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He plants his hands on my desk and leans closer, lowering his head and his voice. “You know, the same thing could be said about you.”
My cheeks burn when he gives me a playful wink and taps my desk twice before walking away. He moves between the cubicles, making small talk with employees he passes on his way back to the elevator.
His words bounce around my head all day and through the remainder of the week. At night, I lie in bed, staring at the ceiling and kicking myself for not asking him to elaborate. But then I realize if I had asked, he could have said something completely inane and not flirtatious at all. I kind of liked being able to imagine the mysterious possibility that there was an innuendo there.
* * *
“Merry Christmas!”Marsha places a large bottle of spiced rum on my desk.
Surprised, I look up at her. “What’s this for?”
“Remember how last year I bought you that bottle of eggnog I thought was a pre-made cocktail but turned out to just be non-alcoholic eggnog? Well, this year I thought,I’ll buy her the rum.”
“You shouldn’t have gotten me anything, now I feel bad. I thought we all agreed no Secret Santa this year.”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s cheap rum, don’t worry about it.” She laughs, waving off my concern. “Besides, I can never thank you enough for allowing me and Rich to take your spot in Rio last year. You made that man’s year, and between us”—she leans forward, holding her hand up to the side of her mouth—“it made our sex life ten times better since going on vacation.”
I giggle. “Glad I could be of service.”
“You heading home soon?” She plants her hands on her full hips. “It’s Friday night and almost Christmas. I thought you were going to be off for the holidays by now anyway.”
I sigh. “I was supposed to be.”
“What happened? You’re still going home to your family, right? Out in Yorkville?”
“Yeah.” I smile. “I’ll be spending the holidays with them as planned. You and Rich excited the kids are coming to town?”
She ignores my question for a moment, her eyes narrowing at me. “No Tim this year?”
“Uh, no. At least not right now.”
“What’s that mean?”
“We uh—he decided that we should take some time and space to thi—”
“That bastard dumped you at Christmas?” Her eye twitches. That’s Marsha, always ready to throw down with someone. This isn’t the first time she’s gone in on Tim, though.
“Notdumped. It’s just a break.”
She gives me the same look I know I’ll get from everyone once I finally tell them. The you-can’t-possibly-be-serious-you-know-a-break-means-he’s-out-hooking-up-with-someone-else look.
“Glad I gave you the rum then, sister. You’re going to need it.”
“Thanks.”
“Well, I’m going to head out. I’ll be gone till after New Year’s. Rich and I are very excited the kids are coming in, feels like it always takes forever for this time of year to get here, and then our time with them flies by.” She taps my desk and I look up at her from where my eyes had briefly drifted back to my computer. “If you need anything, you call me, okay?”
“Thanks, Marsh. Have a Merry Christmas. And tell Rich I said the same.”
“You too, baby girl.” She waves as she walks away from my desk, her giant purse swinging back and forth on her shoulder.
I groan and lean back in my chair, glancing over at the clock. It’s just after 4:30 and the sales floor is pretty much empty. I stare at the bottle of rum, tempted to open it and toss back a shot or two to get me through the last hour of work.
I don’t need to stay to catch up on anything, but I don’t have any plans, and I really loathe the idea of sitting alone on my couch while eating takeout or a frozen dinner while my mind plays a fun game ofwhat did Mr. Snow mean by his comment the other day?
I put my AirPods in and start knocking out some end of year reports and other tasks that will make coming back from the holidays easier. By the time I’ve finished, it’s pushing six p.m. I decide to call it a day and grab my purse and the rum before trudging toward the elevator bank.
I press the button and glance around. It seems like I really am the last person here tonight. The elevator dings and the doors open. I step inside and hit the button for the lobby, but notice the elevator starts going up rather than down.
