Merry Christmas From Florida by Suzanne D. Williams

Author:Suzanne D. Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: holidays, romance, Christian fiction, short stories, contemporary fiction, clean & wholesome, inspirational
Publisher: Suzanne D. Williams
Published: 2022-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

Fletcher cleared the table, making room for the small artificial Christmas tree he’d spent the last couple minutes assembling. Setting it in the center, he pushed it backward toward the wall and plugged it in. Lights in a spectrum of brilliant colors sparkled on the walls and ceiling of the room, and for a moment, he sat, unmoving, and stared at them.

“There you go, Dad,” he said to himself. “It’s small, but it’s yours.”

His mind fled back ten years to another Christmas when he was thirteen.

Dad, why do you put yourself through all this? he’d argued. His feet entangled in miles of wiring, he’d grown frustrated with the effort. Day after day, hour after hour, all they did was string lights.

Because it’s time to celebrate, his dad had replied.

Celebrate what? A tree? A fat man in a red suit?

Joy.

Joy. They went through all that trouble to celebrate joy. In his shallow teenage mind, he hadn’t understood it, hadn’t really liked Florida all that much either. As a result, at age eighteen, he’d gone back to Chicago, roomed with a friend, gotten a job at a hotel. He’d worked himself into management when his dad told him he was ill.

The old ticker, you understand, he’d said.

His heart was bad, and he had an uncertain amount of time before he was gone. No one really knew when that was, so he had to make the best of what time was left.

That’d brought him back to the heat, the humidity. The bugs. He’d hated it the same, but been glad in the end. He’d had a year and a half to reconnect, to really tell his dad how much he loved him, and that had been worth every minute.

He regretted none of it, not his time, not his heartache, and now, not Christmas. Because the very day that reminded him of his dad’s passing, reminded him of something greater. Love. Whether he celebrated it with a tree or not didn’t matter. What did was denying the very thing his dad had strived so hard to teach him.

Whitney’s face rose in his mind and with it, the feel of her against him. Fletcher choked, overcome. He reached for his cell and dialed the hotel.

“Hey, it’s Fletcher, patch me through to Miss Hobart’s room.”

The line buzzed, then rang twice before she picked up.

“Whitney Hobart,” she said.

“Hey, it’s Fletcher.”

“Fletcher ...”

He reclined in his chair, his vision filled with the Christmas lights.

“I want to show you something,” he said. “Can I pick you up?”

“I’ll change,” she said.

“See you in fifteen.”

He disconnected and reaching for the plug, tugged it out of the wall. The room fell dark. He knew right where to find an amazing Christmas tree, and exactly who he wanted to share it with for something it was finally time for him to do.

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