Rebecca gave me a pleasant but tight-lipped smile. “On the record, it is. We’ll talk soon then. Have a good night.”
“You too.” I walked her to the door, let her out of my office, and closed it behind her.
I settled back into my chair behind my desk and spun to face the windows. In the distance, little white dots marked sailboats on the Puget Sound. A restlessness that had been burning inside me before the interview returned, and I knew there was only one way to silence it.
I needed to talk to Kayla.
Somehow, I had to make things better between us. I hated the thought of moving forward with Good Fellow’s but not with Kayla. Somehow, there had to be something I could do to repair the damage I’d done.
We had to talk openly, and the only way to do that was in person. I fetched my coat from the back of my office door and left, hoping to find Kayla at her Good Fellow’s head office.
Chapter 24
Kayla
Lisa frowned at the water cooler as it bubbled and burped while spitting water into a biodegradable six-ounce cup.
“You really need to get some upgrades done, Kayla.” She straightened up when her cup was full and drained the contents in three sips. She tossed the cup in the garbage can beside the cooler and frowned when I arched a skeptical eyebrow at her. “What?”
“Those are compostable. I buy them for a reason. They go in the green bin.”
Lisa looked down at the garbage can. “It’s a cup.”
“It’s a biodegradable cup,” I said. “The whole point is that it cuts back on waste and plastics. Please put it in the green bin.”
Muttering to herself, Lisa bent over, retrieved the cup, and dropped it in the green bin beside the garbage can. “Better?”
“Yes, thank you.”
She wiped her hands on her jeans. Today, Lisa was wearing a pair of dark-washed bell bottoms and red pointed-toe heels. Her black blouse was tucked into the jeans and part of me really envied her outfit. I would never know what it was like to rock an ensemble like that. The nicest thing I’d ever worn was the silk dress I wore to the gala, and that had been Lisa’s. I didn’t own anything glamorous enough to wear to a gala, so I’d had to ask her to borrow something.
At first, she’d tried to get me into a royal-blue fitted bodice with a full skirt. It seemed ludicrous to me and reminded me of a prom dress. There was no way as a grown-ass woman and the director of a successful non-profit that I was going to show up to a function in a dress made for eighteen-year-olds.
Lisa rested her elbow on top of the water cooler and her temple in her palm. “So we knocked it out of the park with the gala, huh?”
“We?”
“You and Lukas,” she conceded with a knowing smile. “Sorry, sorry, I’m not trying to steal credit. But it went off without a hitch and you pulled in just over three hundred grand. That’s wild! You must be proud of yourself.”
“It’s a good feeling for sure.”
“And just think,” Lisa said as she moved over to my desk and sat down in one of my chairs. “This will raise the company’s profile among other tech companies in Seattle. Maybe it’ll even engage a little competition. Competition always means good things for charities. Who doesn’t want a bunch of people throwing money their way in the name of friendly one-upmanship?”
“It’s beneficial for sure.”
I was lying through my teeth. Yes, I was pleased about the amount of money we’d raised at the gala, but I wasn’t all that pleased with the results of the fundraiser. Sure, the money was going to make a positive and necessary impact in a lot of people’s lives, but the engagement with the attendees at the gala was low. In translation, all that meant was they didn’t really care what charities they were donating to or what the cause of said charities were. About sixty percent of the people in attendance only showed up because it gave them something to do that night.
To add salt to the wound, I couldn’t help but feel a little bitter toward Lukas, who’d insisted we host this gala and then ended up being equally if not more disappointed by it than I was. And I’d put in some serious work to pull it off. I’d skipped meals, missed shifts at the soup kitchen, and holed up in my office for an extra three hours a day to make that night happen.
“What do you think we should tackle next?” Lisa asked.
“Next?”
She nodded earnestly. “Yes. What, did you think we were going to stop there? I don’t think so. Lukas needs all the help he can get, and even though the gala was fruitful, it’s not exactly the best form of PR. We need more hands-on and engaging activities for him to throw himself into. Like the orchard. So tell me, what are some of your ideas?”
My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth. I tried to speak, but all that came out was a muffled sound.
Lisa opened her purse and rummaged around. She paused to look up at me. “Pardon?”
I cleared my throat. “I don’t know what’s next.”
Admittedly, I was afraid to spend any more time like that with Lukas. Time with him was what had gotten me in hot water in the first place. How was I supposed to keep my guard up if I kept getting thrown into situations like the orchard? That was the nail in the coffin for me. Seeing him with Angelica had softened the frost around his heart and torn down the walls I’d built around my own.
And now Lisa wanted me to do more of that?
Lisa found a tube of lip gloss, unscrewed the cap, and swiped it on her
