Christmas Tree Wishes

Chapter 1

The snow was starting to fall gently in the big, fat Christmas snowflakes that Sam Harris loved so much. It was his favorite time of year and he could hardly wait to start decorating his apartment with his roommate, Lexi, once he got back to the city.

Sam smiled at the giant flakes falling from the sky when he walked out his parent's front door, headed for a day of volunteering at the Grand Oak assisted living facility. He was back in his hometown for Thanksgiving week and always spent a few of those days volunteering. He was already humming jingle bells before he got in his mom's car and turned on the radio. Knowing his mom, the station was already rocking the cheerful Christmas tunes as he started the engine. Sam brushed the snow from his short dark hair while he waited for the car to warm up.

Sam couldn't have asked for a better start to his day. It may have been six-thirty in the morning, on a day many would be calling into work, but Sam was on cloud nine. He had an easy day ahead of him volunteering in the dementia unit, which was his favorite. Sam had worked at this facility on the weekends all through high school before he moved to New York City to attend nursing school. He dealt with a lot of ridicule and teasing for wanting to become a nurse instead of a doctor, but he had always wanted to help the elderly in a way that was more than a doctor did. He wasn't in this profession for the money but to help people, and he loved it.

The twenty minute drive to town passed quickly as Sam sang along to the radio. Growing up around here, Christmas had always been a fun family time. During the holidays, Sam, with his sister Maddie and their dad, would go pick out the perfect tree at a tree farm, sometimes taking over an hour to find the right one. Once the tree had time to sit, they would bring it inside to decorate all together. His dad would never test the lights before trying to put them on the tree and would curse when they wouldn't all light up. His mother would sort through the box of ornaments, reminiscing about each one.

There was always hot chocolate and cookies involved and Sam loved it all. He always tried to come home for the holidays each year, making the trek from the big city to his small hometown in upstate New York.

Sam pulled into a parking spot in the employee lot where he could see Susan and Clara already walking into the building. He parked, grabbed his bag and headed in as well. The weekends were always quiet: there would be a few visitors to see their family today; also one or two pastors liked to stop by on the weekends. Sometimes they would have a choir group or carolers come in for the residents to enjoy. It was always wonderful to see the residents in the unit light up when they remembered the Christmas songs being sung. It was very fulfilling. Sam smiled to himself as he slid his ID at the door before it opened.

"Good morning, Susan, Clara," he called out to the girls as he entered the office to mark down his arrival in the volunteer book.

"Hey, Sam!" the girls answered, waving. The girls worked together on the wing with residents needing less care.

Sam returned their smiles, heading for the dementia wing. The building was made up of two floors with a dining room on each, a hair salon and game room. The dementia wing was on the main floor to the east. He had been helping Sally over the past few days but he hadn't noticed her car in the parking lot when he arrived. Which means she was running late, most likely due to the storm outside. She didn't care for the snow and didn't share Sam's love for the season. They would often go back and forth in a fun debate about the pros and cons of the snow. Sam made his way to the staff room to leave his jacket and boots, changing into his scrubs and shoes.

By lunch time, Sally had shown up after finally getting her car to start and through the snow. Of course she was all fired up about the weather and everyone's cheery mood towards it.

Sam was helping one of his favorite residents, Ms Natalie, who was ninety-five years old and sassy as ever, even if she couldn't remember who he was most of the time, down to her table when Hannah, the boss, entered the dining room.

"Hey, Sam. Can I get a word with you when you have time?" she asked. Hannah had been the one to hire him when Sam started working here after school. Sam enjoyed working with her.

"Yeah, sure, Hannah. After I'm finished with Ms Natalie." He smiled at the woman walking slowly beside him. She wasn't very verbal anymore, but that didn't make her any less sweet. Often she would sing little diddies that she remembered.

"Okay, thanks." With that Hannah disappeared.

"Oh, someone's in trouble," Sally teased as she finished helping Donald find his seat.

"Thanks, Sally, for putting that in my head." Sam chuckled. He knew the chances of it being something were zero. She most likely wanted to say bye as he was headed back to the city tomorrow, but he was curious. Finishing with Natalie, Sam made his way to Hannah's office.

"Hey Hannah, whatcha need?" he asked, dropping into the chair by her desk.

"Nothing, I just wanted to touch base with you before you head back to classes. Have you given any more thought about coming back here to work after finishing school? We would love to have you back in the dementia wing. I know the residents love you and Sally is talking about retiring, so I will have a nursing position open for you."

Sam had figured she had wanted to talk with him about coming back here. She had mentioned it before when he was here during the summer. He had this place on his list of possible jobs. To be able to run the whole unit as his own was a dream. "Wow, Hannah, that would be awesome and I will definitely think about it. When would you need to know for sure?"

"Well, I'm guessing it will depend on your graduation and passing your NCLEX-RN test of course." She chuckled.

"Of course," he laughed. "I will think about it and we will see how the rest of this year goes, yeah?" He stood.

"That sounds like a plan. Thanks for helping out again through the holiday. Will we see you at Christmas?"

"Yeah, I should be up here again." Sam leaned forward to shake her hand.

"Perfect, thanks Sam and travel safe." Hannah gave him a wave as he left her office.

At the end of the day, Sam walked back out into the winter wonderland that had engulfed their little town. He was looking forward to dinner out with his parents and Maddie before getting ready for an early start in the morning. Maddie was eight years younger than him and graduating high school this year. She was no longer the little girl in pigtails that followed Sam everywhere he went. They were still close though as siblings go, even with Sam living far away in the city.

As he reached the diner to meet his family, Sam's phone pinged. Text message. He pulled it out to see it was a text from Brian. His on again, off again boyfriend. Sam wasn't sure what they really were, but the message read:

I'm back in the city. Call me.

Brian had been out in California for the past three months and Sam had missed him even though he tried not to. What was he going to do about this? Brian would have to wait until after dinner at this point. Sam needed to think about what he wanted and if he should travel that path again or leave it for good this time...