I ran my finger along the edge of the engraved bird on the top of the box, already trying to figure out where I would display it. Now that I’d seen the ornament, I realized the carving on the box was a partridge and the berries on the tree were actually supposed to be pears. The box wasn’t as skillfully crafted as the ornament, but somehow I almost liked it even more. You could feel the personal touch it had taken someone to make it.
The song that the gift was based on started playing in my head.
“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”
This was the most thoughtful gift ever, but I didn’t know who to thank. I wished the business card had a note on it. It was the only clue as to the sender. And did they carve the whole thing themselves, or buy both pieces from the gift shop?
I touched the box again, even as I realized I needed to focus on work.
Someone had taken a lot of time to carve it for me. And it deserved to be out on display.
The box was the new crowning glory out of all my holiday decorations.
Chapter 2
Easton
I buzzed through the office just like I did every afternoon, walking behind Violet’s desk on my way to Tim’s office to give him an update and clock out.
She was frowning and squinting at something on her computer screen. I didn’t know how the woman managed to look so pretty even when she was deep in concentration.
Today she was wearing the teal cardigan I liked so much. The one with the tiny ruffles on the hem.
Scanning her desk, I spotted my carved wooden box, and warmth spread through my chest. She hadn’t tucked it away in her purse. She’d put it out on display for the whole office to see.
And then I saw that she’d added the ornament to her tiny desk tree. I gave myself a secret grin. With the way Violet loved Christmas, I’dthoughtshe’d get a kick out of it.
The ornament itself had come from the Silver Pines gift shop, but I’d made the box by hand. I’d spent a week whittling the box into shape from an old oak stump on my property. Then, a couple more days engraving the image onto it.
It wasn’t a work of art worthy of a museum, but I’d enjoyed making it, nonetheless. Especially knowing that it would go home with her.
I soundlessly passed right behind her, catching the faint scent of her perfume. And just like every other day, she never looked up. I wasn’t sure the woman knew I existed.
Chapter 3
Violet
I craned my neck all around the office.
Everyone was already deep in their work. Just like I should be.
But instead I was staring at the cute little wrapped package on my desk.
It was in the same wrapping paper as yesterday, a goat wearing a Christmas wreath around its neck stamped in a repeating pattern on kraft paper.
Again, there was no note.
Last night I’d spent some time trying to figure out who could have given me the anonymous ornament… and why. I wasn’t interested in any of the men in the office. They were pleasant enough, and some of them were handsome. But they didn’t make my heart beat faster.
There was onlyoneman who made my heart triphammer in my chest every time he came around. And that was the maintenance man who took care of the building where I worked.
He was big, brawny andbuilt.
His name was Easton, but I had a secret nickname for him. I called him Brawny, after the guy on the famous paper towel package.
But there was no way Easton was the one dropping off these little packages on my desk every morning. The man was gorgeous.
Thick.
