You Belong to Me – 6

 

 

“Corey, someone dropped this off for you,” Mr. Zimmer, the manager of the shelter, said when Corey came in to work New Year’s Day. He handed Corey a small, gaily wrapped Christmas package with his name printed on the tag.

 

“A gift from your secret Santa?” Archie, one of the other men who worked at the shelter, asked with a grin. “Is she blonde and beautiful?”

 

Corey chuckled. “If she’s secret, how would I know?” He balanced it in his hands, wondering who had left it. And why here and not at my place?

 

“Well, are you going to open it?” Silas, a part-time employee, asked, watching Corey in anticipation.

 

Instead of replying, Corey asked Mr. Zimmer if he’d seen the person who left the package.

 

“No. It was on the front counter when I got here this morning. I figured I’d better put it somewhere safe until you showed up.”

 

“Very strange.” Corey hesitated, hoping whatever was inside was innocuous enough it wouldn’t give the men standing around any ideas. Biting the bullet, he tore off the wrappings to reveal a jeweler’s box. He opened it, and found it contained a simple, black-faced watch with gold hands and a gold-and-silver band.

 

“Nice,” Archie commented. “Very you. Who’s it from?”

 

“I have no clue,” Corey replied. Whoever it was, he knew they must have money to burn. The day after he’d returned from his Christmas vacation, he’d seen the same watch in one of the high-end jewelry stores at an upscale mall, and he’d immediately lusted after it. But at over a thousand dollars, he could never have afforded it. Now someone had fulfilled his wish. But who? Who knew I wanted this? I never told anyone. He quickly closed the box.

 

“Aren’t you going to wear it?” Mr. Zimmer asked in surprise.

 

“Maybe on a special occasion,” Corey said quickly. “Around here I’ll stick with my very utilitarian one.”

 

“Probably a wise idea,” Mr. Zimmer agreed. “No sense tempting anyone to ‘borrow’ it.”

 

‘Borrow’ was his euphemism for the occasional thefts that happened at the shelter.

 

Corey nodded, shoving the box into his jacket pocket. A few moments later he hung the jacket in his locker, snapped the padlock closed, and then got down to work. But he couldn’t stop wondering who had given him the watch, and why he—or she—hadn’t put their name on the gift card.