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Category: Romance
Description: A Short Story - The Snowflake Ball by Amy Blizzard is a real tear jerker! This is the story of Chloe and Woody, an ER Doctor without any Christmas spirit and a Fireman that lives to celebrate and spread Christmas cheer. Chloe sees Christmas as the day of her brother's death, and doesn't really acknowledge the holiday. It's not until she meets Woody in the ER, turns him down for a date, and has to be Mrs. Santa to his Santa at a Christmas party for sick children that sees how wonderful of a man he is. She finally realizes the world doesn't have to stop with the loss of a loved one, but she can still enjoy the magic of Christmas.
eBook Publisher: Highland Press/A Wee Dram, 2008 2008
eBookwise Release Date: November 2011

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [62 KB]
Words: 12975
Reading time: 37-51 min.

Her hope of finding peace and quiet was short-lived. She weaved her way past vomiting Christmas carolers, drunken Santa impostors and swearing men tangled in strands of blinking lights: the yearly holiday traditions of Indianapolis Medical.

"Hi there, Chloe," the attending physician, Dr. Day, greeted merrily when she approached the front desk. "Why so glum?"

Chloe glanced up and down the crowded, noisy halls as she pulled her hair into a sloppy ponytail. "Isn't it obvious, sir?"

"Oh, don't let the typical seasonal chaos around here get to you."

"Maybe you have a point. It's better to be treating minor injuries from crazy holiday mishaps than serious cases," she admitted, pushing away memories of the tragedies she'd witnessed in the hospital. It was always hard to forget a patient suffering from a horrible illness or injury, but at Christmas, it became even harder; and for Chloe, sometimes impossible.

"That's more like it. You're only a Resident and far too young to let your work dampen your Christmas spirit."

"Christmas is really just another day of the year to me. It has been for years, long before I started my residency."

Dr. Day's beaming grin fell from his round face and he shook his head. "That certainly is a shame. But there are a couple of days left before Santa shows up in his sleigh, maybe by then you'll have a change of heart."

Chloe smiled awkwardly. "Well, I'll let you know if three ghosts from my past, present and future visit me through the night."

"I think I have an idea that'll keep them at bay. I know just what you need to perk you up."

"A vacation in Hawaii?"

"No--" her fatherly boss laughed--"you need to be surrounded by people who are still looking forward to Christmas. Dr. Ross was looking for someone to play Mrs. Claus for the children's party in Pediatrics tomorrow. You'd be perfect."

"Mrs-Mrs. Claus?" she gasped, barely able to say the words. "Dr. Day, surely you jest. He can find someone better than me to don the floppy bonnet and white wig."

"Don't be silly. You'll have a great time and be thanking me afterward, trust me!" Without waiting, he picked up the phone. "I'll let Ross know right now."

Chloe groaned inwardly. The intern Day had suckered into playing the significant other of the jolly man in the red suit last year certainly hadn't thanked him after she'd been vomited on, kicked, and had her wig pulled off.

"Dr. Day!" one of the nurses called out as she hurried down the hall. "Your patient in exam three is prepped for sutures."

He nodded. "I'll be there as soon as I'm finished with my call."

"I'll go," Chloe volunteered, growing eager to get back to her normal routine of assisting patients and not Santa.

Once again she made her way through the horde of patients, relatives and staff members, feeling slightly nauseated and doomed when one of the drunken Santa impostors sent her a flirtatious wave. Sucking in a deep breath, she pulled back the drawn curtain in exam three and grabbed the chart at the end of the gurney, expecting to treat an injured department store elf or reindeer.

"Hello, Mr. Larson," she said politely after reading the name. "I'm Dr. Miller. There's been a slight change in plans and I'll be doing your sutures. If that's all right with you, of course?"

"Fine by me, doc, as long as you stop calling me Mr. Larson--that's my father. I'm Woody."

Chloe lifted her gaze from the clipboard and adjusted her thin, wire-framed glasses. Her pulse took a sudden upsurge when she saw a pair of beautiful blue eyes and a friendly, handsome face framed with wavy brown hair staring at her. "Well...um," she stammered. "Nice to meet you, Woody."