Candice's Secret Admirer

Candice looked at the calender, and shook her head. "Why," she mumbled, as she pushed herself away from her desk. "Does Valentine's Day have to fall on a Wednesday." Forcing herself to stand up, she hobbled to the office door, counted to three, and then opened it. Stepping carefully into the hall, she looked in both directions, before turning right, and shuffling toward the break room. Once at the break room door, she took and deep breath, and pushed the door open.

"Hi, Candi," said Greg, who was setting at the table nursing a cup of coffee. "Would you like something hot or cold?"

"I'd like Valentine's Day not to be this coming Wednesday," she opened the refrigerator and removed a bottle of cold, sweet tea. "Unfortunately, Mr. Riker is closing the office because he has a... Uh, love interest."

"You'd rather be working, as well."

"Yes," she sat down at the table, and removed the lid from her tea. "I'm going to be home alone all day. Both of my housemates have hot dates."

"Candi, don't don't have a romantic interest?"

"At my age? In my physical condition?" She shook her head. "Greg, most of the men I meet think they'll end up taking care of me. Besides, there's another reason I wanted to work on Valentine's Day."

"What's that?"

"I know this sounds crazy, but I think there's someone in the office who's got a crush on me."

"What makes you think that?"

"For the past six months, someone has been leaving secret admire gifts on my desk. I was hoping to find out who it was this Valentine's Day, but with no one being in the office. Oh, well," she gave a halfhearted laugh. "What are you're plans for Wednesday?"

"Pretending to go to work," he grinned. "My wife doesn't know the office is closed, so I'll leave the house Wednesday morning, as usual. After that, I haven't decided what I'll be doing." He finished his coffee, got up from the table, and tossed his Styrofoam cup in the trash. "I'll either try to catch my wife with her lover, or go see Star Wars: The Last Jedi."

"The movie sounds safer."

"True, but not as exciting," he winked at her before leaving the room.

Poor Greg, she thought, sipping her tea. His wife doesn't know how lucky she is. She finished her tea, tossed the bottle in the trash, left the room, and returned to her office. A single rose with a note attached hung from the door. The note simply stated: Happy Valentine's Day. From your secret admirer.

Removing the rose from the door, she went into her office. Propped against her computer monitor was a movie ticket for the Wednesday afternoon matinee of The Las Jedi.

Word Count: 462