“Probably not. What about the trucks?”
“The trucks?” I asked, brows pinching.
“Figure the toys come in from somewhere. Probably on trucks or something like that.”
“No, they do. We order in bulk as much as possible to save money. There are some small shipments coming in. Until we get some bigger donations, it’s kind of drips and drabs.”
“You don’t get a big shipment?” he asked.
“We do. Well, hopefully. Usually right before the holiday. Which means everyone has to be here working overtime to get it all wrapped so we can get them out to the shelters in time. But unless things pick up soon, I’m worried that shipment might not come through.”
“It will.”
He sounded so sure. Almost firm. Like he wouldn’t allow the shipmentnotto come in.
“Well, I appreciate your confidence. And, yeah, I guess that would be a good job for you: unloading, sorting, putting in the bins to be wrapped, that sort of thing.”
“I can handle that.”
“Great. Well, I’ll see you around then,” I said, giving him a smile.
“Yeah, you will,” he said, pulling open the door.
Not for the first time, I wished for a rush of warm air. But it was just slightly less freezing inside as I walked through.
Did I turn and watch Venezio swagger away? Yes, yes, I did. Did I feel a certain little pressure in my core as I did so? Well, I was just not going to let myself acknowledge that.
“How’d it go?” Craig, one of the volunteers I’d inherited, asked.
He was middle-aged, with a little pepper in his dark blond hair, summer-blue eyes, and a somewhat bulky frame from spending way more hours in the gym in a week than I’d gone in a year.
“Pretty good!” I said, putting some extra pep in my voice. It was my place to set the morale of this charity. Even if I was starving, my feet hurt, and my fingers had long since gone numb.
“Yeah? Good. Glad to hear it. More happy kids on Christmas morning.”
“How’d it go around here?”
“We got some small donations. Got lots of presents wrapped. But we ran out of paper.”
“Oh, okay. I will pick up some more. Thanks for letting me know. You should head home. You’ve been here almost as long as I have.”
“Yeah, I’m about to head out. Get a hot meal. Take a hot shower. Basically, get warm.”
“I know. It’s bitter today.”
“So… who’s the new guy?” Craig asked, trying desperately to come off casual.
“Just a new volunteer. He’s going to be unloading and sorting the trucks from now on.”
“Yeah? Where’d he hear about us?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Weird, isn’t it? He just shows up here?”
“I don’t know. People tend to find their sense of charity this time of year. And thank God for that.”
To that, Craig just grunted.
