Dust of Snow Read Online Free PDF Page A

good-bye before hurrying up
his cleared driveway. I waited until he was inside before driving
away. In the rearview mirror I saw him lift his arm in a wave.
    Once home, I curled up with a bowl of canned
soup and called to make my massage appointment. If someone was
making fun of me behind my back, I’d enjoy the perks before the
shit hit the fan.
     

     
    On Monday morning everyone and their
grandmother tried to get ahold of Carl, and I spent call after call
telling people he wasn’t available. It left me no time at all to
consider the double dirty chai I’d found under a (badly)
hand-knitted tea cozy. It helped keep the drink deliciously warm in
between the annoying calls disturbing my allocated coffee time.
During a quiet moment, Patricia appeared by my elbow.
    “I’ve been unobtrusively asking around,” she
stage whispered so no one could possibly mistake this for a
work-related conversation. “If it’s a practical joke, it’s not from
any of our regular crew.”
    That still left the co-ops though, who had a
practical joke legacy to uphold. And to them I might make an easy
target, I couldn’t deny that.
    “Have you considered someone might be Secret
Santa-ing you early?”
    I almost blabbed about omitting my name from
the jar. “It started before then.”
    “Oh, right.” Patricia cracked her knuckles
and I winced. “I’ll figure it out,” she said as she eyed the tea
cozy. “And that is one ugly coffee glove.”
    “I quite like it,” I admitted, touching the
soft wool of the orange and purple eyesore fondly. “Even though it
looks like it was made by a five-year-old.”
    “What does?” Ashley peered over the cubicle
wall. Patricia excused herself and scurried away, looking oddly
red-faced.
    “Nothing.” I cleared my throat. “You didn’t
call.” His brow furrowed. “To get your car,” I clarified.
    “Oh, yes. My dad brought me in on Saturday
and gave me a jump. I think the battery might need replacing
though. I had trouble starting the engine again this morning.”
    “That sucks.”
    “Mmm.” He looked at the coffee and back to
me. He opened his mouth just as Carl’s office door opened. Ashley
mumbled a terse, “I’ll see you around,” and was gone.
    I turned to find Carl with an odd look on his
face as he watched Ashley go. He crooked his finger at me and I
followed into his office.
    “How is Santa’s Secret?” he asked as I closed
the door.
    “Secret Santa. Two names left in the jar.”
There were three, but I’d picked one.
    “Give them to me, and I’ll make sure they get
something. How does it work? Do we bring the gifts in for the
party?”
    “Yes, and then we either pile them all up on
a table somewhere and allocate some time for handing them out, or
we have people hand them over themselves.”
    “The last seems more personal, don’t you
think?”
    “Yes, I suppose so.” Truth was I hadn’t done
a Secret Santa for a very long time.
    “How are you, Gregory?”
    “Uh, fine? I’m nearly done researching that
new dental plan you had me look into. It’s not—”
    “That’s not what I mean. How are you doing personally .”
    “I… What?”
    “You seem—how do you say it? Down, lately. It
is a year ago your lover left, n’est-ce pas ?”
    I blinked at Carl. We were fairly close—I
imagined any boss and their PA would be after this long—but he’d
never addressed my breaking up with David before. He was still
talking, so I tuned in again.
    “And I think you don’t like the cold, the
winter. You have winter depression.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far,” I objected.
    Carl smiled, his lush mouth curving
enticingly. “You are a good man, Gregory. It pains me to see you
suffer.”
    “I’m fine, really,” I quickly said, hoping
I’d be able to escape soon.
    “ Bon sang ne peut mentir ,” murmured
Carl cryptically.
    “Quite,” I agreed. “Was there anything
else?”
    The smile fell from Carl’s face. “No, that
will be all.”
     

     
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