Three

“Good morning, Shannon.”

“Good morning, Todd.”

To Shannon’s surprise, Todd didn’t stop to linger as they crossed paths on the way to their desks. He merely smiled and continued on his way into the dispatch office, coffee mug in hand. Shannon couldn’t decide if she was disappointed or not. It was the start of the third week of being in close proximity for eight hours a day, and so far, to the untrained eye, all had appeared normal. Todd had not brought up past experiences, nor had he been overly familiar with her in front of the rest of the staff. He treated her exactly the same as everyone else. And she didn’t know what to make of it.

Shannon rested her mug of hot tea on the corner of her desk as she sat down, then opened the drawer to get her pencil. Instead of the pencil, she found a roll of white paper tied with a bright red ribbon. What looked like a chocolate kiss wrapped in foil was knotted to the ribbon. Shannon glanced from side to side, and when she was certain no one was looking, she untied the ribbon and read the note.

Dearest Shannon,

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

Chocolate is sweet,

And so are you.

Your Secret Admirer

Shannon reread the note then dropped it, along with the ribbon and the candy, back into the drawer. She slammed the drawer shut.

Dearest Shannon? Secret Admirer?

She couldn’t imagine who would do such a thing. Whoever the joker was, Shannon didn’t consider it very funny. Her first suspect was Todd, but this wasn’t his style. There was no obvious punch line. Anonymous frogs were his style, not sweet little personal notes presented with candy. Besides she had just walked in with him. Todd received great satisfaction from watching the recipients of his little jokes, but he had stepped right past her, straight into the dispatch area, just as he had every other day in the past two weeks.

As discreetly as she could, without moving her head, Shannon once more studied the office. Still no one was watching, so she slowly opened the drawer and delicately picked off the foil wrapping.

It looked like chocolate.

She picked it up.

It felt like chocolate. It smelled like chocolate. She cautiously bit the tip off. It even tasted like chocolate. In fact she recognized the chocolate. This was not from the bulk bin at the grocery store. This was from her favorite specialty shop. At first, she thought it had to be from someone who knew her fairly well, but then decided it was just a coincidence. Lots of people loved this particular brand; that was how the store stayed in business.

All day, not a soul acted any differently toward her, nor did anyone exhibit any suspicious behavior. By the end of the day, Shannon managed to shrug it off, chalking it up to one of life’s little mysteries.

❧

Tuesday morning, after relaxing with an early cup of tea in the lunchroom with a few of the other women, Shannon headed for her desk. She sat down, set her mug on the corner of the desk as she had every other morning; but when she reached to open her drawer, she hesitated.

Shannon bit back a smile. Yesterday was an isolated incident. She just hadn’t figured out the person or the punch line.

Shannon opened the drawer and caught her breath. Another note lay in her pencil tray. White paper tied with a red ribbon, chocolate kiss attached. Before she touched it, not bothering to be discreet, she spun around in her chair and blatantly studied everyone in the office. Fewer people were in the office than yesterday this early, and all of them were women. Faye lifted her head, made eye contact, then returned to her work.

Shannon concentrated on the little white piece of paper. Quickly, she pulled the ribbon off, left the chocolate kiss in the tray, and unrolled the paper.

Dearest Shannon,

A chocolate kiss

Makes me think of you.

I hope that now

This will remind you of me, too.

Your Secret Admirer

Shannon’s heart raced as she scrunched the paper in her hand and glanced around the room. The words “Dearest Shannon” echoed in her head as sharply as if she’d heard them out loud. She contemplated the possibility of another woman named Shannon being hidden somewhere in the building. Whoever the man was, his sentiments were romantic, even if his pentameter wasn’t quite right.

“Hey, Shan-nooze. Did you see the hockey game on TV last night? The Leafs won.” Todd approached from the lunchroom, holding his coffee mug.

Shannon fumbled with the note, shoved it back in the pencil tray, and slammed the drawer shut. Here was one man who knew better than to call her sweet. Over the years, one of the few activities she had managed to participate in with her brother and his friends, Todd included, was to play hockey with them. She was the best forward among them, and she never let them forget it.

“Yes, it was a good game,” she mumbled.

The same as the day before, Todd didn’t stop to chat. Once again, he simply disappeared through the doorway into the dispatch office. The man was going to drive her crazy.

Last night, she’d had a long talk with Craig. She didn’t know how it happened, but a major portion of their conversation centered around Todd.

Craig had been accompanying Todd to the Bible study she used to attend when she lived at home. Shannon wanted to hear more, but Craig didn’t tell her anything she hadn’t heard before. Craig said Todd took his faith seriously and was now living a good Christian life, which meant both in and out of church.

She tried to prod Craig for information on what Todd thought of the two of them working together, but Craig didn’t know. He said Todd deliberately avoided that topic.

Shannon found it difficult to focus on her work. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched everyone around her, testing their reactions as she purposely mentioned her favorite brand of chocolate kisses in every conversation. No one acted any different than any other day.

She tried to limit the possibilities of who the note writer could be; but when she counted the single male members of the office staff, the dispatch office, the foremen, warehousemen, and drivers, the list seemed endless. She didn’t think most of them even knew her name; they only knew her as the payroll clerk. But all it took was one.

By the time she went home for the evening, she was still no closer to a solution.

❧

Wednesday morning, Shannon deliberately arrived at work early. She didn’t linger in the lunchroom. She didn’t take time to make a cup of tea.

Shannon hustled to her desk and opened the drawer.

Another white paper lay rolled up in her pencil tray, again tied with a red ribbon and accompanied by a chocolate kiss. Her hands shook as she tugged the ribbon open.

Dearest Shannon,

Your happy smile

Shines every day.

You are more special

Than words can say.

Your Secret Admirer

Shannon nearly choked. She wasn’t special. She was ordinary. Very ordinary. Nor could she figure out who in the world would think she was special, except her parents, who didn’t count in this instance.

She tried to determine who had access to her desk, and the answer was everyone.

Apparently, some detective work was in order. The first and most logical step would be to ask, without giving away details, if other office staff had seen anyone lingering around her desk. It would take only two seconds, though, to open her drawer, slip something in and close it. A person wouldn’t have to slow down very much when walking past. Employees dropped time cards and medical forms on her desk all the time. Some even opened her drawer freely to borrow her pens if she wasn’t there and they needed to leave her a note.

She decided not to ask questions of the men, in case she asked the person who had actually left the note. Most of all she didn’t want people talking. She only wanted to find out who was doing this.

Footsteps sounded behind her. Todd, with his usual morning coffee in hand, was on his way to the dispatch office.

“Todd, may I ask you something?”

He shuffled the mug from one hand to the other. “Ouch, ouch! I can’t stop now. I overfilled my coffee, and it’s spilling on my fingers. Maybe later.”

Muttering under his breath and leaving a trail of coffee dribbles on the floor, Todd disappeared through the dispatch office doorway.

For a moment, Shannon had considered that Todd could be on her list of suspects, but she now mentally crossed him off. He could have saved his fingers from further harm by resting the coffee mug on her desk and talking to her for a minute or two before resuming his journey. But he didn’t. He’d kept right on going, not even looking at her as he balanced his too-full coffee mug.

Oddly, his actions gave Shannon a strange sensation in the pit of her stomach. She wondered if he had intended to give her a taste of her own medicine by virtually ignoring her. He’d done exactly to her what she’d been doing to him since they had begun working together. Intentional or not, it gave her a stab of guilt, now knowing what it felt like to be passed by.

Shannon continued to stare at the doorway long after Todd disappeared from sight. He hadn’t deserved to be treated the way she’d been treating him. Since they had been working together, he had been friendly and courteous. No one who saw them together would know of their shaky past relationship. For once, he was acting mature, which made her wonder if perhaps Craig could be right. Perhaps Todd had changed.

Shannon blinked hard a couple of times and shifted her gaze to a blank spot on the wall. What was she thinking? Just as in the past, no matter how much she hoped and prayed he would change, Todd was still Todd.

The warehouse supervisor thunked a pile of time cards on the corner of her desk, interrupting her mental meanderings. Shannon returned her thoughts to her job.

The whole day, she didn’t venture far from her desk. Whenever she did leave, she watched it out of the corner of her eye. To her dismay, no one came within touching distance of it when she was nearby, except to drop off more time cards or mail. Short of video surveillance, she didn’t know what else to do.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she gave up trying and buried herself in the stacks of papers and time cards.

❧

Shannon flipped the page on her desk calendar. Today was Thursday. She didn’t want to know what was inside her drawer. But before she could begin her work she had to get her pencil. She couldn’t sit and stare at the closed drawer all day.

Taking in a deep breath for courage, Shannon yanked the drawer open. Sure enough, another note awaited her. With trembling fingers, she pulled open the ribbon.

Dearest Shannon,

You’re sweet, you’re kind,

You’re very smart.

Just by being you,

You’ve won my heart.

Your Secret Admirer

A sick feeling rolled through Shannon’s stomach. Whoever this Secret Admirer was, she worried in earnest that he was serious. What scared her more than anything was that she had no idea who he might be.

She needed help. Except she didn’t know whom to ask. She had already figured out she couldn’t ask any of the men. Nor did she want to ask the women in her immediate vicinity. She was too embarrassed to tell anyone what was happening and too afraid they would start to gossip.

The only person she could trust was good ol’ Todd. Being a man, Todd might overhear talk amongst the other men. If she was lucky, Mr. Secret Admirer might let a few things slip—if someone knew what to listen for.

The key would be Todd. Once she told him what was going on, she knew he’d keep her secret. Shannon could weasel almost any information out of Craig. But she’d never stood a chance with Todd, which was probably one of the reasons he was so successful at his many escapades.

For the first time since Todd started working at Kwiki Kouriers, Shannon could hardly wait for his arrival.

This time, however, when Todd walked through the main office on his way to the dispatch area, he wasn’t alone; he was deep in conversation with Gary, his supervisor. Shannon couldn’t interrupt, especially with such a delicate personal matter. It would have been bad enough if any of her female coworkers found out, but she certainly didn’t want any of the men to know, least of all, Gary. Gary had asked her out a few times, and she’d turned him down so she didn’t want him to suspect a potential romance was growing right under his nose, even if it was one-sided.

By the time Shannon had an opportunity to talk to Todd alone, she’d lost her courage. Years ago, she knew he would have laughed at her trepidation about an unknown suitor attempting to woo her from a distance, since she wasn’t the romantic type.

Still, the notes and the effort the Secret Admirer was making touched her heart in a strange way. She didn’t want to hurt the man; she only wanted him to stop.

She wanted to think Todd would understand why she felt that way, but she wasn’t sure he would. Not that Todd was completely insensitive; she had seen occasional flickers of a gentle side, especially since he’d been working there. She simply decided he wouldn’t understand why she couldn’t let it run its course and stop.

She figured he’d tell her to enjoy it, too. Todd had always had an insatiable need for attention. He didn’t know when to quit, and he often created a scene when he knew people were watching him. Shannon didn’t like to be the center of attention. She just wanted to be left alone, and that included anonymous romantic notes.

❧

Shannon flipped the page on her desk calendar. It was Friday. Only one more day until the weekend when she could either put this foolishness behind her or spend some serious time trying to figure out the identity of her mysterious admirer. For a second, she considered coming in over the weekend and dusting for fingerprints.

Sure enough, Shannon found another note in her drawer, as she had the previous four days.

After she made a cursory check to see if anyone was watching, she untied the bow, popped the chocolate kiss into her mouth, and opened the roll of paper.

This time the note wasn’t a poem at all; it was a message, and it was longer. Rather than take the chance that someone would see it in walking by, she quickly folded it, stuck it in her pocket, ran into the ladies’ washroom, and shut the door. She dug the note out of her pocket.

Dearest Shannon,

As you can tell by now, I’m not very good at writing poetry, so I will simply tell you what is in my heart. You are sweet and wonderful, and your laugh warms my soul like the spring sunshine, filling me with hope and happiness. Please keep smiling.

Your Secret Admirer

Shannon’s lower lip quivered, and she brushed a tear away from her eye. Who was this man, and why was he doing this? Did he think she might scorn him if he asked her out? A couple of the men besides Gary had asked her for a date, and it was true she had turned them down, but she had done it kindly. She didn’t want to be yoked with an unbeliever, so she didn’t open the potential for heartbreak by dating someone who didn’t share her faith.

She read the note again, then refolded it and tucked it in her pocket.

She would have to dig seriously for clues.

The first would be handwriting comparisons. Monday morning she would come in early. Not only did she have access to people’s payroll forms and files, but she also had access to all the time cards. She could start by comparing signatures and see if that would give her some indication of who this could be.

She would solve this mystery, and when she found out who was behind it she would—

Shannon shook her head. The first few notes were kind of silly, but the last note had touched her heart. It exuded a simple honesty that told her the sender was, indeed, serious. It was flattering beyond belief that someone thought so much of her yet was so shy he would resort to this.

For the rest of the day, Shannon buried herself in her work. Over the weekend, she would devise a plan to discover the sender of the notes, as well as figure out what she would say to this person. But for now, she had a payroll deadline to meet.

❧

Todd walked to his car ahead of Shannon, waved at her as they started their engines, and waved again to signal her to go ahead of him. When she was out of the parking lot, Todd shut off his engine and returned to the building.

The only remaining employees at this hour were in the dispatch office and warehouse, and everyone was running around at what was always the busiest time of the day. The drivers were lined up at the bay doors, bringing everything in for distribution to be organized for delivery the next business day. As usual, Friday night was the busiest of all.

He could have danced in with colored spotlights, wearing a clown suit, and whistling Dixie. No one would have given him a second glance. And that was just the way he wanted it.

Todd walked to Shannon’s desk, opened her drawer, dropped in another note, chocolate kiss attached, and left the building.