A Mistletoe Moment

By Katie Fitzgerald

Stepping from the entryway onto the plush living room rug in her thick socks, Jackie inhaled deeply. Pine. Hot chocolate. Christmas cheer. Other guests were gathered near the fireplace, but she didn’t approach, wanting to find Sam first. Fortunately, he appeared immediately, arms laden with packages wrapped in shiny paper.

“You’re here!” His grin broadened. Jackie smiled, too, then gasped softly as he leaned in. His warm kiss brushed the side of her face, defrosting her cold-reddened cheeks to a pleasant rosy glow. What was happening?

Sam glanced at the ceiling, and Jackie mirrored him. “Ah. Mistletoe.” She laughed. He was greeting everyone this way. Of course.

Sam shifted his boxes. “I need to put these under the tree.” Jackie thought she was being dismissed, but his gaze unexpectedly held hers. “Stay right there, okay?”

Wait, what?

Jackie pointedly glanced upwards. “Right here?”

Sam gave her a hopeful grin. “Please? I’ll be back in a second.”

Jackie’s surprise came out in a breathy laugh. “Yeah, okay.”

She watched as Sam moved through the living room and stacked the presents neatly. Then he turned, empty-handed, and his eyes sought hers once more. Jackie knew from the look on his face that in just a moment, his arms would be full again. Her heart would be, too.

🩷🩷🩷

Katie Fitzgerald is co-editor and a regular contributor here at Micromance. Katie has also been published in Spark Flash Fiction, Havok Publishing, Syncopation Literary Journal, Written Tales, Spillwords, Painted Pebble Lit Mag, Dragon Bone Journal, Zest of the Lemon, KissMet Quarterly, and various anthologies. Her serial romance column appears quarterly in Clean Fiction, and collections and stand-alone ebooks of her short stories are available from Amazon. Katie has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Cupid Prize, and she was a 2024 Sparkie Award winner for romantic suspense.