Secret Admirer Read Free Page B

with her, and for her to do the same. He wanted to be close enough to pray with her. Not the general prayer and praise items he heard at the large Bible study he attended weekly. He wanted to know the things near her heart. And when they had nothing to say, he wanted to be able to enjoy a companionable silence, to be comfortable together without the need for words.
    He wanted to touch her without her cringing, thinking he was going to tickle or jab her. He wanted to hold her the way a man holds a woman, to hold her tight and bury his face in her hair and tell her he loved her and hear she loved him, too.
    He wanted to win her confidence and earn her trust, something he hadn’t done before.
    He needed advice.
    Usually, he asked Craig for help, especially lately. This time, however, he deemed it wise not to talk to Craig about how to get close to his sister. Todd valued his life.
    He went home and prayed for an answer.

Three
    â€œGood morning, Shannon.”
    â€œGood 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.
    â§
    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