Anonymously Yours

As the Christmas season approaches, so does the company’s annual Secret Santa that Ms. Evelynn Palmer has been dreading for so long. With her lack of connection to most of her colleagues, she has never been the best gift giver. However, because Secret Santa is anonymous, this gives her space to breathe as she ponders who will be her next horrid gift recipient. Last year it was her worst enemy, Amanda Sawyers, which worked out perfectly as Amanda ended up receiving a holiday candle and a few pencils from “yours truly.”  
Today was the day of the fretted name drawing, and as she and her colleagues crowded around the hat of names, Evelynn closed her eyes and hoped for someone she truly knew, like her best friend Marcy. However, as she grabbed a piece of paper from the hat, she instantly felt that something was wrong. As she slowly opened the fate-determining scrap, her eyes widened. It read, “Jackson,” as in, her ex-best friend, Jackson Graves, who Evelynn has known since her childhood and long ago had stopped being friends. As she pondered ideas, she silently groaned at the notion of having to choose a thoughtful gift for him. 
After consulting Marcy about her dilemma, she finally decided on a snowglobe based on his favorite movie and a box of Rolos, which she remembered he liked when they were kids. Putting the presents into a bag and signing it, “from your secret Santa,” Evelynn sighed, reminiscing about their childhood memories before life had become complicated. 
She and Jackson had been like two peas in a pod, always sticking together from the moment they met at the beach. As they grew older, Evelynn even started to catch feelings for him. However, as they entered high school, Jackson slowly started to drift apart from her and became the quarterback for their football team, skyrocketing his popularity and leaving her in the dust. As heartbroken as she was, she accepted that she would have to move on. After high school, they went to separate colleges and hadn’t contacted each other for years when they ended up joining the same corporation.
The day of the gift exchange came by quickly, and Evelynn was trembling with anticipation. She arrived at work extra early, looked to make sure there was no one around, and slipped the gift onto Jackson’s desk. Exhaling a deep breath, she went to the bathroom to refresh her mind.
When she came back, she was surprised to see a package on her desk, signed, “anonymously yours.” Feeling her face flushing, she gently picked up the package and slowly unwrapped it. Inside lay a CD of “The Polar Express,” her favorite Christmas movie when she was a child, and a scarf in her favorite color, lavender. She glanced around and saw Jackson staring right at her. He quickly blushed and looked away, and although she wasn’t sure, Evelynn had a gut feeling that he had given her the gift. 
Knowing that this was a chance for reconciliation, she put her pride aside and walked up to him, tapping on his shoulder. Handing him the CD, she nervously said, “If I’m right, you’re my secret santa. So I’m hoping I’m right when I ask you if you maybe want to watch this with me this weekend?” Closing her eyes and bracing herself for the worst, she was surprised when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a voice that she had grown to deeply miss. “You are right, Evelynn, and I would love to. I’m so glad you asked. You were my secret santa too, weren’t you? Only you would know to get me a Paddington themed snow globe.” Jackson joked. Evelynn laughed softly, a faint blush tainting her cheeks. As they finalized their plans together, their coworkers watched from around the corner, silently applauding themselves on the success of their scheme to unite the two lovers together at last.