This year, the authors of the ABB will seek once more to make the NY Times and USA Today Bestseller list and you can help. Do you get your ebooks from sources other than Amazon? Do you read on a Nook? An I-Pad? A Kobo? If so, Dear Santa is available to you on your favorite reading platform.
Dear Santa, A Christmas Wish contains 18 Christmas novellas, each as unique as its author. My contribution to the set is entitled, What Dottie Wants.
Do you believe in Christmas magic?
When life gave Ronnie Daniels lemons, instead of lemonade, the single mother learned to make Lemon Drops.
This Christmas, times are tougher than ever, and Ronnie’s number one priority is making the holiday as normal as possible for her five-year-old daughter. All Dottie wants from Santa is a Famous American Ballerina doll. The problem is not only are they expensive, but they’re impossible to find.
After another failed attempt to secure one of the dolls, in her frustration, Ronnie sends a scathing letter to the company, Thomas Toys. As the doll’s manufacturer, one advertising a product they don’t have on hand and can’t deliver before Christmas, it’s their fault that her daughter’s dreams won’t come true.
When the company’s new CEO comes into the bar to apologize for the mishap and try to make amends, Ronnie refuses to listen to him, not just because of Dottie, but they have a complicated history. Determined to fix this, Wyatt doesn’t back down, and before long the doll isn’t the only thing Dottie wants for Christmas. But can Ronnie let bygones be bygones?
Here’s a taste of the story.
I stared at the expertly coifed and manicured salesclerk who was as out of place in Toys as I would be in Jewelry.
“Why on earth would your store advertise that you have the doll in stock if you don’t? Isn’t that false advertising?”
She eyed me, her pursed lips and furrowed brow clearly showing how unimpressed she was with my lack of makeup, wool hat, snow boots, sweatpants, and old winter jacket.
“No, ma’am. The sale information was sent out weeks ago. Unfortunately, Thomas Toys is unable to fill orders for the Famous American Ballerina dolls at this time. The dolls will be available in six to eight weeks. I can give you a raincheck for the sale price when it does come in.”
“How wonderful!” Being called ma’am was bad enough, but this just added insult to injury. “That’s only two to four weeks too late for Christmas.” I wanted to tell her where to shove her raincheck, but seeing the others watching us, I swallowed my words.
“Perhaps your daughter would be interested in another of the Thomas Toys’ dolls we have on sale? Why don’t you let me show you a few?”
With a heartfelt, “No, thanks,” I ignored her pinched lipped annoyance and retraced my steps to the parking lot.
“Great, just absolutely frigging great,” I mumbled as I started the engine on my old beat-up Ford and headed back to Philadelphia.
The only Christmas wish my five-year-old daughter had was for a ballerina doll that spun on pointed toes the way she did in her ballet classes. While we both missed Aunt Wynn, the first time I’d seen her face light up since the funeral had been four weeks ago, and I would do everything in my power to see it happen again.
Dottie had been watching one of her favorite children’s shows when the ad for the new Famous American Ballerina dolls came on.
“Mommy, that’s what I want Santa to bring me this year. Look, their legs can be moved into position, just like a real ballerina. Aren’t they beautiful?”
They were sinfully expensive—as were all Thomas Toys, the old “Quality is our Touchstone” motto the excuse for what I considered price gouging, but costly or not, at that moment I’d sworn that if that was what Dottie wanted, it was what she would get. I’d managed to put away enough for one of them—assuming I could find the damn thing.
Each time Dottie watched her favorite program, those dolls danced across the screen and brought me to my boiling point. So, the manufacturer was to blame for all of this?
Why wasn’t I surprised? The Thomas family and I went way back. I’d attended high school with the privileged twins, and the experience hadn’t necessarily been a pleasant one. What I wouldn’t give to come face to face with Wyatt C. Thomas Senior, CEO, and tell him exactly what I thought of him and his company.
After overcoming years of painful shyness, like my daughter, there were times when I lacked a social filter—I said whatever popped into my head without considering the consequences. At the moment, all of my fury centered on one man and the fact that he was ruining our Christmas. Using my phone’s Bluetooth, I settled in to vent.
“Siri, take a note. Mr. Thomas, have you forgotten what it’s like to be a parent? Do you have any idea what you’ve done by marketing a toy no one can buy? Have you ever looked into the eyes of a child you love more than life itself and said, ‘Hey kid, let me shatter your dreams?’ As the mother of a five-year-old girl who had her heart set on a Famous American Ballerina doll, I can’t believe you would do this to her, to us.”
I went on and on, accusing him of everything from pimping the dolls to destroying Christmas and threatening to boycott the company and enlist hundreds of others to do the same. Once I’d spewed all the venom inside me, I felt slightly better.
I doubted anyone would bother to read the letter, but I was sick and tired of people in positions of power stomping all over the rest of us. It was true I had no family, only a handful of friends, and my youngest neighbor was Mr. Garvey, an eighty-year-old man bound to a wheelchair, but the toymaker didn’t need to know that.
In the meantime, I would do whatever it took to find a Famous American Ballerina doll. Perhaps one of my regulars might be able to hook me up with someone on the black market. I mean if they could make knock-off Gucci purses and Rolex watches, why not ballerina dolls? I pictured myself in a dark alley, waiting to hand my hard-earned money to someone named Bubba. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to get Dottie her Christmas wish this year.
Grab your copy of Dear Santa, A Christmas Wish today from your favorite ebook vendor. https://books2read.com/DearSanta.
Living the Dream 