December 5
It was a cold, dreary, rainy Saturday morning, and Rosalind decided to stay in bed for an extra hour. Her two-cups-of-coffee breakfast was followed by an hour and forty minutes worth of housework. When the rain abruptly ended and the sun made a surprise appearance, Rosalind decided to take advantage of the good weather and go shopping. There were still a few last-minute gifts she needed to buy, and she had nothing to wear to the company Christmas party.
As she'd expected, there was a crowd outside Macy's, ogling the elaborately decorated windows. It was matched in size only by the swarm of shoppers inside the department store. After buying a terrycloth bathrobe and a matching pair of slippers for an aunt in Massachusetts, a Pandora bracelet for her secretary and an Adrianna Papell dress for the Christmas party, Rosalind went to Stella 34 Trattoria on the sixth floor for lunch.
It was still relatively early in the afternoon when she got home, so she put the wrapped presents in the top of her closet and tried on the dress with her favorite pair of heels and a strand of pearls. As she admired the fit of the dress in her full-length mirror, she wondered if her secret admirer would see her in that outfit. Did he work in her building or perhaps even for her company?
That reminds me, she thought. I haven't opened the next drawer in the advent calendar yet.
Rosalind took the evening dress off, hung it on a satin hanger in her closet and then walked into the living room. After searching for a moment, she located the number five drawer and opened it.
"What's this?" she asked herself as she took out a small, round plastic disk.
She turned the button-like object around, examining it from all sides. Finally, it occurred to her what it was: a tiny computer-chip music box, the kind toy manufacturers sewed inside cloth dolls and stuffed toys.
Rosalind gently squeezed the tiny music box between her thumb and index finger, and it played "Love Me Tender." She caught her breath. The old Elvis Presley hit was the first song she and Brett had danced to, one that the two of them would later refer to as "their song."
It has to be a coincidence, she thought. No one could have known about that song except for Brad and me.
