by Lola Kidd
Originally, it had seemed like a tedious but easy task. How wrong she had been! The whole process hadn’t been going well. It had been a long time since she had gone somewhere new. Dottie had moved out for a while in college, but she had lived with roommates. Even then, it was only different apartment buildings around her home town.
This was the first time she had ever truly been in a new place. She had never had to make new friends before. ’She’d never had to learn a new route to the grocery store or where the closest hospital was if, God forbid, something went wrong. It was all a little overwhelming. She had tried to stick to her routine as best she could, but it wasn’t working.
Routines were her favorite thing. They kept her sane. When she was comfortable, she could feel free to express herself and let her animal roam. When her routine was messed up or she couldn’t find her groove, she got very sad and anxious.
She was aware how strange she was. Even among her own kind, she felt like an outcast. No other shifter she’d ever met had problems shifting like she did. Everyone else could just drop their clothes wherever they were and set their animal free.
She often wondered if she had so many issues because of her rigid behavior or because of her animal. Dottie had never met another butterfly shifter before. Her animal wasn’t scary or strong. If she found herself in a dangerous situation, her only option was to run. That wasn’t how most humans pictured shifters or how shifters wanted to be portrayed.
At least she could make friends with the other small shifters. She hadn’t met many in real life, and none of them had shared her fear of shifting in unfamiliar places, but they did all shared her feelings of being excluded from the larger shifter community. She had met many mouse, songbird, and rabbit shifters online and had commiserated with them about the awful feeling. On the forums she frequented, there were special sections for non-threatening shifters like her and the reptiles and insects.
Dottie shuddered, thinking what it would feel like to shift and end up in the body of an ant or a spider. It made her skin crawl even imagining it. When she was feeling particularly sorry for herself, she would go and hang out on the insect forums. At least being a butterfly wasn’t as bad as a being a bug. People thought her shifter was beautiful, if a little frivolous. There was small comfort in that.
Now that she’d moved, most of her days were spent on the internet, talking with her online friends. She wasn’t just having trouble making new friends; she also couldn’t find a job. As usual. She was so lonely, and she desperately wanted to have a reason to get out of the house.
That loneliness was what had prompted her to sign up online to try to forge new bonds. She had signed up on dating sites, meetups, and one friend finder site. There were so many websites and apps that were supposed to help people connect, and she was going to try them all. Her parents had even encouraged her to test them all out.
Her daily routine was now very simple. After she woke up, she checked all her accounts to see if she had any matches or friendship requests. After she had finished that, she would move on to check for jobs. She usually spent two to four hours a day applying for anything she was remotely capable of doing. Even if she didn’t fit all the qualifications, she would apply. She had an associate’s degree in entrepreneurship, and she figured that had to count for something, even if she had little real on-the-job experience.
She sighed to herself again and looked outside. This was the time of day when, back home, she would be getting off her part-time job. She would have come home, shed all her clothes, and opened the window to fly away. She yearned to feel the sun on her wings one more time before the snow fell.
Maybe she could take a quick trip home over the weekend if it stayed warm. Her parents would be thrilled to see her again. She had just been home for Thanksgiving, and her parents had said that they missed her very much. They Skyped her every day, but it wasn’t enough. She hated being stuck in this old house alone!
Dottie flopped on her bed in frustration. It would be better if she could get comfortable in the old house and her new neighborhood, but she just wasn’t sure how to do that yet. How was she ever going to be able to move out on her own if she was this helpless?
“Dottie?”
She sat up quickly. She was losing her mind. She had been thinking about her parents for so long that she’d imagined she’d heard her dad’s voice. Great.
“Dottie?”
There it was again. She got up and went to the staircase. “Dad?”
“You up there, honey?”
Her dad was at the base of the stairs, smiling at her. Seeing his familiar figure was too much for her. Dottie broke down into tears and ran down the stairs into her dad’s arms.
“It’s been years since you jumped into my arms like this,” her father said. He cleared his throat. “You’re making your old man tear up. Are you okay?”
“I am now.” Her face was buried in his shoulder, but she didn’t want to let go. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re here for Christmas,” her mother said, coming in the door. “We can both work from home until the New Year, and we figured we can just as easily work here. And we get the added bonus of seeing our baby girl every day.”
Dottie let go of her dad to hug her mom. “You guys are the best.”
“If you love us now, wait until you see what we found.” Her mom dug in her coat pocket and produced a flyer. “Check this out.”
It was a flyer for a job fair in the park district. The jobs were seasonal, but she would be sure to meet people from town if she managed to snag one. Plus, spending a month in the park district would help her get to know the town better.
This was it! She had to get one of these jobs—she just had to. She was going to wear her nicest clothes and print her resume out. She knew it was silly to set her hopes on something so small, but she absolutely had to get this job.
“This sounds good,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Okay, now help us get our suitcases in here and show us where to set up an office,” her mom said.
“The formal living room,” Dottie said.
“Great idea,” her dad said. “We’re so happy to be here.”
“I’m happy to have you.”
Her parents were so helpful. They had only been here for two minutes, and she was already a million times happier. She had company and a good chance at a new job. She was bound to make at least one new friend now. Her stay in Maple Creek was suddenly looking much brighter.
“You guys always know how to make my day a million times better.” She hugged her dad again.
He set his work bag down in the living room. “This place looks better already. You must have been working your tail off down here.”
Dottie beamed. “I have been working hard. When I’m cleaning, at least my mind isn’t dwelling on all the bad parts of being here.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t come down sooner.” Her mom gave her a small smile. “We won’t leave you alone again for so long. Promise.”
Dottie smiled weakly back at her mom. This wasn’t exactly what she had planned.
Her mom’s smile faded. “You’re not mad at us, are you?”
Her mom could always read her like a book. Sometimes, Dottie was sure her mom knew what she was thinking before she even knew it herself.
“I wanted to surprise you guys with a clean and decorated house for Christmas. I guess I won’t get to do that now.”
Her mom sighed and put her hand on her chest. “You scared me there for a minute, pumpkin. We don’t mind helping you clean this place up. We expected too much asking you to do this all on your own.”
“But I wanted to do it on my own,” Dottie said quietly.
As overwhelmed and lonely as she was, this had been one of the first tasks her parents had put her in charge of. She had never been the one making the big decisions before. It was scary but exciting. As happy as she was to see her parents, a small part of her was sad that she wouldn’t get to do this all on
her own. It looked like she was going to have to find something else to do this winter to build up her confidence.
Chapter 3
“Could you help me with this table?” Tim asked Wyatt.
Wyatt nodded and looked around. “Where is this going?”
“Against the wall outside.” Tim pointed to a spot just outside in the hallway.
The two men picked up the long table and set it down in front of two elderly women outside the conference room.
“Thanks, boys.” The woman on the left smiled at Wy. “You’re such a nice young man for helping Tim. We were having such trouble before you got here.”
“No problem.” Wy loved helping Tim with town work. “Everyone is so nice here. I really hope I get a spot on the crew.”
“I’m sure you will.” The woman patted his hand. “We need men like you who are eager to work.”
“I hope you’re right.” Wy gave the woman a big smile before he went back to Tim.
Wy loved when he got to work with his friends during his regular job, but those times had been few and far between this year. Working with any of the other guys made the time drag by. They were all nice enough, but they didn’t joke around as much, and they all seemed to hate their jobs. Wy liked working outside and making enough money to support himself. The park jobs even had great benefits. He didn’t know how those guys could spend the whole day complaining.
Even worse, they complained about their families too. He could understand the humans complaining, but not the shifters. They were married to their mates, and if not, it was their own fault. That was a great part of being a shifter. That was why he loved working with his buddies. They were so positive, and it made his day fly by. If he had to spend his nights alone, he at least wanted to have fun during the daytime hours.
That was one of the reasons he was trying to get a job with the Christmas Crew. All his friends had already been hired as snowplow drivers for the season, but Wy hated having to wake up early and go out in the snow. When he heard that Tim would be needing help with a new project, he had jumped at the chance. The park district was going to be putting on more events for the community this winter, and there were many positions that needed to be filled. There was bound to be one that was right for him.
“Next?” he asked when he found Tim in the conference room.
“We just need to bring the ladies the boxes of packets.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re spending all the money you got from the state so fast,” Wy said as they walked to Tim’s office. “We were so lucky to get that money to help us do cool things. Are you going to spend it all on Christmas?”
“No.” Tim opened his office door. “We have the tree lighting in December, the ice-sculpting competition in January, and the Valentine dance for the middle-school kids in February.”
“Right. Then you’ll be out of money?”
Tim laughed. “I didn’t know you were so worried about us running out of money.”
“I like all the cool events you put on. I don’t want to spend all the money in the winter and not have anything left for spring. That Easter egg hunt you put on was awesome.”
“I wish everyone was as enthusiastic as you.” Tim shook his head ruefully. “There’s a method to my madness. I won’t come close to spending all my funding for this quarter on those three events. If I don’t use most of the money, the government won’t give me as much next year.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. If you’re careful with the money, you get punished.”
Tim handed Wy three heavy boxes. “They’re trying to cut back on waste. If they give us only slightly more than we need, they can spend the money somewhere else that needs it.”
“But, then, how do you get to do better projects without any money? I mean, if you keep putting on the programs, you’ll never spend more, and ’you’ll never get more. Right? Or am I misunderstanding something?”
“No, you got it right. That’s why this is such a big deal. If this new Christmas lineup is popular, we might even be able to squeeze more money out of the state for other special holiday events next year.”
“This is going to be popular,” Wy said. “There isn’t anything like it around here. You’ve just got to get people to play all the roles.”
“I hope so. This is the biggest Christmas event we’ve put on. I’m pulling out all the stops.”
Wy nodded. Maybe it was time for him to do the same. He wanted to make new friends at this job, but maybe he should take Blair’s advice. Maybe he would be able to find a woman to date casually. It wouldn’t be easy, but it couldn’t hurt to try at least once.
Today, they were having a big interview to find people to help with the different stations around Christmas at the pavilion. The big one that needed filling was Santa’s Workshop. They had set up a winter wonderland at the new pavilion, and kids could come and meet Santa. There was going to be a place to sit on Santa’s lap, Santa’s house where Mrs. Claus would have cookies baking, and the elves’ workshop where the kids could see the elves making toys.
Wy thought it was the best idea ever. The kids were all going to love it. They had already cast Santa and Mrs. Claus and had found a few people for some of the other roles. That was how Wy had heard about it. The people like him weren’t officially hired, but it was basically a done deal if they wanted the job.
Tim had started looking for new people right away, but some had already turned him down. There wasn’t much time before they opened on December first. If they didn’t find everyone today, they were going to be understaffed. Wy had already applied to be an elf at the workshop, since that was the area where they needed the most people.
He was a bit big to be an elf, but none of the people who’d been hired to be elves were small. It would have been nice to have elf-sized people to play the elves, but Wy knew that would have been impossible to pull off. There weren’t many little people in the area. Better to have a bunch of oversized elves than none at all.
“You think a lot of people are going to show up?” Wy asked Tim. The boxes were filled with applications and information packets.
“Yes. I hope so.” Tim dropped his box on the floor next to the women at the front. He checked his watch. “I already have interviews set up with three people. I’m going to have to get myself set up in there.”
“Don’t we need twelve more people for the Winter Wonderland?”
“Yes, but I’m sure more people will come.”
Wy looked outside. “The parking lot looks pretty empty.”
“People are going to show up,” Tim said. “Just be patient. I’ve already set you up with your second interview. That’ll be in an hour with my boss.”
“Sounds good.”
“Thanks for helping me set up. You’re a lifesaver, man.”
“No problem. I was just sitting at home, bored. At least I have people to talk to here.”
Tim nodded. “You can hang out in my office if it gets too crowded out here for you.”
Wy looked around the empty room and laughed. “I think I’ll be fine.”
As if on cue, the door opened, and ten people walked inside. They must have all been waiting outside, because it was exactly ten minutes before the interview was scheduled to start.
“Told you we’d be fine,” Tim said before he left.
Wy counted until there were more than twenty people in line to pick up applications. This was very good. If they didn’t find enough people, it would ruin his holiday season. With this many people, they were bound to fill all the positions.
Watching all the happy people in line got Wy pumped; being a part of the Christmas Crew was going to make this the best holiday season ever. It would be impossible to come home and be sad after spending the day around happy coworkers and kids.
Tim and two of the other city managers were set up behind tables in the conference room. Wy was the first to do his second interview. It was over pretty quickly, then he had to fill out more paperwork. Whe
n he was done, he took a spot near the ladies at the table. He was going to stick around and see who else they hired. He had already seen a woman he knew from the bar be hired as an elf. Maybe more people he knew would get picked.
And it wasn’t like there was anything pressing he had to get home to. He was going to order a pizza for dinner again and then just sit around. He could waste a few more hours at the pavilion.
The room was filling up quickly. Teenagers and adults were standing around. There had to be at least thirty people waiting to talk with someone. It was a good thing Tim had had Wy set up so many folding chairs.
“Can I sit here?”
Wy looked up. There was a woman pointing to the seat next to him.
“Sure,” he said.
“Thanks,” the woman said cheerfully. “Are you here for the interview?”
Wy shook his head. “I work here already.”
“Oh, really? What do you do?”
“Uh. Winter Wonderland?” Wy couldn’t remember what his job title was. He couldn’t remember much. It was hard to think when the most beautiful woman he had ever seen was standing in front of him. She was tiny and curvy. It was a combination that set his gorilla off. He could barely contain the animal.
“Oh, that sounds so cool.” She held out her hand. “I’m Dottie.”
“Wyatt.” He carefully shook her delicate hand. His hand was at least twice as big as hers. She couldn’t be more than five feet tall. “You’re going to get the job. You’d be the perfect elf.”
“I hope I get it. I don’t even know what they’re hiring for, but I want to do it.”
Wy stared at her. He hoped she got it too. From the way his animal was reacting, Wy knew he had to be friends with this woman.
“I’m an elf,” he managed to remember. “I’m an elf working at the Winter Wonderland.”
“That would be fun!” She took off her hat and fluffed her short blonde hair. “You seem pretty big to be an elf. Are you a shifter?”
