I bite my lip. “Amantha, are you sure? I mean, I totally can, but this is your?—”
Amantha throws an annoyed hand over her shoulder to shut me up. “I’m sure,” she says. “If you’re alright with it, Kendra?”
Kendra graces us with a brisk lip twitch. “I trust your judgment, Amantha. Proceed with Kate taking the photos. But I’ll need rough numbers emailed to me by Friday. And Kate, even though you’ll be taking the photos, you’ll still need to coordinate with Brandon over the list of donor prospects.”
I respond with a begrudging nod.
We turn to leave. Amantha’s gray eyes are bright, her tone animated as she suggests idea after idea. I smile, happy to bask in her energy. She’s been so stressed between wedding planning and exhibition suggestions. We part ways as she reaches her office. She waves Val inside before shutting the door, bursting to tell him everything.
I stall outside the glass wall, smiling as Val lights up right alongside her. I turn to leave right as my phone buzzes with a text coming in from an unknown number.
My stomach jumps into my throat.
I forgot about telling Amantha about H.Y., and a desperate need for my friend tugs me back toward the closed door.
But I can’t get myself to open it.
The enrapture behind the glass is too hard-earned for me to disrupt. Too beautiful for me to drag them both back down with worry. Their wedding deserves to be the shining finish line of their tumultuous journey to find each other.
I’m a big girl. I’ll handle H.Y. on my own.
So I roll my shoulders, turn away, and shut myself in my office. Only then do I dare to open the text.
UNKNOWN: Hey, I hope it’s okay your mom gave me your number. Our first date was a bust, and I’d like to make it up to you. Are you free tomorrow? This is Tanner Evans, by the way.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, but my relief gives way to sharp irritation.
Tanner must be high on glue if he thinks I’d be remotely interested after that nightmare of a first…I can’t even call it a date. Encounter? A life implosion during which my sister got ripped away from me? Fine. I’m being a bit dramatic, but I don’t have the space to think about Tanner Snoozefest Evans right now.
I shake off the thought as I sink onto the nice office chair. Pulling up the list of donors on my computer, I get to work.
An hour later, my email pings with the beginnings of an updated exhibition plan from Amantha. My stomach flip flops with excited nerves.
Amantha is entrusting me with so much. Jobs could depend on this exhibition.Myjob. I cringe just imagining the victory phone call from my parents if I fail. My eyes narrow, and I shove myself out of my chair. I stand tall, all five-foot-four inches of me.
I won’t fail.
And if I can get Julia on board to help with marketing, our new idea might single handedly turn the museum’s luck around. Plus, if Brandon and I can lock down Mr. Winthrop’s donation? Even better.
If I don’t lose my job, my parents won’t be able to say, “I told you so.”
Not about this, anyway.
fourteen
PRESENT DAY
KATE
Ipractically skip through the security gates and across the cobblestone streets to my front door, clutching my bag of groceries. The gates worked perfectly, and that extra level of security is not lost on me.
“Liza!” I call, balancing my heavy grocery bag in one arm and withdrawing my key out of the door. “Liza Guyzaaaa.”
My keys clink into the stone bowl as I close the front door and lock it. Our cushy living room looks warm and inviting. Liza’s latest romance read is bookmarked on the coffee table, and I walk past it to drop the grocery bag on the quartz kitchen countertop.
“I got stuff to make lunchables!” I holler as I withdraw a heavy round of brie, prosciutto, and crackers. Because what is charcuterie if not adult lunchables? In lieu of a juice box, I lift a bottle of Prosecco from the bag.
“Liza! Get your butt out here,” I yell at her closed bedroom door. “We’re celebrating my kick-butt idea I had at work today!”
