Year.

 

"One of the best writers I've come across in years." --Kristine Kathryn Rusch

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Ink
• Release date: Dec 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393322801

Annie Reed

Award-winning author and editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch calls Annie Reed “one of the best writers I’ve come across in years.”Annie’s won recognition for her stellar writing across multiple genres. Her story “The Color of Guilt” originally published in Fiction River: Hidden in Crime, was selected as one of The Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016. Her story “One Sun, No Waiting” was one of the first science fiction stories honored with a literary fellowship award by the Nevada Arts Foundation, and her novel PRETTY LITTLE HORSES was among the finalists in the Best First Private Eye Novel sponsored by St. Martin’s Press and the Private Eye Writers of America.A frequent contributor to the Fiction River anthologies and Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Annie’s recent work includes the superhero origin novel FASTER, the near-future science fiction short novel IN DREAMS, and UNBROKEN FAMILIAR, a gritty urban fantasy mystery short novel. Annie’s also one of the founding members of the innovative Uncollected Anthology, a quarterly series of themed urban fantasy stories written by some of the best writers working today.Annie’s mystery novels include the Abby Maxon private investigator novels PRETTY LITTLE HORSES and PAPER BULLETS, the Jill Jordan mystery A DEATH IN CUMBERLAND, and the suspense novel SHADOW LIFE, written under the name Kris Sparks, as well as numerous other projects she can’t wait to get to. For more information about Annie, including news about upcoming bundles and publications, go to www.annie-reed.com.

Book preview

Christmastime, but with a twist.

That’s what you’ll find in this latest edition of the Unexpected series. Celebrations that will surprise you while they warm your heart in the very best way. Feel-good stories to cozy up with on a cold winter’s night.

And stories of the best possible starts for a brand New Year.

One of the best writers I’ve come across in years.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Introduction

A New Home for Christmas

Carl of the Bells

Roger’s Christmas Wish

Essy and the Christmas Kitten

The Old Guy

Copyright Information

About the Author

Introduction

I love the Christmas season. It’s my favorite holiday of the year, even in this decidedly odd year. As I write this, I’m social distancing from everyone except my immediate family (those who live in my household).

I’m an introvert by nature—many writers are—but I enjoy holiday traditions that include other people beyond my immediate family. Last year this time I wouldn’t have expected that those holiday traditions would be put on hold this year. Even Christmas shopping has been virtual this year. While I don’t miss the crowds, I do miss the happy surprise of finding just the right gift where you least expected it.

Unexpected holidays can hit people hard. We take comfort in our traditions, and when those traditions don’t happen, we can feel off kilter. I had a hard time getting in the holiday spirit this year, I admit that. I’m currently listening to old-time Christmas carols as I write this, and that helps. So does the flurry of holiday baking I’ve done over the last week. (My family may end up getting sick of Christmas cookies by the time I’m done, since we won’t be giving away a bunch this year like we usually do thanks to the social distancing thing.)

Each of the stories in this collection takes a look at an unexpected Christmas. All the stories have happy endings, I’ll tell you that up front. I believe happy endings are a necessity around the holidays this year. At least they are for me. There’s no mention of a pandemic in these stories. We all have enough of that in real life, right? I don’t need that in my holiday fiction.

I like to think of these stories as a nice warm blanket you can wrap around yourself while you’re listening to your favorite carols and drinking your favorite holiday beverage. And maybe eating a Christmas cookie or two (or three or four), or snacking on another holiday treat that’s traditional in your household.

Here’s to a very Happy New Year!

—Annie Reed

December 22, 2020

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A New Home for Christmas

Even during the holidays when life got crazy busy, sometimes a person just needed to make time to cuddle a cat.

Miriam sat in a not-so-comfortable armchair in the middle of the cat colony room the shelter reserved for special needs cats, Lulabell curled up asleep on her lap, Luther sleeping on her feet. The chair with its sagging springs and flattened cushions had been donated to the shelter, just like the cat toys and scratching posts and the carpet-covered hidey-hole that Luther retreated to whenever anyone came in the room.

Except Miriam. When Miriam came to visit, Luther and Lulabell liked to sleep on her.

Lulabell and Luther were brother and sister (Miriam hated calling them litter mates). They’d been brought to the shelter six months ago when their first and only owner went into assisted care. Luckily for siblings, the shelter didn’t place an expiration date on their charges, but the change in circumstances had been a shock to the twelve-year-old cats. It had taken Miriam nearly a month to coax Luther, the shyest of the two, to leave the safety of his hidey-hole.

The two cats weren’t exactly special needs. Luther and Lulabell were Maine Coon mixes, which meant they were two of the largest cats in the shelter. Lulabell was a fuzzy orange love and Luther fuzzy black with a sable brown undercoat. They wouldn’t have both fit in a single cage, and to separate the pair would have been cruel. To put them in with the younger, more territorial cats would have been just as cruel considering how shy Luther was. The woman in charge of the feline side of the shelter thought they’d be better off sharing space with cats recovering from injuries or who needed medication or specialized diets.

Dr. Fischer, the young vet who donated her time to the shelter, told Miriam on more than one occasion that she should adopt them. They’ve clearly bonded with you, she always said. And you’ve bonded with them.

Miriam wished she could, but the rent-controlled apartment complex she’d moved into with her husband after the last of their children left home didn’t allow pets. Roy had been gone nearly six years now, and the place still seemed too large and empty without him. Lulabell and Luther would have helped with that, but rules were rules.

After Roy passed away, Miriam had thrown herself headlong into volunteering. She read story-time books to little kids at the library, sorted donations for the food bank, and crocheted scarfs for the homeless with a group of other older women who met at a local Starbucks, but the work she loved best was spending time at the shelter. She loved seeing the look on someone’s face when they found the perfect pet. That moment of instant love and connection—love at first sight, Dr. Fischer called it, and Miriam supposed it was. She and Roy hadn’t fallen in love that way. They’d had a solid friendship that developed into a lifelong loving partnership.

The younger staff and volunteers at the shelter had outdone themselves this year with the Christmas decorations. They got together the day after Thanksgiving to put up a huge artificial Christmas tree decorated with unbreakable ornaments in the reception area. They hung strings of colorful twinkle lights around each of the large viewing windows of the cat colony rooms and taped small stockings—purchased, no doubt, in bulk from a dollar store—to the windows. Similar stockings decorated each of the dog kennels.

Each of the red felt stockings bore the name of the pet inside the room or the kennel. When someone adopted a dog or a cat, the pet’s new owner got the stocking along with a new toy or treat to put inside the stocking for the pet’s first Christmas in its new home.

It was a cute idea, and Miriam had donated money to help with the purchase of the toys. But so far, ten days before Christmas, all of the stockings for the cats in the special needs colony still hung on the viewing windows.

Don’t worry, Miriam said to Lulabell as she petted the cat behind her left ear the way she liked it. Someone will love you two the way I do. Just you wait and see.

Lulabell rewarded her with a purr and a chirping meow that sounded like she’d spent the night indulging in whiskey and cigarettes.

Movement on the other side of the viewing window caught Miriam’s eye. An older man, tall and distinguished looking in a black woolen duster topped off with a handmade red knitted scarf knotted around his neck, stood reading the information sheets for the pets inside. His face had the ruddy look of someone who’d spent at least a portion of his life outside, and the way he carried himself—back straight, arms relaxed at his sides—reminded her of a natural athlete, although his clothes spoke of someone who spent his time