Secondly, he did ask me to wrap gifts for his family. I also did the shopping for most of them, so he has no idea if the presents I’m wrapping are for him or not.

Since this particular gift is a baby doll and I’m not sure whether or not that will trigger memories of Christmases past for him, I dust off the paper and swiftly cover the box before he sees what it is. Casually affixing tape to the paper seam, I focus on finishing up my task as I answer him. “Actually, yes, but these aren’t the ones you asked me to wrap for your family. These gifts are for the shelter.”

“What shelter?”

“The women’s shelter.” He blinks at me, uncomprehending. “Remember that gala you took me to in September when Stacie had to cancel and you were short a plus-one?”

“Yes,” he answers patiently.

“The organization it was benefitting has a shelter in Harlem for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Remember? That woman we were talking to told us all about it.”

“Did she?” he asks in a tone that tells me he has no memory of any such woman.

I nod as I carefully fold and crease the wrapping paper at the edge of the box closest to me. “Their lives are in transition right now. They can’t afford to buy presents for each other, which I’m sure is so heartbreaking. Anyway, we’ve adopted a few of the families, and we’re making sure every child at the shelter has as lovely a Christmas as they can under the circumstances.”

“Oh, are we?” he asks, cocking that black eyebrow at me, but by now he knows better than to argue with my assertion on something like this.

I nod, slap the last piece of tape on the package, then set the gift aside and stand as gracefully as I can in this tight black pencil skirt. “We’ve paid for their Christmas dinner, too.”

He watches me smooth it down and straighten my green silk top, his gaze lingering on my cleavage for a moment before returning to my face. “How Dickensian of us.”

I flash him a bright smile. “All done for the night?”

He nods. “You didn’t have to stay.”

I usually stay later than everyone else, but not this late. I didn’t notice it was approaching ten o’clock. We’re the only two left in the office. Everyone else went home hours ago.

I open my closet to stash the wrapped gifts and retrieve our coats. “I don’t mind. I had wrapping to do anyway. I picked up a couple of things earlier on my lunch break. Might as well get it done now so I don’t have to do it later.”