by Holly Rayner
“Hey John,” I said, accepting his kiss on the cheek. “How are Phyllis and the kids?” John and I had known each other since college. His wife and I had become friends over the years and they had the most adorable pair of twins I’d ever seen. John was the one who had referred me for the job I have now.
“They are great. The twins are finally sleeping through the night so Phyllis and I are getting used to seeing the world with clear eyes again.”
I smiled and said, “I might have an idea that could help us both out.”
“I’m game. What’s up?”
I told him about the auction and about Gary. He laughed.
“Gary’s crushing on you hard, huh? He’s kind of relentless that way. The last girl he attached himself to around here got another job out of state. There was speculation she only took it to get away from him.”
I laughed too. I knew that John was only half kidding. Gary was the kind of guy who never gave up until he wasn’t given any other choice. I really didn’t want to crush the poor guy. But, I didn’t want to be saddled with him either.
“So if I give you the cash, will you bid on me?” I asked him.
“Sure, then I can order you to watch the twins while Phyllis and I have a real date?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “I’ll let you know that night how much I’ll be able to afford,” I told him.
“What if there are multiple guys bidding? Should I bid against them all?”
“I doubt that’ll happen,” I said.
“Oh please, I know you’ve seen you. You own a mirror, right? Besides, I was witness to the droves of men who lined up to date you in college.”
“Shut up,” I said. Yes, I knew that men found me attractive. I didn’t ever hurt for a date if I wanted one. But, I was also mature enough these days to know that there was so much more to me than that, and I wanted a man who would appreciate all of me. The thing about being twenty-six was that as much as I loved to have fun, I was beginning to think about settling down. I wasn’t sure who I was looking for, but I’m sure when I do meet him, I’ll know. Until then, I wasn’t willing to get myself in a position where I’d miss “Him” when he showed up. I’d rather spend my Friday babysitting the twins than giving some poor guy false hope.
The time flew by and on the morning of the auction I stopped by and gave John the money I could afford for him to bid on me.
“Wow, this is a good deal of money,” he said.
“I have an account that I put money into all year for Christmas charities. I just love Christmas so much. I enjoy knowing that my money helps make someone else’s better. This year, it will all go to the kids I guess. That’s okay though, I’m sure they will put it to good use.”
“Okay,” he’d said with a grin and fanning the money, “Get prepared for dirty diapers and a lot of spitting up.” I didn’t know much about kids, but I knew that I’d be able to figure it out. John’s twins were three months old, a boy and a girl. As much work as I knew they‘d be to take care of, I also knew it was going to be a fun, rewarding experience. I was looking forward to the challenge.
After I left John and Phyllis’s house I went to work for a few hours. I took off early and went shopping for something new to wear to the auction. I spent too much time wandering around the mall. The Christmas decorations and lights were up and the smell of pine and cinnamon wafted around as soft Christmas music played in the background. I stopped and watched as the children lined up to see Santa Claus. Watching them made me happy and reminded me of how, when I was small, my parents would always take me to see him on the first day of December. My mom would dress me up pretty in my Christmas clothes and my dad would enthusiastically snap photos as Santa and I went through my list. Then at the end when Santa asked, “Have you been a good girl this year?” My daddy would look at me with so much pride in his face.
“She’s the best.”
I wasn’t in a hurry to have kids, but I’d really love to someday. I fantasized about what it would be like when I was the one to take them to see Santa Claus.
After a while I finally realized if I didn’t get home soon, I wouldn’t have time to get ready. I forced myself to leave the Christmassy atmosphere and went home to my apartment that I’d begun transforming for the season just this week. I didn’t have my tree yet to put the final touches on, but the rest of the place looked, smelled, and if you stuck a hand in the candy bowls, even tasted like Christmas.
I took out the pretty new dress I’d bought today and looked at it. I wasn’t a girl who liked to go with the latest fashions. I was always looking for something that would make me stand out from the crowd. Today, I found the cutest 1950’s retro blue, green and black plaid Audrey Hepburn style dress. It was sleeveless, so it was marked 50% off too. I had a blue sweater that matched it perfectly and a blue pair of heels, so the only other thing I bought to go with it was a little petticoat that made the skirt flare out. When I put it on I felt soft and feminine.
I curled my hair in long, soft curls and applied my make-up carefully. When I was ready, I took a final glance in the mirror and decided I should at least be worth a couple of hundred bucks.
The auction was being held at a hotel in town that was also owned by Winters Inc. The company seemed to dabble in almost everything and from what I’d heard; Mr. Winters had founded it on his own with very little capital. Of course, what he considered a small amount of money to someone else could be a large one.
I found the ball room and was surprised to see how many people were already there. Gary spotted me and waved eagerly. I waved back, nervously scanning the room for John. I finally spotted him sitting right up front. Good boy! I knew I could count on him. I felt much better.
They called those of us who would be auctioned off to the back and we waited together in a nice little room that they had set up a table full of drinks and snacks in. Max brought a deck of cards, knowing from experience how long the wait could be. I was second to last on the list and Max was last, so we entertained ourselves with raucous hands of “go fish” and “21.” Max could be loud and crass sometimes, but he was a lot of fun. His personality had scared off the last woman in my position with marketing I was told. I was okay though; I didn’t scare easily at all.
I could hear some of what was going on out front and I was both surprised and happy to find out that I worked with some really generous people. Some of my co-workers were going for over five hundred dollars. It did make me worry that maybe I hadn’t given John enough cash. He had five hundred, but in my mind I thought the bidding would be stopping around three. There was nothing much I could do at this point other than hold my breath, cross my fingers and hope for the best. I didn’t know Gary’s financial situation, but I doubted he could afford to throw away five hundred bucks.
When it was my turn Max winked at me and said, “Knock ‘em dead kid.” I wasn’t shy about being the center of attention; thanks to my parents who put me in every sport I was interested in including dance and gymnastics while I was growing up. I stood on the stage and waved at a few of my friends in the audience. The auctioneer told the audience my name and what department I worked in and then he started the bidding at a hundred dollars. I was literally shocked to see about eight hands go up. Gary had moved to the front and he and John were on opposite sides of the stage. The other six or so men were scattered throughout the audience.
The auctioneer took the bidding up to two hundred dollars and then three before a couple of the men dropped out. At four it was John, Gary and another man that I thought may have worked with John in production. When it went up to five, Gary and John were all that was left. I knew that was all John had… I thought I was doomed to spend a day doing Gary’s bidding until I suddenly saw a hand go up in the back and heard a smooth, masculine voice say, “Six hundred.”
“Six fifty,” Gary said, smugly.
“Eight hundred,” the man at the back called out. Gary was so close to the stage that I could see his face. I felt bad for him actually,
he looked distressed. I hoped he wasn’t going to bid so much that he wasn’t able to afford it.
“Eight-fifty,” I heard Gary say. The man in the back smoothly countered.
“One thousand dollars.” Gary’s face did nothing to hide his emotions. He was sunk and he was not happy about it. The auctioneer asked if he heard ten fifty before wrapping up the bidding.
“Going once at a thousand, going twice, sold for one thousand dollars.”
I was flabbergasted that someone had paid that much money to spend the day with me. I could see John’s face as I climbed down off the stage and it said, “I told you so.”
I went over to see him first and he said, “I told you there’d be a battle over you.”
Smiling I replied, “I was a little nervous there for a minute. Gary came close.”
“Who was that who out-bid me?” John asked.
“He was too far back and the lights were in my eyes so I couldn’t see him. I was hoping you knew.”
“Nope, I was too intent up here on doing my job,” he said with a grin. “I didn’t recognize the voice as anyone I know though.”
“Well, thank you for trying.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek and he handed me back the five hundred dollars I’d given him. I tucked it away to now be used for what I’d originally intended, thanked him again and headed to the back to see if I could catch my new employer-for-a-day.
I didn’t know who to look for or who to ask, so I went to the table where they marked down who bought who and for how much.
“Excuse me, can you tell me who it was who won my auction? I’d like to thank him,” I said.
The lady at the table’s name was Janice. I’d met her at a few meetings and knew she was Mr. Winters’ assistant. She smiled and said, “I’m sorry sweetie; he very generously requested we keep it a secret for now. He’ll contact you.”
“He paid you not to tell me?”
“He didn’t pay me. He gave an extra thousand for the charity though with that request.”
Wow, this man just laid down two thousand dollars for me. Who in the world was he?
~
CHAPTER THREE
~
ROBYN
I went home that night and had trouble sleeping as my mind combed through every male employee I’d met since beginning at Winters Inc. It was a huge corporation and our offices alone had eighteen different divisions. We worked in a ten story building in Manhattan and so far, I hadn’t had a need to go above the sixth floor. That meant even if I had met everyone on the first six floors which I strongly doubted, there were four more floors of mystery. Well, actually only three. The top floor was reserved for the offices of Mr. Winters himself, so I don’t think that one counted. I doubted the man himself showed up for silly things like that. Besides, he already employed us all, he didn’t have to pay for one of us to work for him for a day.
I finally took a long, hot bubble bath and drank some tea and by one or two a.m. I at last fell asleep. It seemed like only minutes later I was awakened by an annoying ringing sound. I couldn’t open my eyes at first; I just lay there and wished it would stop. When I realized it was the phone, my thoughts jumped to discovering the identity of my mystery man. I was suddenly awake and alert. I picked up the phone and said hello. I wasn’t disappointed.
“Hello, is this Robin?” It was the same silky, masculine voice that I’d heard bidding for me last night.
“Yes it is. Who is this?”
“I’m the one who bought you for the day.”
“Don’t I get to know your name?”
“Not just yet,” he said. I wondered what all the mystery was about. “I have my chauffeur on his way to your apartment. He’ll be dropping off a costume for you soon.”
Oh great, a kinky one, I thought. But then he went on to say, ‘He will also have a car full of presents which you will drop off, in costume at the local orphanages and elder care homes. The driver will know where to take you and the presents are wrapped, but marked with the appropriate place to drop them off.”
“That sounds like fun!” I said, “I love Christmas!”
He didn’t respond to that. Instead, he said, “When you finish that task, you’ll be contacted again with further instructions.”
“Sounds like a plan!” I told him, excitedly. I was looking forward to the day, and hopefully to finally meeting him later on. He must be a really generous man to hand out presents all over town, and I just couldn’t get that voice out of my head. As I was pondering it all, my doorbell rang. I opened the door to an older man in a chauffer’s uniform, holding a box.
“Miss Hurst?”
“Yes,” I told him. “But please call me Robyn.”
He smiled slightly and said, “I’m Jeffrey. This box has the costume for you to wear and I’ll be downstairs waiting with the car when you’re ready.”
“Okay… hey Jeffrey, who sent the costume?”
This time he smiled outright and said, “That’s not for me to say, Miss.” He tipped his hat at me and turned and left. I shook my head and carried the box inside. I sat it down on the couch and pulled off the ribbon that held it together. When I slipped off the lid I was surprised to find a green and red elf costume inside. It was a green, sparkly dress that came to about mid-thigh with red fur trim around the neckline and sleeves. There were slippers with pointed toes and silver bells attached to them and even a hat to match the dress with pointed ears sewn on. I was ecstatic! I loved stuff like this. This was what Christmas was about.
I got ready as quickly as I could; knowing Jeffrey was waiting for me. When I finished dressing I looked in the mirror to see the perfect reflection of an elf. I was tickled and looking forward to this a lot. I grabbed my bag and keys and headed down to meet Jeffrey. He was standing next to the car and when he saw me, an amused expression lit up his face. He opened the back door of the giant limousine for me and as I slid in on the supple leather seat he said, “You look fabulous, Miss.”
“Why thank you, Jeffrey. I feel fabulous.”
He closed the door and went around to his side. There was a partition between us that I assumed was for privacy, but I didn’t need any and the car was so big, I felt lonely in the back all alone. I tapped on the window and Jeffrey lowered it a few inches.
“Did you need something, Miss?”
“It’s just lonely back here, Jeffrey. Can we leave the partition down?” He smiled and lowered it the rest of the way. That felt better to me, I could breathe, and Jeffrey and I could talk.
The first place we stopped was a home ran by social services where kids who came into the system were sent while they awaited a spot at a foster home, or court with mom and dad, or adoption. It was a large, three story Victorian home that had been converted. Jeffrey told me they knew we were coming and should be ready for us. I knocked and was let in by a plump middle aged woman whose red dress and dark red cheeks reminded me of Mrs. Claus. She introduced herself as the “headmistress” of the house, Mrs. Grover. She led me and Jeffrey who was carrying a large sack and an armload of packages behind me into a big open room with a Christmas tree in the center and about twenty small children gathered around it in a circle.
“Hi! I’m Robbie the elf!” I had made up the “Robbie” at the last minute. I thought it sounded more elf-like than Robyn.
“Hi Robbie!” came the resounding reply from twenty small voices.
“Santa Claus is extra busy this year. He asked that I come by and deliver some gifts to you because you’ve all been so good.” One of the little girls in the front row raised her hand. She was about four years old. Her hair was blonde and had two pigtails. The dress she wore was worn, but her face was scrubbed clean and she looked healthy. “Yes?” I said, looking at her.
“Brady hasn’t been good. He pulls my hair.”
I tried to keep a straight face as I said, “Well, Santa Claus must have seen him doing something nice to make up for it, because he was on the nice list.”