But I pulled myself back to the present moment.
One of the men gathered around my desk right now must be nursing a bruised heart if they’d read my letter. Although as I looked around at each one of them, I couldn’t detect any hint of it.
They all looked curious. A few looked impatient. But none of them looked like they’d suffered an egregious wound from reading my letter this morning.
Taking a deep breath, I ripped off the Christmas goat wrapping paper, only to discover a box labeled Honda Genuine Parts.
“What is it?” Nicole asked, with confusion in her voice.
“I’m not exactly sure.”
Will said, “It’s a transmission. You drive the Honda, right?”
“Uh, yeah?” I looked up at him with worried eyes.
“Does your car need a transmission? You haven’t been driving it lately.”
Was he my Secret Santa after all? He knew all about my car troubles. But if he was, I couldn’t decipher any clues based on his face.
Then he cemented that it wasn’t him. “Your man’s trying to get you to work safe. Ain’t that sweet?”
The other guys chuckled, then everyone but Lenore and Nicole wandered off.
That took Will off the list. Now it was just Peter left on the list.
All three of us stood there staring at each other.
Then I told the ladies the devastating truth. “I think Peter’s my Secret Santa.”
Nicole laughed. “What?No.”
“But he’s the only name left.”
She shook her head. “He’s with Olivia.”
“Who’s Olivia?” I asked.
“His girlfriend.”
“But he put his name on thesingleslist.”
Lenore and I both stared at Nicole, waiting for her the scoop. She was in theknowwhen it came to gossip.
Nicole shrugged. “They’re on again, off again. Last week they were off. This week they’re on. Didn’t you notice how red-rimmed his eyes were all week long? The man was falling to pieces without her. They got back together two days ago. The whole town knows.”
Huh.
I pulled out my list again and furrowed my brow. Every single person had been crossed off.
Then I looked at the outrageous gift in front of me. “I can’t even lift it. And how can I get it home? My car’s not even driveable. It’s at my apartment complex. There’s no way I can carry this all the way there. It must weigh over a hundred pounds.”
That’s when Easton strode up. I hadn’t even realized he was here until right now.
“Easton! You’re not usually here this time of day,” I said with a quick smile on my face as my heart started fluttering in my chest.
But he wasn’t smiling. Easton looked… upset.
“It’s probably too heavy for you to move it,” he growled without making eye contact. “I’ll take it to your apartment unless you want it somewhere else.”
