Man, how nice it must have been to trust the people around her enough.
Jane didn’t have that luxury.
Sure, she trusted her team implicitly. But there was also a lot on the line with this event. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if someone was setting her up to fail. She couldn’t think of anyone who she might have wronged. And yet the task before her continued to seem insurmountable.
She groaned as she leaned back against the base of her couch.
Before her, all the information for the next event had been spread out. She had a venue in mind. The Twisted Rivers Ranch was one of the largest in the area. Not only that, but the women who operated it had connections up the wazoo. Jane hadreached out to them earlier today to discuss the possibility of throwing the event on their property.
If that didn’t work, she knew she could fall back on Sagebrush. But with how recent the event they’d done there had taken place, she wanted to mix things up.
The caterer had already been locked down, and the decorator would be flying in from Seattle. Invitations still needed to be approved after they decided on the type of event they would have. The guest list was three times the size of the gala they’d already attended, and folks would be flying in from several states to attend.
She chewed on the end of her pen as her gaze swept over the other items she needed to check off. She needed to pick between a silent auction or a pay by the plate donation setup. This party needed to bring in more than the last event since the funds would be spread out among all the states west of Montana.
Her nerves were getting the better of her. How was she supposed to guarantee that sort of turnout?
A knock on her apartment door startled her, and she tensed. The clock on the mantle read nine o’clock. The only friends she had were Mack and Noah. Her coworkers didn’t know where she lived, and the Reese family only knew because they’d needed it to send the wedding invitation.
Slowly, she rose to her feet. The blinds were drawn, and the only light came from a lamp nearby. Maybe they’d leave if she didn’t answer. They had to have the wrong address. She couldn’t exactly turn off the light without drawing attention to herself, but if she slipped into the back of the apartment, then theywouldn’t be able to catch a glimpse of her through the slats at the window.
Inch by inch, she moved until another knock sounded. “Jane, you home?” Noah’s voice permeated the door, and she stilled.
“Noah?” she called back.
“Yeah, it’s me. Can I come in?”
A smile tugged at her lips unbidden as she moved to the door and pulled it open. They’d been working together every afternoon for a week now. It had to be the most fun she had scooping poop she could think of, and she’d grown up with her share of pet dogs. “What are you doing here?”
He held up two round, paper cartons. “I got some ice cream at the Sweet Everything Bakery. You feel likesplurging?” He wagged his eyebrows, and she laughed.
“You know your way to a girl’s heart, you know that?”
The smile he returned had her heart flipping in her chest.
Naughty heart. We’d discussed not letting us develop feelings for him, remember?
She rolled her eyes and stepped aside to let him enter. Pressing her back against the door to shut it, she watched as he moved farther into her apartment before he placed the cartons on the coffee table with the paperwork. He lifted one of the pages and glanced at her. “How’s the event planning going?”
Jane groaned, moving closer to him and sitting beside him. “There are so many moving parts. I have a checklist a mile long. Did you know that I have to find a company to do coat-check?The security at these things needs to be prioritized because the guests are like worth millions. At least most of them are.”
She wrinkled her brows and shook her head.
“What?” he asked, reaching for one of the cartons and prying the plastic lid from the top. He handed it to her with a plastic spoon before retrieving the next one. “Is something wrong?”
Jane sighed. “It’s just ridiculous that we have to throw these kinds of parties to get people out to donate, don’t you think? If they have the money, and they donate to these things already, then why spend so much on throwing a party?”
He shrugged. “My guess is that these people like to socialize just as much as the next person. I bet a lot of them donate without attending events, too. But when they’re invited, then it’s an excuse for them to dress up and have some fun—get some recognition for helping, you know?”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said around her spoon. “I guess I’m just a little jaded. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate everything they do to help fund these things. I just wish… it was different. But I don’t know how.”
“I get that,” he murmured. “But not everyone who has millions lives that lifestyle, you know? Some of them live in a comfortable three thousand square foot home… with security.” He grinned at her in that adorably obnoxious way.
Jane nudged him with her shoulder. “I don’t know about that. I get the need for security, though. People with that kind of money? They can be targets. There are a lot of bad people out there who wouldn’t think twice about kidnapping a child and demanding ransom.” She frowned at the thought. There were definitely pros and cons to both ends of the financial spectrum.
Noah nudged her. “What are you working on right now?”
She heaved another sigh and placed her ice cream on the table before picking up a page with her ideas scribbled on it. “I need to figure out what sort of event this is going to be. An auction, a performance, or a pay per plate sort of thing. Picking the wrong one could result in not enough money being raised.” She made a face at Noah. “For once, I’m not thrilled about being the decider.”
