5
Out of place didn’t evenbeginto describe how Ryan felt about his time at this event so far. If Oscar wasn’t good at these things, then he was an outright disaster, flailing his way through every social interaction.
And he’d lost Oscar, too. One minute he’d been right there, the next he wasgone, and Ryan had no idea where to.
He scanned the crowd for a scruffy mop of dark hair with a little curl to it, trying to remember what color tie Oscar had been wearing. Orange, maybe? He wished now that he’d been paying more attention.
The thing was, he’d spent most of the ride here still reeling from the way Oscar had whistled at him. Not that he was upset by it. Kind of the opposite, actually. Compliments had been few and far-between in Ryan’s life so far.
When he’d first met her, he’d felt ridiculously lucky that a woman like Laura would evenspeakto him, and he’d clung to her from the first moment. She’d never really been big on compliments, though. He’d been quick to complimenther, and she’d been happy to accept them, but it had rarely gone the other way.
Which until more or less an hour ago, Ryan had never exactly noticed. Or at least, if he hadnoticedit, he’d thought that was normal.
Oscar saying he looked good had been flattering, sure, but also asurprise. Ryan couldn’t actually remember ever hearing that before.
Maybe it was just Oscar saying it for the sake of saying it, but… it was hard to deny the little confidence boost it’d given him, the flush of pleasure at having someone else notice he’d put some effort into how he looked.
It had also been confirmation that as he’d begun to expect, Oscar was into guys. Which didn’t really matter one way or another, but seemed like the kind of thing that was worth knowing all the same.
A wave of relief washed over Ryan as hefinallyspotted Oscar in the crowd, cornered by two older women wearing pearls and diamonds. Big donors, Ryan assumed, based on the way Oscar seemed to be desperately trying to keep them interested.
This was what he was here for, wasn’t it? To help. To close deals. To nail down figures and push for donations where Oscar wouldn’t, because he didn’t care about money at all and, Ryan suspected, didn’t reallywantto care about it.
No one at the sanctuary seemed to, and that was why they were on the verge of going broke right now. No one had been taking care of the money side of things.
He hadn’t let on to anyone yet just how bad things were, but he’d have to tell them eventually if he couldn’t turn it around soon. Hopefully, this eveningwouldturn it around, and he’d be able to set up some better money management strategies, and things would be okay.
Taking a deep breath, Ryan steeled himself and picked his way across the room, avoiding elbows and glasses of champagne in what felt like a labyrinth of silk and satin.
“Hey,” Ryan said, his heart swelling as relief flashed in Oscar’s eyes the moment he saw him. “Sorry about that. Got a little lost.”
“What matters is that you’re here now.” Oscar beamed at him. “Let me introduce you to Mrs. Kowalski and Mrs. Lim.”
Kowalski. Ryan paused to search his memory, mentally scanning the pages of donor lists he’d absorbed. Mrs. Kowalski was a big donor, but sporadic—she’d hand out five or ten thousand dollars at a time sometimes, but then nothing for months or even years.
The Lim family were steady donors, moderate tax time donations that stayed approximately the same year to year from more than one family member. Exactly the kind of people they wanted to keep on-side, but probably likely to stay reliable as long as they weren’t horribly offended.
So the one he needed to work on was Mrs. Kowalski, who was obviously less interested in the tax break—not that there was anything wrong with tax breaks—and more interested in random acts of philanthropy. She was more likely to give them the Hail Mary donation they needed right now.
“A pleasure to meet you both,” he said, offering his hand to each woman in turn.
“Oscar said you were pretty, but I didn’t realize how serious he was,” Mrs. Kowalski said.
Ryan bit his lip, the collar of his shirt suddenly itchy as he blushed all over again.
Oscar said he was pretty?
“Oh, uh… thank you,” Ryan stuttered out, unsure what else to say. Oscar’s eyes glittered, and even though Ryan knew the amusement was at his expense, he couldn’t quite be mad.
At least one of them was having a good time.
And hedidlike being called pretty, as it turned out.
“You two make anadorablecouple,” Mrs. Kowalski added.
A rush of blood deafened Ryan for a moment, the words echoing in his head even as his stomach bottomed out. A glance at Oscar hold him that he was equally horrified and confused, which meant he probably hadn’t said that.
Maybe just given the impression by calling Ryan pretty. He might even have said other nice things.
