Her Secret Santa

by Kelli Callahan

  “Have you gotten all of your Christmas shopping done?” Mary looked up at me as I walked by her desk.

  “Uh…” I raised an eyebrow. “I’ve still got a few things I need to pick up.”

  I haven’t started at all. I really need to do that…

  “You better hurry! I was going to get my son one of those custom Yeti coolers that they’ve been advertising, and they aren’t even shipping anything until after Christmas! I’m probably going to have to save it for his birthday now…” She sighed.

  “I don’t think I have anyone on my list that needs one of those.” I shrugged. “Hopefully none of the things I need to get are out of stock.”

  I literally have no idea what I’m going to get anyone. I haven’t even sat down to figure out who I should buy gifts for…

  “Well don’t forget about your Secret Santa gift!” Mary smiled and nodded quickly.

  “What?” I took a step back.

  How the hell does she know about that!?

  “For the Christmas party.” She tilted her head slightly, and the smile left her face. “Please tell me you didn’t forget…”

  “Oh!” A sense of relief shot through me. “Right, yeah. No… I’ve already got that taken care of.”

  I haven’t. Crap! That’s later this week…

  “Good!” Her smile returned.

  I had been so distracted with work and a general disdain for the holidays that I completely forgot about the annual Christmas party. I got Maggie the previous year and just wrapped up a bottle of wine that I had at home before I left for work that morning. I really didn’t know anything about the guy I had drawn for the upcoming party. His name was Bob, and he worked in the accounting department. That probably meant he liked math—and was hopefully good at it. I couldn’t think of anything math related that would make a decent gift. We were supposed to stick to a fifty dollar limit but judging by some of the gifts that I saw at the last exchange, that rule didn’t seem to be set in stone.

  Damn it; I’m going to have to do some reconnaissance.

  I returned to my desk and tried to focus on work instead of the holiday crap that was starting to worry me. There was no way that I could just skip the annual Christmas party. Mr. Thornton made it very clear that it was mandatory unless someone had a religious reason that prevented them from attending. It was too late to find a Jehovah’s Witness or Seventh-day Adventist and devote myself to their cause—not that I would have been that disrespectful to anyone’s religious belief just to avoid the holiday season entirely.

  Truthfully, my hatred of holidays had started to wane a little bit since meeting Ian. I wasn’t ready to sing Christmas carols or ring any Jingle Bells, but I hadn’t taken down the wreath I put up. That was one step further than I ever expected to go. Either way, whether the season was gaining some traction in my heart or not, I was going to have to find a gift for Bob and make an actual list.

  The day started winding down, and about thirty minutes before it was time for most people to call it a day, my phone lit up with a message from Ian.

  He’s definitely going to be at the top of my list this year—I need to make sure his gift is perfect…

  Ian: I really wish I could see you tonight.

  Elly: I wish I could see you too. Any chance of that happening?

  Ian: No, I have a dinner party, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be canceled.

  Elly: Blah. :( I don’t think I would be able to spend much time with you anyway.

  Ian: Why is that? Are you already trying to replace me?

  Elly: No way! You’re going to think this is funny coming from me, but I need to do some Christmas shopping.

  Ian: Did you finally get some holiday spirit?

  Elly: You might have shifted my perspective from vehement disdain to mild toleration, but that doesn’t mean I’m eager to shop for anyone…

  Ian: Not even me?

  Elly: You’re the exception.

  Ian: Who else do you need to buy for?

  Elly: Well, there’s this guy named Bob…

  Ian: Bob? Who is Bob? I thought you said you weren’t trying to replace me. :)

  Elly: He works in accounting.

  Ian: Is that a joke?

  Elly: No, we really do have a Bob that works in accounting. I got him in the office Secret Santa—which is a lot different than your version.

  Ian: It better be!

  Elly: I’m going to go snoop around his desk once everyone leaves for the day and see if I can get a hint about what to buy him.

  Ian: Hmm. Yeah, I don’t know. We have a Bob that works here. He shares Grumpy Cat memes with everyone and talks about his Magic: The Gathering collection all the time.

  Elly: I don’t know what Magic: The Gathering is.

  Ian: I think it’s a card game. Apparently, some of the cards are really expensive…

  Elly: Cool, well maybe I can go to the magic store if my Bob likes the same thing.

  Ian: I don’t think you get the cards at a magic store.

  Elly: That’s confusing.

  Ian: Let me know if you need any help. We’re still on for tomorrow, right?

  Elly: Yeah, but you haven’t told me what we’re doing. I need to know what to wear…

  Ian: Wear something comfortable.

  Elly: That’s a very wide spectrum.

  Ian: Jeans and a t-shirt would be perfectly fine. Bonus points if it’s a Christmas t-shirt.

  Elly: I’ll check my closet. Oh wait, I don’t have to. I have no Christmas t-shirts…

  Ian: Any t-shirt will do.

  Elly: I have a Bill Cosby t-shirt that says “Drinks Are on Me.” Will that work?

  Ian: Please tell me you’re joking.

  Elly: I am, but someone actually wore one of those to class once…

  Ian: How about a t-shirt that doesn’t have anything offensive on it?

  Elly: I’ll see what I can do.

  The workday ended, and once everyone was out of the office, I made the trek to accounting. It took me a couple of minutes to find Bob’s desk. I didn’t see anything that indicated he was into grumpy cats or magic. He had a picture of his family on one side of his computer, and a picture of his dog on the other side—his dog was quite adorable. I didn’t see anything that told me what he was interested in other than his wife, kids, and fur-baby. I decided to take a risk and rummage through his desk drawers. That could have gotten me fired if anyone saw me doing it, but I was the last one in the office, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal. It wasn’t like I was trying to steal anything. I had a good reason for digging through his stuff.

  Hmm. What is this?

  Most of the stuff in his desk was work related, but in the back of the drawer, I found a couple of fliers for rock bands. He seemed to be into music—that was a start. I sat down at his desk and pulled out my phone. I wasn’t sure if I could find anything on his Facebook page, or if I could even find his Facebook page, but I wanted to get confirmation before I went all-in on rock music as his main hobby. Luckily, he was the only Bob Langston that popped up in my list of mutual friends, so I assumed that was him. I didn’t friend many people from work, but I got several requests when I was an intern and was scared to turn them down.

  “Yep, that’s definitely Bob.” I flipped through his page.

  Bob’s Facebook page was similar to his desk. There were a lot of pictures of his family, his adorable dog, and buried in the history were several pictures of Bob at a concert. His interests seemed to be on the heavier side of rock music—almost all of the bands he tagged were in the Heavy Metal genre—Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Slayer, and a bunch of bands I hadn’t even heard of. I had a solid lead, but I didn’t know how to turn that into a gift. I assumed tickets for a big show would be rather expensive.

  Thank goodness his profile isn’t private…

  I went to his timeline and looked through some recent posts. It appeared that he didn’t just enjoy Heavy Metal music, he also liked collecting memorabilia
, and his newest obsession was vinyl records from his favorite bands. I didn’t even realize that they still made vinyl records, but a little more research confirmed that bands were releasing limited numbers of them for people who still liked to collect that sort of thing. I flipped over to Amazon and found that some of them were quite expensive. I managed to find two from the bands he tagged that were in the twenty-five dollar range, so I added them to my cart. I had no way to confirm that he didn’t already have them, but at least I put some thought into the gift.

  That’s more thought than I’ve put into a gift in years, so maybe I’ve warmed up to the holiday season a little more than I realized.

  I felt good about my gift for Bob, and I really did need to get a move on my shopping, so I made a list when I got home. There was no way that I could buy gifts for everyone, and I hadn’t participated in the family gift exchange since my father was buying the gifts that I gave people. They normally drew names so that everyone would have something to open after Christmas dinner. It was a tradition that I never particularly enjoyed, mainly because my interest in the holidays were already soured by that point.

  My list didn’t end up being very long. I needed to buy something for Ian, my parents, and I decided that I would get a gift for Starla since she invited me to Christmas dinner in the first place. I normally had the gifts for my parents shipped to their house, but if I was going to see my father, I could deliver his gift in person. I doubted I would see my mother at all. If she wasn’t on a cruise, then she would likely spend the holiday season at a resort where it was warm. She still sent gifts to her family, even if her husband didn’t celebrate Christmas, so I did feel obligated to get her something every year.

  Alright, I can knock out everyone except Ian on Amazon. I literally have no idea what I’m going to get him…

  My mother collected Russian figurines. She inherited the bulk of her collection from my great-grandmother and continued the tradition of adding to it every year. It was easy to find one that she didn’t have and ship it directly to her house with a note that said Merry Christmas. I usually got my father a tie, socks, or something that didn’t require much thought. The holiday spirit must have been trying to get a grip on me because I found myself browsing memorabilia for his favorite college football team instead of the normal stuff I got him. I found a nice piece of wall art that his wife would probably hate, but I didn’t care. Stella was next up, and I just made a mental note to buy her a bottle of wine—the same one we shared when she came for a visit. She obviously liked it.

  Maybe I should push her outside of her comfort zone and give her a gift certificate for Famous Sid’s as well. That would just give her an excuse to visit me though…

  All of my shopping was done except for the gift I needed to buy for Ian. I literally had no idea what to get him. He was wealthy enough to buy anything he wanted, but I wanted my gift to be thoughtful. I ran through some options in my head that included a book of dad-jokes, a book of dirty jokes, various holiday themed items, and even some memorabilia from the Christmas Vacation movie. None of it clicked—even a weirdly overpriced Eddie’s RV ornament that appeared to be quite a collector’s item since someone was selling it for over five-hundred dollars. I wasn’t wealthy enough to afford that, even if it was the most perfect gift on the planet. I wanted to get Ian something that had meaning—but I wasn’t sure what that could be.

  This is going to take some thought…

  Chapter Twenty

  Ian

  My dinner party wasn’t stressful by any means, but it was rather boring—because the only thing I could think about was Elly. It was held in a private room at a club downtown. The main thing that I needed to do was put in an appearance, mingle with a few people, and tell some jokes before we sat down to eat. It was compromised of various executives in the city and considered to be a meeting of the minds. It was a great way to network when I first started Alexander Software. We were supposed to be talking business, and we did, but over the years it had turned into more of a social event than anything else. Occasionally, I would still pick up a new client, but that became rather rare after I went from fresh-faced-newbie to a tenured member of the group.

  “You’re kicking some ass this year, aren’t you Ian?” Ned Dumas, the CEO of Dumas Financial, walked up and slapped me on the shoulder. “I swear I got more people at the office talking about that Secret Santa Romance app than the work they should be doing.”

  “It seems to be gaining some traction.” I nodded politely.

  “Traction? Hell, it’s a fucking hit.” He laughed and took a sip of what appeared to be Bourbon. “I should have invested in your company when I had the chance.”

  “We have good years and bad years.” I shrugged. “I think this year will be a good one.”

  “Wish I could say the same…” He exhaled sharply. “We went heavy into the online marketplace investments this year, and it looks like we might take a loss. Fucking people are actually shopping at the brick and mortars? In this weather? Crazy…”

  “It’s cold in the city, but not everywhere.” I laughed under my breath. “It just feels different this year—I don’t know what it is.”

  “Who knows.” He sighed. “You can’t predict people—you can stick them in a demographic and trust the reports, but then they’ll screw you when you aren’t looking.”

  “Sometimes.” I nodded in agreement. “I tend to trust my gut.”

  “One thing is for damn sure…” He scoffed. “Next year, I’m investing in love or something—that always sells. I might have to get behind your competitor. I’m sure someone is going to copy your app eventually.”

  “Yeah, I expect to see a dozen holiday romance apps next year.” I leaned closer. “But you can’t top the original, and we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve that none of our competitors are going to see coming.”

  “Fuck, man…” He glared at me. “Now I’m going to have to rethink my investment strategy.”

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing you came tonight.” I smirked at him. “I might have just saved you a bunch of money.”

  “Maybe…” He nodded and looked over my shoulder. “It looks like it’s time to eat.”

  “Yep.” I nodded and walked towards the table.

  Ned was fishing for information. I knew that when he commented on the app. He was the kind of guy that acted like a doofus half the time, but he was one of the sharpest CEOs in the room. He might have lost some money because he trusted the reports, but he had made a lot of it over the years, so a stumble wasn’t going to impact his company. He was feeling me out to find out if I thought dating apps were going to use mine as a springboard to get back to the same popularity they had when some of them were first hitting the market. I really didn’t need his money behind a competitor, so I did my best to kindly dissuade him. We were both playing chess, and I felt like I put him in checkmate before he could invest in his next big thing.

  Hopefully, that will keep his interests in the retail markets where they belong and out of mine…

  The first thing I did when I got to work the next morning was meet with some of the top guys at my company to let them know that they needed to be on the lookout for any activity from Dumas Financial. If they made an investment in a company that was one of our competitors, I wanted to know immediately so we could figure out what to expect from them. I was pretty sure that the Secret Santa Romance app was going to have enough popularity that it wouldn’t matter if we had some clones out there, but a clone with serious financial backing was not something we could simply ignore. I also told them to get started on some ideas for the sequel—I wasn’t exactly truthful when I told Ned we had some tricks up our sleeve, but we would by the time we launched the next one.

  “Mr. Alexander, everything is set for tonight. We’ve got a lot of volunteers this year!” Samantha looked up at me and smiled when I walked back to my office.

  “Good.” I nodded. “I assume you’ll be there?”

  “Of c
ourse!” She nodded quickly. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “My outfit is ready?” I raised my eyebrows inquisitively.

  “Yep, it will arrive this afternoon.” She smiled.

  “Perfect.” I waved to her. “I have some work to do. Let me know when it gets here.”

  I still wasn’t sure how Elly was going to react when she found out what I had invited her to. If I had taken a moment to think about it, I probably would have just asked her to hang out on Friday night when I had the evening to myself. If she decided that it wasn’t her cup of tea, then I wouldn’t hold it against her. It was important to me, and it was one event that I wouldn’t have traded for an evening with her, no matter what we did with our time.

  I spent my day taking care of stuff around the office, and when the afternoon rolled around, my outfit arrived. I sent a message to Elly to make sure she would be ready at the time I said I would pick her up. For once, she actually responded to my message in the middle of the day instead of making me wait until she was done at the office. Our plans were confirmed—I just hoped that she had a tiny bit of holiday cheer for those that could use it most.

  “Okay, Samantha. I’m going to go grab something to eat and then I’ll see you there.” I walked out of my office with my outfit slung over my shoulder.

  “Sounds good.” Samantha looked up at me and smiled.

  I figured Elly would be hungry as well, so I asked if she wanted me to pick her up something from Famous Sid’s. I was surprised to find out that she loved eating there as much as I did, but she preferred a lettuce wrap over the bread that I thought was the best in the city. I stopped by the cafe, picked up our order, and then drove to Elly’s apartment. I figured it would be best to eat before we left. Famous Sid’s sandwiches were pretty difficult to eat in the car, especially if I was driving, and I wasn’t sure Elly would be able to manage a lettuce wrap if we hit a few bumps on the way—although it might have been comical to watch her try.