All Chapters of A Home For Christmas: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Julia The snow beneath my feet crunches with every step I take, and a cloud of smoke leaves my mouth as I take a breath while the cold night air wraps around me like a blanket, only there's no comfort from it, it only makes my fingers and nose burn even more with how cold they are. I wrap my arms around my body as tightly as I can, but I only have on a tee shirt and hoody, so there's not much hope of me getting warm anytime soon. Any feeling in my fingers and toes stopped ages ago, and I'm pretty sure that if it was possible, my nose would fall off at any second. I swear it feels so numb that you'd think that it was frozen. The holes in my shoes are not helping my situation, and neither is the fact that I'm wearing the thinnest pair of leggings that I have ever owned, but beggars can't be choosers and, unfortunately, for me, begging is part of my life. As I walk across the front of a coffee shop, I stop in my tracks and take a moment to just enjoy the sight that's in front of me.

Julia "Momma, I'm cold." I wrap the blanket even tighter around Nina, but I can still feel her shivering and it's killing me. The blanket is well-used and not very thick, but I found it in a dumpster last week, and even though it is covered in stains, it's still better than nothing. "I know, baby." I need to find her warmer clothes, but it's hard. I know many places don't throw out clothes anymore, they usually end up in charity shops and I can't even afford that. "Helen, would you mind Nina for a little while? I'm going to go treasure hunting." she gives me her motherly smile as she opens up her arms for Nina to get comfy on her lap. There are a couple of children in our group and, despite the harsh reality of their lives, we try and keep as much as possible away from them, so when one of us is going out to pinch we call it treasure hunting. "I will be as quick as I can. Nina, you make sure you listen to Helen." she gives me a kiss and nods, then turns away from me as Helen starts

Riley Seeing her here was such a shock to me, but to find out that not only had she stolen clothes but that she had stolen clothes for a child, well, that just blew me away. The stuff that she stole came to a total of $11, so if she can't pay for them, fuck things must be bad for her. I've tried all I can to get her to talk to me and so has my Mom, but she won't. She won't tell us a Goddam thing, and now I'm pissed! So fucking pissed! She's lying to us about her name. I know she is, and she won't tell us why she has done this. Even when I threatened her with the cops, she didn't waver. We rarely have anyone steal from here. It's a charity shop after all, but it does happen. Usually, when it happens, the threat of me calling the cops is enough to get them talking, but not this time. I don't do it to be a dick. I do it to get them talking because if there's one thing that I've learned since my Mom opened this shop, it is that if someone steals from here, they are usually desperate an

RileyIt's been three days since I last saw her, only three days, and yet it feels like it's been forever. She's constantly on my mind. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, whether it's running my many businesses or working out in the gym or even at the club with Josh, she never leaves me, and it's playing with my head.Josh and I hit the club last night as the asshole part of me tried to convince myself that I just needed to get laid, but of course, the moment a woman come on to me, I had absolutely no interest in her and, I shit you not, she was everything that I usually look for in a one night stand and yet, I couldn't get further enough away from her which has pretty much summed up what I already knew, but just didn't want to admit.And so that's why I'm currently sitting in my car with the entrance to the alleyway in full view, hoping and praying that she will come out of there and that I can catch a glimpse of her and... Well, I don't really have a plan yet, I just know that I need

Riley I'm in the car and on my way to downtown New York so fast that it feels like a blur. Thankfully, the traffic isn't so bad tonight so it's a pretty quick ride to the city centre. I quickly find a parking space not too far from the alleyway then waste no time in heading that way on foot. It's almost 9 pm and from what I've learned over the past few weeks of watching her, if she is out then she will be back soon. She doesn't seem to stay out late which makes me happy because I worry about her out there doing God knows what. I stay in the dark and out of sight so as not to frighten her or anyone else who may come here and get impatient as the time goes by and she doesn't return. Maybe she's not out tonight? Maybe she's up the alleyway with her little girl. I decide to give it another ten minutes and if there's no sign of her then I'll head further up the alley to see if I can spot her there. Another fifteen minutes go by with still no sight of her I finally lose it. "Fuck this!"