Broken Wings and Christmas Things — Zoe Cannon

Tori would be the first to tell you that working at a coffee shop over the holiday season is nothing like a sappy Christmas movie. Everyone is hungover from too many holiday parties, cranky from dealing with their relatives, and stressed out from last minute Christmas shopping... and who do they take it out on? Their barista, that's who.And if she didn't have enough to deal with, now there's something strange lying across the street from the coffee shop. It looks like a person... and he looks hurt. Tori can't afford to step out of work to help him, but if no one else is going to do it, what choice does she have?And wait... are those wings coming out of his back? It can't be—angels aren't real. And even if they were, this one looks like he's fallen a long way, and Tori knows what it means when an angel falls...This short story is 4400 words long. It is also available in Santa's Rejects, a collection of offbeat Christmas stories.