title: Star Bright: A Christmas Story
author:  Andrew M. Greeley 
description: A Christmas tale from priest and best-selling author Greeley.<br />Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: ![](Images/image00048.jpeg)
  
  To Carolyn Topol with affection.
  
  The Star Man * Jan Irving Chapter One
  
  Christmas Eve
  
  MATTHEW CROMBY mopped the entryway of the big offices that had taken him on
  six months ago. It wasn’t his dream job, night janitorial services, since once
  upon a time he’d dreamed of going to college, but he didn’t let himself think
  about the things he’d once wanted, the wrong turn his life had taken. He had a
  job, and it wasn’t easy for an ex-con to get work.
  
  At eleven sharp the golden boy himself walked by, no briefcase, probably
  headed to his private suite upstairs. His silken brown hair was windblown, in
  his eyes, and right then Matthew flashed to a fantasy that it was tangled from
  the touch of his hands. Yeah, right.
  
  One thing he’d learned; Dove Hollister was as coldly unattainable as he was
  beautiful. And he didn’t see someone like Matthew or care that his eyes
  followed him the nights Matthew worked here.
  
  “It’s wet, see?” Matthew warned him while the deep, burni