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    The Crappiest Christmas Ever: Christmas at Hickory Ridge Mall, #3
    The Crappiest Christmas Ever: Christmas at Hickory Ridge Mall, #3
    The Crappiest Christmas Ever: Christmas at Hickory Ridge Mall, #3
    Ebook71 pages50 minutes

    The Crappiest Christmas Ever: Christmas at Hickory Ridge Mall, #3

    By Cora Buhlert

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    About this ebook

    Jessica is having the worst Christmas ever, when her parents announce that they are getting a divorce two days before the holidays.

     

    Stuck on her own with no home to go to, Jessica heads for the mall to buy a Christmas tree for herself. Here she meets Matt, who sells Christmas trees and is having a really awful Christmas himself.

     

    Matt and Jessica bond over their shared pain and also manage to make each other laugh. So maybe, this won't be the worst Christmas ever after all...

     

    This is a short and sweet holiday romance of 12000 words or approximately 40 print pages.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPegasus Pulp Publishing
    Release dateDec 13, 2020
    ISBN9781393850847
    The Crappiest Christmas Ever: Christmas at Hickory Ridge Mall, #3
    Author

    Cora Buhlert

    Cora Buhlert was born and bred in North Germany, where she still lives today – after time spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. Cora holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen and is currently working towards her PhD. Cora has been writing, since she was a teenager, and has published stories, articles and poetry in various international magazines. When she is not writing, she works as a translator and teacher.

    Read more from Cora Buhlert

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      Book preview

      The Crappiest Christmas Ever - Cora Buhlert

      I. Cold Cold Christmas

      pinstripe

      You want to buy a Christmas tree?, Megan exclaimed, Now?

      Why on Earth not? Jessica replied, faintly irritated. She sipped the last of her cinnamon spice latte and tried to ignore the fact that this was probably the last time she’d get to drink this particular blend until next year.

      Next year. It still felt strange to think the words, let alone say them. Even if next year started a little over a week from now.

      Because… Megan drew out the word as if she were talking to an idiot or a very small child. Jessica just wondered as which of the two Megan saw her. …it’s December 23rd. And you won’t find any Christmas trees on December 23rd. And certainly not at six PM.

      Why not? It’s still before Christmas, isn’t it?

      Megan rolled her eyes. Yes, in theory it’s still before Christmas. But all the good trees were already sold days, if not weeks ago. Barely two days before Christmas is too late to buy a decent Christmas tree. Just as it’s too late to buy presents and Christmas sweets.

      Yeah, I wanted to buy some of my favourite Christmas sweets at the grocery store this morning, Jessica said, But they said the Christmas sweets were all sold out and had been for days. They said I should have bought Christmas sweets in October or November and not two days before Christmas.

      See? I told you so.

      That makes no sense, Jessica continued, Who on Earth even wants to buy Christmas sweets before Halloween?

      Normal people, Megan said, People who know that you always have to buy everything ahead of the season when you’ll need it.

      That’s not normal, Jessica countered.

      Maybe not, Megan agreed, But it’s the way things are. It’s called living in a consumer society.

      Jessica frowned. She and Megan had been friends since freshman year, but there were times that Megan fit the stereotype of the former marketing major and aspiring MBA a little too well.

      Of course, if you asked Megan, she’d probably say that Jessica was determined to match every single stereotype of the English major and aspiring MFA living in in her personal ivory tower far removed from reality.

      Jessica did not care. She liked her ivory tower a lot better than she liked reality.

      Well, I would’ve bought a tree in early December, she said, But until two days ago, I didn’t think I’d need one, cause I still thought I’d be going home for Christmas.

      Megan put a hand on Jessica’s shoulder in silent support. You can hardly blame the Christmas tree vendors for your personal problems.

      Jessica nodded. Well, I’ve got to blame someone. After all, I’m having the crappiest Christmas ever.

      The phone call had come the day before yesterday. When she’d head Mom’s voice on the other end of the line, Jessica had thought she’d only called to confirm the arrival times of her flight home. But then Mom had dropped the bombshell.

      Dad was having an affair with his secretary — pardon, personal assistant — and Mom and Dad were getting a divorce. Dad had already moved out of the house and taken off for Vegas or Reno or Atlantic City or someplace like that with his secretary, while Mom was planning to spend the holidays with Aunt Hilda in Florida. And her older sister Beth was celebrating with her own a family. So even if Jessica were to fly home for Christmas, there’d be no one there. Nothing but an empty house stuffed full of memories.

      Like Jessica always said, reality sucked. But dwelling on it didn’t help, didn’t change anything. So she jumped to her feet.

      Come on. Let’s just drive by some Christmas tree lots to check if they still have trees. If we can’t find one, we can go home.

      Megan rolled her eyes. At this point, there’ll only be trash left. The crooked broken trees no one wanted.

      That’s okay. Jessica flashed Megan a smile and reached for the car keys. I happen to like crooked and broken things.

      Just like my life, she thought.

      pinstripe

      Matt emitted a hearty yawn. He stomped his feet in

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