“That’s good news.” Joe nodded. “Can you roll the update immediately?”
“It’s going to take a little time.” Paul sighed. “It’ll be okay; I’ll handle it.”
“Is there a problem?” I looked towards Paul. “You can tell me if there is.”
“I don’t want to complain…” Paul looked away.
“Just say it.” I motioned to him.
“Well, if I’m being honest—rolling out another update is a lot of work for one error. We could just message the person you were matched with and explain what happened—maybe send her a holiday basket as an apology.” He looked at Joe. “Right?”
“That would be a lot easier,” Joe sighed.
“Okay, fine.” I motioned for the phone. “I’ll take care of it. You two have missed enough time with your family tonight.”
“I don’t mind taking care of it for you.” Joe hesitated, but then handed me the phone when I motioned for it again.
“No, if she got matched with me, the least I can do is respond personally.” I slid my finger across the screen.
I’m the last person someone wants to get matched with on Secret Santa Romance. I’m not exactly relationship material anymore…
Chapter Three
Elly
I stared at my phone for a couple of minutes and actually considered clicking on the message I received on the Secret Santa Romance app. Ultimately, I decided against it—a decision that made Starla pout until our sandwiches arrived from Famous Sid’s. There was a part of me that was intrigued, but I quickly reminded myself how impossible a relationship would be. I was too busy with my job. Long hours were pretty common at Thornton Advertising. It was a salary job, and the work had to be done, no matter how much extra time it took. Missing a deadline wasn’t an option, especially for someone as new as me.
“That was really good.” Starla leaned back on the couch and reached for her glass of wine.
“Yeah.” I reached for the bottle of wine to refill my glass. “Crap. We’re almost out.”
“I can’t stay much longer anyway.” She sighed. “School is kicking my butt right now.”
“It’s getting a little late for me too.” I nodded.
“Are you sure I can’t convince you to read that message?” She motioned to my phone.
“Nah, I’m good.” I laughed under my breath. “You convinced me to come to Christmas dinner. You should just quit while you’re ahead.”
“You’re probably right.” She smiled and sipped her wine. “Okay, I’m going to get an Uber.”
“You took an Uber here?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I haven’t driven in this part of the city very much. I was afraid I would get lost—even with GPS.”
“At least you don’t have to drive home drunk.” I shrugged.
Starla’s Uber arrived a few minutes after she requested it through her app. I accompanied her down to the lobby and made sure she made it to the car before I took the elevator back to my floor. Starla’s impromptu visit caught me off guard, but it was nice to hang out with her. It had been a while since I did anything other than go to work and come straight home. I wasn’t looking forward to Christmas dinner with the extended family that I never felt a part of, but I could put in an appearance since she came all the way to my apartment to extend the invitation personally. I just hoped I didn’t end up regretting that decision.
I should probably delete this stupid app before I go to bed.
I stripped off my blouse and bra as soon as I got back to my apartment and put on the pajama top that matched my pants. The wine still had me buzzing a little bit, but I wasn’t drunk. It would have taken the other half of the bottle to put me down for the count. I laid down with my phone in my hand, and the first thing I did was check my work email. It was almost instinctive for me to do that every night before I went to sleep. I didn’t want to miss anything, and if someone sent me something important, I wanted to have some time to think about it—that was a lot better than getting surprised the next morning when I was in a rush to get to the office.
Okay, last thing…
My eyes drifted to the Secret Santa Romance app. I had already staved off Starla’s attempts to get me to look at it, so there was no external pressure. There was no reason for me to feel conflicted about hitting the delete button—but there was an underlying curiosity I couldn’t completely shake. I wasn’t looking for romance, much less one wrapped in holiday cheer; I wondered what kind of guy the app had matched me with. I finally gave into temptation and curiosity. My finger moved from delete and loaded the app. I did feel like I should at least respond to the message I got—just to tell the guy I had no intentions of being his Secret Santa.
Ian… Starla was right; he’s definitely hot.