Chapter 16
Violet
I stared at the giant box on my desk.
The whole office had come around to watch me unwrap it this time.
The box was huge, and when I tested its weight, I realized I couldn’t even lift it.
The letter I’d left for my Secret Santa was gone. And this box and a note were left in its place.
It didn’t feel right to accept this gift when I only wanted a gift from Easton.
Easton was so far out of my league it wasn’t even funny, but if the man wanted to spend time with me, I was not going to talk him out of it.
Last night I’d even let myself fantasize that not only did he want to fuck me… but that he wanted more than that, too.
I’d practically been naming our kids. And I had renamed my vibrator. It was now called the Big Beast, after the nickname he’d given his cock.
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 the singles list.”
Lenore and I both stared at Nicole, waiting for her the scoop. She was in the know when 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.”
“Um, sure. Thanks?”
He nodded and then added, “By the way, something came up. I can’t go to the Bear Den tonight.”
My heart contracted in on itself until it was a tiny, invisible dot in my chest.
“Sure,” I said in a tinny voice that didn’t sound like mine.
All three of us watched as he picked up the box as if it weighed nothing and strode quickly out of the office on long, fast-moving legs.
“I don’t know what bee got under his bonnet, but Easton seems upset,” Nicole whispered.
Lenore nodded. “Yeah. I’ve never seen him like that before.”
Nicole tut-tutted. “He’s been so broken up ever since his grandpa died. It’s probably hard with Christmas around the corner.”
Then Lenore said something that flipped my world upside down. “Wait a minute. Easton’s single. Why isn’t he on your list?”
I blinked up at them rapidly. “Easton? Peter didn’t put him on the list. I don’t know why. I figured because he doesn’t actually work in the office.”
Nicole was still staring at me, deep in thought. “Easton’s your Secret Santa. It has to be him.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but… could it be true?
My heart clenched in on itself as I thought about the letter I’d left.
If Easton was my Secret Santa, then had he read the letter I’d left? Did he think I was in love with another man?
“He seems kind of mad at me.” My mind was spinning, thoughts flying in different directions like I was on the Christmas Tilt-a-Whirl at the Winter Wonderland Festival.
Nicole shook her head. “No. He’s just got a lot on his mind. The estate finally settled this month, and he took it hard.”
“The estate?”
“His grandpa’s property. They were close, and I heard his grandpa left everything to him. Even his cabin.”
In a daze, I unfolded the letter that my Secret Santa had dropped off this morning along with the box.
Violet,
I must have misread things between us. I thought, well, you know what I thought.
I was practically giving you googly-eyes on our date at the ice skating pond.
I didn’t know your heart already belongs to someone else.
I’ll leave you alone going forward. But you have to take this one last gift.
I can’t have you walking to work in this weather.
Whoever the guy is, he’s one lucky son of a bitch. I wish it could have been me.
Love, Easton
Clutching the letter to my chest, I gasped out, “I should go. I need to talk to him.”
Nicole grabbed my hand. “Wait. If it is Easton, you need to be gentle with him. We’re a little protective of him in this town after what happened.”
I looked from Lenore to Nicole, expecting them to tell me more about his grandpa. “What happened?”
Lenore gave me a sympathetic look. “His fiancée died in an accident right out of high school. They’d been childhood sweethearts. He hasn’t dated anyone since then.”
My heart cracked in two. “That’s so tragic. But he must be in his mid-thirties. He hasn’t dated anyone at all in fifteen years?”
Nicole nodded, then whispered, “And when Lenore says anyone, she means anyone. He doesn’t even do casual hookups. I don’t think he’s been with a woman since Leann passed away.”
My legs were rubbery as I stood up. “Will you tell Aemon I have a personal issue and had to leave work for the day? I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Nicole and Lenore grinned. Then Lenore patted my shoulder. “Go get him, Violet. You can do this.”
I slipped and slid in my ballet flats as I headed home down the icy sidewalks. The Treetop Apartments had never felt so far away before.