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  © Copyright 2019 by Silvia Rojas- All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Love Me By Christmas

  By: Silvia Rojas

  Table of Contents

  Love Me By Christmas

  Dragon Shifter Tales: Diving Deep

  Mystery of Graves’s Halloween Ball

  Against All Odds

  Love Me By Christmas

  Chapter 1

  Whenever Christmas time came up, Jennifer Layfon found herself roaming around the various Christmas markets that had popped up in Manchester, England. She found herself enjoying what was going on all around her: vendors selling traditional treats, colorful Christmas lights, and the atmosphere of everyone simply keen to just enjoy the Holiday season. Starting from late November, the Christmas markets would pop up, serving all sorts of food, drinks and a diversity of things for sale that she couldn’t help but smile at the joy in the air.

  But this time, she wasn’t enjoying the upcoming festive spirit. Instead, she was sitting in front of whom could be her boss.

  Jennifer was a young 23-year-old Emergency Intensive Care Paramedic in training. She studied at the Manchester Metropolitan University as a 3rd-year student and lived alone. Her mother was living in Belfast, Ireland and she had come to Manchester because she had gotten her admission in the university without any form of troubles and for sure she found herself adjusting to the life of the English people in this city.

  Living in the far-lying area of Firswood in Manchester, her day usually consisted of getting up, attending the University, studying for a bit in the library and then heading back home after a small latte or something akin to that with her classmates and friends. But now that they were all very, very close to graduating and becoming full-time paramedics, and actually going ahead in getting their own families or careers started, they didn’t have anything better to do than hang out with the various boyfriends in their lives, and boy, did all her friends have boyfriends. Her best friend, Angelina, was so hooked up with her boyfriend that Jennifer was surprised the two of them weren’t married already, and here she was, alone, without a single person to be called a boyfriend.

  So she had resorted to the age-old technique of asking for advice, and who better to give her advice than her mother? Her mother was a mother of 3 children, Jennifer being the oldest, her younger brother by 2 years who was already in the Royal British Army, and her 15-year old sister who was still attending the high school. Jennifer always looked up to her mother - she was not only her inspiration as she had to raise all three kids by herself but a close friend too, always there to listen to Jen.

  “Oh dear, I know it is difficult but try to look at the situation from the brighter side. You are young and free and you can do whatever you set your mind on. Maybe you should try doing something outside your school circle... you will meet different people and who knows?” her mother had said.

  “Perhaps you are right, Mum. You know I was actually thinking about getting some job, something to help with the uni fees and not to be so much of a financial burden for you...”

  “Stop it! You are never any kind of burden to me - remember that!” her mother said, little bit angrier than she intended. But she was always proud of her bright daughter and promised herself to do whatever it would take to support Jennifer throughout her course so that she could fully concentrate on studying. However, realizing the situation her daughter was in, she gave it a second thought. “Look, Jen. You are so close to finishing your course and I really don’t want some silly job to take your focus away just because you think you owe me something. But if you promise me that school will still be your number one priority, perhaps, you can try a part-time job.”

  She had then explained how she herself had gotten a part-time job as an assistant in a small law firm in the city of Belfast when she was about Jennifer’s age and how it eventually went to a good career, allowing her to fully support her children.

  So Jennifer had looked around for the best thing she could do. Her times were simple, and starting from 4 pm, she was free till late evening, and there was this amazing cafe right next to the street she lived in, within walking distance of her small shared apartment that she was staying at, who required staff. So here she was, on Saturday afternoon, applying for the position.

  “A paramedic student?” The cafe owner was a slightly overweight, mustached man, in his 50’s, with short blonde hair and a build that screamed soldier from a distance. “Impressive, that’s a good goal you’ve got there, young miss. I myself had gone through paramedic training when I was in the army, but that’s for another time. You say you’re interested in a part-time job from 4.30 in the evening to 9.30, that is 5 hours a day, is that correct?”

  “Yes, sir.” Jennifer nodded, slightly nervous. “And I am not doing this only for the money, or the experience. I have found myself to be the best at serving and making people smile, so I really hope you can give me a chance, though the extra monetary help will definitely be welcome.”

  “Miss, you’ve got the job the second you said you weren’t interested in it for the money,” the man laughed. He might have had an intimidating appearance as a former soldier, but he was a jolly good fellow. “But everyone else is. Very well, consider yourself hired. You can work starting tomorrow as a waitress. All you have to do is pick up the orders from the counter and serve to the customers, take orders and so on. I am sure you understand the job?”

  “Yes, sir.” Quite happy with herself, Jennifer gave a big smile, her pale golden hair tied in a neat bun. “I will try my best to not disappoint.”

  “Good, that is good.” The boss nodded. They were inside of the kitchen in the back of the cafe, sitting on stools. The man himself was a chef and had 3 other workers in the cafe. There was an assistant chef that manned the cold food counter and two waitresses. “Mellissa, one of the waitresses, will show you around, she knows all that is to now. She’s the first one to come in the morning and start everything, and she’ll be here tomorrow as well. Will you work full time on Sundays?”

  “Yes.” Jennifer nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Smith, I’ll be here tomorrow morning.”

  “Good, remember 7:30 am opening time, 10 pm closing time. Come in by 7, right at the opening of the shop, okay?”

  Jennifer nodded, got up, shook the hand of the manager and left, her face flushing and her mood absolutely giddy.

  She had done it! She had gotten a job!!! Now she didn’t need to ask her mum for cash whenever she needed extra spending money! Not to mention she would meet new people- Mellissa, the other chef, and the customers.

  As she stepped outside into a cold air, a man just walked pass by the cafe and went in from the back entrance, focused on his phone. The two of them passed each other, one excited, the other tired, as they went on different ways.

  She looked at him, the man did not. She didn’t care much, only that the man had a really, really athletic body and looked quite strong. “Handsome,” Jennifer thought but then she shook it off, too giddy to think about it. She really was looking forward to the next day.

  Chapter 2

  The next morning, as Jennifer promised,
she was already present in front of the cafe, wearing a nice black skirt, long green leggings underneath and a T-shirt that had ‘gals for life’ printed on it. The outfit wasn’t too flattering, neither did it reveal too much of her body, but it was enough to highlight her natural beauty.

  “You must be Jennifer.” Mellissa smiled, or at least she assumed the woman was Mellissa. She was wearing an apron with the cafe’s logo over a simple shirt and jeans. “I am Mellissa Duncan, nice to meet you. We’ve been looking for some young beautiful talent for a long time, you see, I’m no longer as young enough to attract most of the customers to come back.”

  The wink that the woman gave her was enough for Jennifer to realize it was meant as a joke, though it didn’t prevent a small blush from rising up on Jennifer’s face.

  “And dear me, I must say that the boss did pick up a nice one to help me,” Mellissa joked again, looking up and down her new colleague.

  Jennifer was naturally beautiful. She wasn’t too tall, but she was easily reaching above the woman in front of her as she was at least an inch or so taller. Her skin was pale without any tan, nor any blemishes except for some freckles on her face. Her training to be a paramedic also involved fitness, so she definitely had the curved, hourglass-like figure that had caused many heads to turn her way, especially heads of her fellow male students who were most likely to come to the cafe.

  “Let’s get started, shall we? The rush will start in an hour or so. Our boss and head chef, Tony Smith, usually doesn’t come out very often, though he does have a nasty temper and is really, really cost effective. The other chef, Johnas, takes care of the salads, sandwiches, and other things that can be done on the bar counter. We make the coffee and other drinks. Our Full English Breakfast is super popular - so much that people order it all day long. Then, there is pasta, specialized sandwiches, and few more meals but they’re for the one rare customer. What most of the customers come for is the coffee, tea, and packed sandwiches. Your job is, at first, going to be getting the orders to the customers.”

  Jennifer was handed a similar apron with the familiar steamy cup of coffee logo on it and was shown the correct way to put it on.

  “As a waitress, there are a lot of things you must keep in mind, appearance is the most important of all,” Mellissa said, raising one finger up in the air. “Friendliness is the second; always be kind and friendly to the customers. If someone looks, don’t look back, if someone suggests, warn them and if they touch, call for the police instantly or even better, call Tony.” The women laughed and Jennifer felt relieved that her colleague was such a fun.

  "And the most important rule of the waitresses,” Mellissa continued, “do not act unprofessionally in the shop even if the client is your husband.”

  Keeping all of that in mind, Jennifer nodded. It was Sunday and she had a lot of things to do, more importantly, help Mellissa set up the cafe for the opening.

  “Af first, for a week or so, you will do the usual waitress’ job: taking orders, serving meals, cleaning tables... Depending on how good you show the performance, you will be ‘promoted’ to a barista, and I will happily teach you how to make the best coffee in the world,” Mellissa said. “But let’s not worry about that now. Your wage will be 8 pounds per hour and you will be paid by the end of the week, is that okay with you?”

  “Yes.” Jennifer nodded, inwardly smiling. She has already discussed the wage with Tony but still: eight pounds an hour would mean 40 pounds a day if she worked for 5 hours a day, and 80 pounds for 10 hours she expected to work on a Sunday. In the end of the week, she would easily earn 300 quid and that was amazing, even if she wasn’t working entirely for money and only to earn her extra cash for certain things, that totaled to over 1200 bucks a month and that was more than enough to support her studies. “Shall we start then?”

  “Absolutely.” Mellissa smiled back. “Let us begin with memorizing the prices of the most common items and how to work the register.”

  ***

  For the first few hours of the day, Jennifer didn’t serve around much, she was given the task to simply pour coffee into mugs and then serve them to the various tables, and noted how Mellissa worked. She would watch how the older waitress smiled and appear friendly towards the customers, inwardly wondering when she would be the one making the customers feel that they wanted to come back. Unknown to her, it wasn’t only a customer that she was going to charm.

  It was the first time she was taking a big order, a Full English breakfast, a latte and a blueberry cheesecake to a table right by the corner of the entire cafe, where usually no one sit as it was nearing the front door of the cafe and she recognized him as the very same man that she had seen yesterday evening after she got confirmation that she had gotten the job. She noticed the ‘Special’ sign on the table and clearly remembered that the sign was for people that were daily customers of the cafe, coming in almost every day ever since the cafe started. Mellissa had said to her that every customer who sat on that table wouldn’t be charged anything for meals as they had been coming for over 8 years straight.

  “Here is your order, sir,” Jen politely said, putting the order in front of the man on his table and secretly getting a good look at him. He had light brown hair, short but not a soldier cut. His shoulders were very broad, with a perfect muscle arch on his arms. He was wearing a fairly normal looking army-green colored T-shirt and jeans and he had very familiar brown eyes. His skin tone looked very, very pale and he looked as if he was from the central parts of Europe. He looked up from the magazine that was on his table and his eyebrows raised as his brown eyes met her dark blue ones.

  “Oh, you’re a new face,” the man said, his eyes graciously looking at her figure and the slightest raise of the eyebrows indicated he liked what he saw. “And quite a beautiful one at that. Did you join in today?”

  “Yes, sir.” Remembering everything that had been told to her in the past 3 hours, Jen didn’t blush but did smile brighter at the compliment. “I did join today.”

  “Good, welcome to the cafe.” The man smiled warmly. “I’m Tristian, Tristie for short, and you might be?”

  “Jennifer.” The new Waitress smiled back. “You’re a ‘special’ customer?”

  “Yep.” The man nodded, amusement pooling his eyes. “I am a special customer, have been coming here for the past... 8 years or so, every evening at around six, and every Sunday morning, though I’ll not waste your time. It is good to see a new face, I hope we can talk again when you’re free.”

  “As you wish, sir.” Nodding once, she walked off, leaving the man to his thoughts alone.

  ‘She didn’t comment on my relationship with Dad?’ Tristian wondered in his head, appreciatively looking at the retreating girl and her bountiful rear. ‘Nice girl though, I hope she lasts.’

  Sighing once again, Tristian looked down at his food and started to eat. He really hoped that the girl would be a steady worker and not just a student looking for some extra cash. He knew for a fact that she was most probably a student, but in the 20 minutes it took him to finish his food, he noticed she was extremely helpful, kind and smiled at everyone and did become the ‘apple of the eye’ for everyone who was under the age of 30 and was single, females included.

  That day, he went back home with his mind very, very immersed in the thoughts of a certain girl that he had met that day, a very beautiful girl at that. He shook his head and laid down on his bed, his eyes closed and his dreams about the smiling girl that he had met.

  Chapter 3

  As it turned out, it wasn’t only that day he had met the young woman. Tristan was a regular customer and soon, Jennifer found herself looking forward to 6 pm, the usual time when Tristan would pop in. Although the studies and now job too were demanding, she liked the fact that she was always occupied.

  The next day, when he had just come home from his long day job, he sat down in his usual spot, taking a deep breath and sighing deeply. He was wearing a deep blue jersey with a symbol for Nike on his c
hest, and grey jogging pants. He was tired and completely hammered as he clearly looked as if he had run a marathon. He was in severe need of something sweet and he knew just the thing that he needed.

  “Hey, Jennifer,” he suddenly said to the passing girl who immediately stopped, startled when she heard the voice and looked to see tired looking Tristian smiling at her. A warm smile appeared on her face as he was still panting. “Good evening, nice to see you here again.”

  “Nice to see you too, Tristian.” Remembering his name, she turned around, taking her notepad out of a pocket as she was ready to take his order. “What would you like today? The same as yesterday?”

  “No, not today.” Tristian shook his head. “Today, I want just something to drink, possibly with lemon, anything that you think will be good to give my aching throat some relief.”

  “Getting cold, huh?” Jennifer chuckled, nodding. “I’ll get you a lemon and ginger tea, that’ll be good for you to drink. Do you want anything to eat?”

  “Actually... yes, I’ll take a ham and cheese, grilled.” Tristian tilted his head in gratitude. “And please get me some water as well.”

  “Sure.” Noticing the signs of exhaustion and her training suddenly kicking in, she briskly walked towards the counter and poured him a large glass of water and set it in front of him. Then, she walked to Johnas and gave him the order for a grilled ham and cheese sandwich which he passed along back to the boss in the back kitchen. while her other colleague, Anita, started to brew the ginger tea.