Page 39 of The Santa Swap

Tara’s laughter filled the room. “Well, since we have pretty much the exact same view, I’ll let you keep your space. I actually wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have a minute?”

Olivia nodded.

“You saw the breakup, right?”

“Yep. It was rough. Have you seen Susan yet today?”

Tara nodded. “Her eyes are still red and puffy but she’s putting on a brave face.”

“I tried to talk to Luke yesterday but he’s giving me the cold shoulder.” Olivia hadn’t seen him since she left his office the day before.

“Here’s my worry. I was around when Luke and Susan broke up the first time. They handled it with a lot of class, but it still put a damper on the mood of the company.”

Olivia was watering her plants while Tara talked. She turned her aloe vera cactus a quarter turn so a new part of the leaves would be directly in the sun. “What did you do?”

Tara smoothed her skirt. “Honestly, Gary and I were stumped. I mean, they were both our friends and we weren’t sure how to help them, let alone the company. I have an idea though.”

The weight on Olivia’s chest lifted. Tara wasn’t expecting her to fix things herself.

“What did you have in mind?” Olivia asked.

“Well, the Santa photos are coming up next week. What if we do one more activity to help bring in some company cheer? It could distract people from the breakup while Luke and Susan get back to normal.”

Olivia groaned. “Tara, do I have to remind you how much work the last activity was? I’m still finding glitter around my house from all those bins.”

“I know. You were awesome and that party was a hit. I was thinking of something much simpler. What about a secret Santa gift exchange?”

Olivia pushed a pot of flowers to the side and sat on the window sill. “That could be fun. How would we arrange it?”

Tara clasped her hands in front of her chest. “I mean, it’s as simple as putting every name in a hat and having people pull someone, right?”

“True. I think it should be optional to participate though. I know some people really hate gift exchanges.”

“You’re right,” Tara said. “I’ll send out an email asking who wants to be in.”

“You can add my name to the list,” Olivia said.

“Thanks.” Tara stood to leave. “I’ll get the email written. When should the deadline to sign up be?”

Olivia glanced at the clock on her computer monitor. “Some people have already left for the day. Let’s give them until noon tomorrow so they have time to see the email and respond promptly.”

“Good idea. I’ll try to be patient even though I hate waiting for fun activities to begin,” Tara said.

Olivia understood the feeling. “I can print all the names when they come in. Do you want to help me fold the names for the hat?”

Tara smiled. “I’d love to.”

By the next morning, fifty-three people had signed up. It took just a few minutes to send a list of names to the computer and print them out. Then she went to Tara’s office. “Are you ready to help me get things ready?”

Tara nodded. “I can’t believe how many people actually wanted to participate.”

Olivia pulled a chair up to Tara’s desk and they began to work. “You can have half the stack,” she said. She handed the pages to Tara filled with names.

They worked in silence for just a moment before Tara began to speak. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

Olivia’s heart raced. If Tara asked Olivia about Luke, she’d have to come up with something to say. “Go for it.”

Tara looked up from the paper in front of her. “Why did you decide to move to Utah? Was it just for the job?”

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