6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Walter

The assistants never lasted long. This one was going on quite a record. Not only had he done well working with me, but he was highly sought-after when his three-month evaluation came up. Another accountant—one of the few in the company that had been there longer than me— tried, but failed, to steal him from me.

Apparently Shimmersnap had told HR that he liked working for me. That was a first.

They probably asked if I had bribed him to say it.

Had Shimmersnap decided to leave, I would not have had a choice but to let him go work with another accountant, except Shimmersnap insisted that he stay with me. And so here we were, going on five months, and he was darn near perfect. Incredibly cheery, which I had gotten used to—hell, I even looked forward to it. I thought perhaps Shimmersnap was the closest thing I had to a friend, and somehow—I swore it was magic—he always seemed to anticipate my needs before I even had them.

One day, I spilled coffee on my tie but didn’t have time to swap it out. I arrived at work to find that Shimmersnap had just picked up a little something for me. It was a tie, bland by Shimmersnap standards, but it was practically a marquee billboard for me. I wore it that day but hadn’t worn it since—I didn’t want Shimmersnap to know just how much I liked it.

On another day, I was running late, and my toaster was on the fritz, so I didn’t have my morning bagel. I arrived at work to find that Shimmersnap had brought in bagels for everyone, and he had saved me my favorite.

The man was a treasure.

A sexy minx treasure that I was having a hard time resisting.

It was November now, and it seemed that Shimmersnap’s outfits were getting more and more festive by the day. It started small with a sparkly Christmas-tree tie pin, and then yesterday, he had worn a full Christmas vest that shined so bright I blinked when I saw it. It wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet.

“Good morning, Walter,” Shimmersnap said as he floated into the room. There was no other way to describe how Shimmersnap moved. “Isn’t it beautiful out?”

I snuck a glance out the window where it was pouring rain, and not just rain, but a cold rain, the kind where if the temperature dipped any lower, it would turn to ice.

“Glorious,” I said.

“I thought you’d like it.”

I snuck a glance at him to see if that was a dig toward my relatively sour mood, but it didn’t seem to be. Shimmersnap didn’t quite get sarcasm yet, so I’d cut back on how much I let out.

“I organized the paperwork that you were looking for yesterday, and it is on your desk. I plan on getting started on the other things you handed off, plus we have a new account coming in today. Is there anything else you need?”

With any other assistant, I would just start piling on the work or find something to complain about, but with Shimmersnap, it was nearly impossible.

“I can’t think of anything,” I said. “You’re doing great.”

He smiled broadly, his face lighting up like the Christmas-tree tie pin he still wore.

“That’s fantastic to hear.”

I needed to speak with my boss about making sure Shimmersnap got a raise, potentially a Christmas bonus along with the rest of the senior staff. I had been able to finish out more accounts with him helping me than I ever had before. Our clients loved him. Even when he was delivering bad news, they seemed to accept it better coming from him.

Speak of the devil, my boss knocked on the open door, then stepped inside.

“Walter,” he said.

“Hello.”

Shimmersnap smiled broadly. “Hi, Mr. Drysin, it’s really great to see you.”

Jim laughed. “Most people wouldn’t feel that way when the big boss walks down the hallway, Shimmersnap.”

“Well, that’s just silly. Sounds like those people worry that they’ve done something wrong. Walter and I haven’t done anything wrong. We’re ahead of schedule thanks to Walter’s organization.”

In reality it was due to him, not me, but now wasn’t the time to argue. I’d make sure Robert knew exactly why I was as efficient as I was these days. It was all because of Shimmersnap.

“Well, that might be the case for you, Shimmersnap, but Walter, we’re coming up on the holiday season. Need I remind you that you have obligations?”

I groaned.

Shimmersnap’s brow furrowed. “What sort of obligations?”

“Each team member is required to volunteer at a certain number of events throughout the year. Walter doesn’t enjoy volunteering, and he always puts it off till the very end, which makes no sense to me, because now he’s stuck with all the holiday events. And we all know how Walter feels about the holidays.”

I didn’t have any particularly strong feelings about them, but I let him have his assumptions. Just because I didn’t deck the halls with boughs of holly didn’t mean I was a scrooge.

“Holiday events?” Shimmersnap’s eyes practically sparkled. I swore it was like glitter rained down from the ceiling. It had to have been a trick of my eyes, though.

“It’s not volunteering when it’s mandatory,” I said.

Jim chuckled. “I understand the sentiment, Walter, but it is policy.”

“He does have a point,” Shimmersnap said. “What sort of events are there?”

Jim looked at the clipboard in his hand. “There is a hot chocolate bar at the Christmas Festival...”

“Oh, that sounds amazing! Put us down for that.”

Jim didn’t bother to wait for me to agree. He wrote our names down. And since when did it become our? Shimmersnap wasn’t required to go with me.

“We need someone to shop for Holiday Family Number Three,” Jim continued.

“Oh, put us down for that! I love buying gifts for people, don’t you, Walter?”

I didn’t get a chance to say another thing, because Jim was already writing our names down.

“And last but not least, the Santa event down in the community room. The kids from some of the local schools come out, visit Santa, and get a small gift. We need help with crowd control and keeping the children entertained.”

“Oh, that sounds amazing! Can we do that one?” Shimmersnap asked.

“Walter’s only obligated to do two. But we won’t turn away volunteers. The more the merrier.”

“Oh, but we would love to do three, wouldn’t you, Walter? Put us down,” Shimmersnap said.

I did not get a chance to argue, and Jim didn’t give me a chance to protest either. He just smiled at Shimmersnap.

“Thanks. We appreciate it. I’ll email you guys the details and make sure the events are on your calendar.”

“Thanks. We’re looking forward to it,” Shimmersnap replied.

I was not looking forward to it. I might like Christmas movies, but Christmas in real life was an absolute fucking disaster. Greedy people running around, buying gifts for people they didn’t really care about, buying things they didn’t need, or begging for things from others that they didn’t need. It was not the giving season that I longed for. Plus, it was one more reminder that I was completely and utterly alone.

“This is going to be great, Walter! I am so excited.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell. Why don’t you get excited about work, and we’ll focus on that?” My words came out harsher than I intended. Shimmersnap didn’t even bat an eye.

“I can do both,” Shimmersnap said. He turned and walked away.

I looked at the floor where he had been standing. Glitter covered the area where his feet had been.