Dust of Snow Read Online Free PDF Page B

cards.”
    I stared. “You see me at work every day.”
    He laughed again. “I know.”
    “Words will be had,” I muttered. Even though
I didn’t mind Ashley knowing where I lived, Sonny couldn’t just go
around handing out private information like that.
    “I didn’t mean to get him into trouble.”
    “You knew you would, though.”
    “Yeah,” he admitted, drinking his coffee, his
eyes on the floor.
    “Why not just ask me?”
    “I was curious where you lived after you said
it was so close by. I didn’t want you to think I was prying by
asking you.”
    “So you asked HR,” I said disbelievingly, but
I laughed.
    Obviously relieved, Ashley laughed too. I
liked the sound of it between my walls. “Not my brightest moment, I
admit.”
    “No.” But a disarmingly honest one. He could
probably be ruled out as my trickster, if he confessed all his sins
like this. I drained my mug. “We should get going or we’ll be
late.”
    “Is Carl hard on you if you are?”
    “No, not at all.” I took his empty mug and
put it in the dishwasher along with mine. “He’s a great boss.”
    “Yeah?” He didn’t look convinced.
    “You don’t think so?” That surprised me.
    “No, he’s good. You’re right.” Ashley turned
toward the garage and I went along, stepping into my shoes in the
mudroom. “Can we stop along the way for more coffee?” he asked.
    I smirked. “You’re as addicted as I am.”
    “The coffee at work sucks. You should tell
Carl that.”
    “I will test the power I hold,” I promised,
and we climbed into my car. It wasn’t a bad way to start a
morning.
     

THREE

     
    NO COFFEE OR gifts awaited me that morning, but
around ten thirty a guy in a brown uniform wound his way through
the cubicles, half of his body hidden by a giant bouquet of roses.
At first I was as amused as everyone else craning their necks to
watch his progress, like the guy was a bear in the wild we were all
watching from the safety of our stationary vehicles. My mirth died
quickly when I worked out exactly who he was aiming for.
    “Oh. My. God.” I could feel my ears going
beet red.
    Of course, Carl chose that moment to stretch
his legs and step out of his office as I tipped the guy who left
the flowers on my desk. How he knew I was the one he needed, I
didn’t think to ask myself.
    “Mister Peck,” Carl drawled in my ear. The
delight disappeared from his eyes the moment he saw my face. “What
is it?” he quietly asked. Everyone was staring at us. He
straightened, giving the rubberneckers a quelling look. As one,
their heads disappeared behind their partitions. “In my office.”
Carl began to turn away and then added, “Bring those flowers.”
    Relieved, I picked up the vase and scuttled
after him.
    “Explain,” he said ominously. He took the
vase from me, put it on the windowsill, and began to search for a
card. When he found it, he held it up. I waved an acquiescing hand.
I knew what it would say anyway. Carl scanned the paper. “No name
from the sender.”
    “No,” I said wearily.
    “Tell me how long this has been going
on.”
    I told him everything, including my
suspicions of this being a joke. Carl eyed the flowers.
    “Expensive joke.”
    “I know.”
    “Gregory, have you considered someone really
might like you instead?” Carl perched on the edge of the desk and
invited me to sit. I remained standing in the middle of the office.
“This seems to be very elaborate, time consuming, and costly for a
prank.”
    “If what you’re saying is true,” I began,
ashamed to hear my voice crack, “then they don’t know me at all,
sir.”
    “Carl,” he corrected me. His face was kind
and patient, his eyes were sad, and the corners of his mouth were
pointed down. Instantly, embarrassingly, I realized a very deeply
hidden part of me had been hoping these gifts had come from Carl,
and now I knew that wasn’t true. It disappointed, but didn’t hurt.
My hidden crush—so well hidden I’d barely noticed