“Semantics, my friend.”
Chapter 8
Once they’d extracted themselves from the puppy room and cleaned off the drool, Kamila and Asha met Tim in the lobby so they could check out the new prom venue he’d sourced. They’d already reserved the space they used last year—the gym in a local community center—but Tim had been grumbling that it wasn’tmemorableenough for weeks.
The venue was very close to the shelter, so they walked there for the tour. It was a former church, and had interesting mid-century modern geometric stained glass, and blond wood floors and walls. Tim oohed and aahed about the vaulted ceiling and natural light. The aesthetic would make for amazing pictures and the raised stage area was big enough for Kamila’s canine freestyle performance, but she worried untrained dogs would pee on the pulpit. After leaving the church, the three of them went to a nearby Japanese/French patisserie to discuss.
“Such a stroke of luck getting that place,” Tim said, stirring lemon into his tea. “The social media team will love it.” Tim was positively giddy about this.
He seemed to forget Kamilawasthe entire social media team. “I don’t know. Could be a lot of work to change everything. The prom is in four weeks.”
“Nonsense. Everything is online—it’s easy to make changes. Raj is giving the shelter the space for free as a donation. And it’s walking distance from the shelter, so people can come after leaving the Dogapalooza.”
“I’ll have to rework the decor plan. What do you think, Asha?”
“The place is stunning. But you two will have the most work if we change the venue now.”
And more work was exactly what Kamila didn’t need. Not now that she was potentially taking on extra work at Emerald.
“Imagine it,” Tim said. “A red carpet down the aisle. Photo booth in that old confessional. We need to let Raj know soon if we want it. I think it’s perfect, so my vote is to change the venue.”
“Fine. I’ll look into what needs to be done to move everything.” She took an angry bite of her matcha croissant, which was irritatingly perfect. She was in a mildly foul mood again now that she wasn’t in contact with puppies anymore. The buttery croissant should have cheered her up, though.
“Oh, Kamila,” Asha said, “did Danielle talk to you about the Dogapalooza fashion show? She wants you to emcee.”
Danielle was one of the other shelter volunteers. “When is that?” Kamila asked.
“Saturday afternoon, I think. I haven’t seen the finalized schedule.”
Kamila blew out a puff of air. People sure loved to volunteer her for things. “Sure. Whatever.”
“Someone’s grumpy today,” Tim said. “Distraught over the departure of your little boy toy?”
“What? No.” Kamila quite honestly hadn’t thought of Ernesto once since he’d left last week. She’d assumed she wouldn’t miss his presence in her life, and thankfully, she’d been right. “He wasn’t a boy toy, and no, that’s not why I’m grumpy. It’s a work thing. I need to learn how to be a boring finance type for that incubator client of Dad’s.”
“What are you talking about?” Tim asked.
Of course, Tim had left the Bollywood party before they’d talked about Anil. She and Asha filled him in on the events that occurred after he left, and on her morning convo with Rohan and Dad.
“So, what’s the problem?” Tim asked. “You’re good at your job. You can help this guy Anil get his business off the ground.”
She sighed. “I’m second-guessing myself. Nonprofit people are apparently…conservative.” Jana was a nonprofit person, and she was uptight. That was like conservative times twenty.
Asha snorted. “I work for a nonprofit. I’m hardly conservative.”
“That’s different,” Kamila said. “You work with animals, not people.”
Asha rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. “What’s his full name?”
“Anil Malek.”
“Wow,” Asha said. “Check out his resume…He’s been involved in some major projects. Sits on some impressive boards, too. Talk about fancy people.”
“Ugh.” Of course. Someone even more perfect than Jana. Why was everyone testing Kamila’s self-worth these days?
“He’s bald! But he’s actually pretty nice to look at.” Asha put her phone in the middle of the table and started a video. It was a fundraising plea for the project. Anil was talking directly into the camera about the inspiration behind it and what he was hoping to accomplish.
And yup, he was kind of hot, even without a single strand of hair on his head. Dark eyes, chiseled jaw, and a wide smile. His dark suit had a conservative cut, and he had the same dignified air as Rohan but with the charming smile and generous look of someone who started a company to help refugees. Kamila liked his face.
