“What is it?” Lenore asked.
“Uh, tickets to something called Where The Wild Things Are.”
“Like the book?” Nicole asked.
“Yeah. I guess so,” I told her, feeling confused.
Peter shook his head. “Not like the book. I’ve been there. It’s an animal sanctuary.”
That made sense. “They must have swans there.”
The fact that there weretwotickets made me wonder if my Secret Santa planned to attend with me. The details would probably be in the note.
“What’s in the letter?” Nicole asked.
I clutched it closer to my chest. “I’ll read it later.”
During my lunch break, I went to Stephanie and Cory’s Sweets. It had dawned on me that maybe I should try to find some clues about who my Secret Santa was, and what better way to do that than by following his footsteps.
“Can I get a turtle dove?”
“Yup,” the handsome man behind the counter rumbled, springing into action. Thirty seconds later, he had the chocolate boxed up. “Two-fifty-nine, hon.”
I handed over a five-dollar bill. “Do you sell a lot of these?”
He nodded. “Yup. They’re popular around the holidays. But not as popular as our peppermint bark.”
“Do you know anyone who bought two of these recently?”
“Two? That’s kind of specific,” he said as a pretty woman joined him behind the counter.
I nodded. “Yeah. Someone gave me two as a gift. It’s a Secret Santa gift exchange, and I’m trying to figure out who it might be.”
“Oh, it was probably—”
“Cory. Shut your mouth. Secret Santas are sacred.” The woman with a name tag announcing herself as Stephanie said before turning to me and adding, “Sorry, we can’t get a reputation for blabbing about our customers. Buthowexciting. A Secret Santa. You must be Violet. We’ve been expecting you. Do you have any suspects in mind?”
She knows who I am?
Huh. My Secret Santa had been talking about me to the people he bought stuff from.
I answered her question, “No. I don’t know who it is. My only clue is that it’s someone I work with. But I can’t imagine who would be going to all this trouble. Some of the gifts they’re giving me are expensive.”
Stephanie grinned. “I think it soundsromantic. Do you want another clue?”
My eyes popped open. “You have acluefor me?”
She nodded. “Look to the four directions for your answer.”
Four directions.
That made no sense. North. South. East. West.
Hm.East reminded me of my hunky crush, Easton. But that was probably just a coincidence. I’d have to ponder the clue. It made no sense.
I clutched my turtle dove box and stared the woman straight in the eyes. “So you know who my Secret Santa is?”
She grinned and laughed. “Yeah.”
