Chapter 3
chapter three
camilo
“There’s my favorite gala buddy!”
I grinned in response to Ayako’s enthusiastic hello as I walked into the office Monday morning.
When I got to my desk, I noticed a sticky note stuck to one of my desktop monitors. It was from our boss Melissa asking me to come see her as soon as I got in.
Not sure what the unusual request was about, I stopped back at Ayako’s in case she knew. “Hey, Melissa left me a note to go see her as soon as I got in. Do you know what it’s about?”
She smiled big and then lifted a shoulder.
“I don’t know exactly, but she did say it was potentially very good news.”
I perked up at that; I could use some good news first thing Monday morning. “Okay let me go see what’s up.”
I went to the floor above ours to Melissa’s office, and popped my head in. She waved me in as soon as she saw me.
“Hey, Camilo! I’ve got some great news for you. You better sit down though, because this is huge.”
I sat down bemused. “Wow I’ve never seen you this happy, not even when Rita called to tell you she was pregnant.”
She giggled like I’d said something hilarious. “I was too terrified about impending parenthood to be outwardly giddy. This, on the other hand, is literally a miracle.”
“Okay, now you’re just teasing. Tell me.” I said, dying to know what had Melissa so damn happy.
She was smiling so hard I could see her molars. “So, I got a call late Friday afternoon from a private donor who wants to give two million dollars over the next two years to the agency. They want most of it to go to our residential program.”
The room tilted a little and I shook my head, because surely I’d heard wrong. I wasn’t even sure if I could come up with everything we could get done with that amount of money. We could renovate the Harlem shelter fully, and possibly do some updating on the other two safe houses.
I grabbed the edge of her desk and leaned in. “Don’t play with me, Melissa. I haven’t even had coffee yet.”
She giggled again, which made it the second time I’d seen her do it in the five years I’d been at the agency.
“I’m dead serious. The donor is coming today to meet with us.
He said he chose us because we’re a smaller grassroots agency, and we work in areas where there are predominantly immigrants and people of color.
Which is the population he’d like to see benefit from the money.
” I bobbed my head up and down as she talked, so excited I could barely make words.
“He also asked if we worked with LGBT clients. I told him absolutely and that part of our mission was to have the demographics of the clients we worked with well represented within our staff at all levels of the agency. He really loved that.”
She smiled proudly at the last part, as well she should. Melissa fought our board hard to make sure they committed to having a leadership which was as diverse as our clientele. I respected her for it and had benefitted from her efforts.
She smiled at me again. “He was happy to hear you were bilingual as well.”
“Uh, that’s good, I guess.” She stopped then and looked down, clearing her throat.
Fuck.
I knew there had to be a catch. Nothing this good could come with no strings attached.
“Don’t get freaked out.” She did “calm the angry bear” hands as she spoke and I started to get worried. “The donor asked to be loosely involved with the development of the project.”
I had a rant about me not having time to babysit rich people ready, but Melissa held up her hand.
“He’s a busy man and doesn’t need day-to-day involvement.
He just wants periodic meetings and to be kept in the loop.
He’s ready to give us the first million like today, Camilo, especially after I told him about the Harlem site and how much work it needs.
” She gave that last part some emphasis.
“He even asked me to send the proposal we’d written for that last grant opportunity we didn’t get.
He read it over the weekend, and emailed last night saying he was interested in making it happen for us.
That means by next year we could have a fully functioning job placement center and a wellness room on site at the shelter. ”
That last part actually made me a little lightheaded, because those two things had been very improbable wish list items.
“Melissa, there’s got to be a catch.” She shook her head, and the expression on her face was almost as stunned as I felt. This kind of thing just did not happen.
“So far the only thing he’s asked for is that the site named in memory of someone.”
“Oh.” Now I felt like shit because this dude sounded like a really nice rich person.
She pressed on taking advantage of my obviously lowered defenses.
“This is personal for him; he’s not just a millionaire looking for a tax deduction.
I doubt he’ll want to meet more than a couple of times, and probably just in the early stages.
Once things actually get going, I assume email updates will be as much as you’ll need to do. Do you think you can do that?”
I glared at her because for that kind of money, I’d throw in a blow job. How could I say no?
“Of course I can, Melissa. I’ll meet with the guy every week for the next year if he wants. We need that money.”
She nodded, looking relieved and smiled again like she could barely contain whatever it was she was going to say next. This was like a game show… Wait there’s more!
“He also said he’s willing to commit to funding two full-time positions, like forever. He can arrange for an endowment.” This guy was like a nonprofit world unicorn. “He asked that we think about what kind of positions those would be, and to send him a proposal.”
Melissa’s excitement was infectious and it was getting harder and harder to not start gulping the Kool-Aid.
“He’s interested in hearing about things we wish we could have. You know, something we need but can’t get funding for through the usual channels.”
So many thoughts were going through my head. A paid MSW internship? A therapist for the residential programs who would work exclusively with our clients? A housing advocate? The possibilities were literally endless.
“You said he’s coming today? I have to be at the Harlem site this morning, but I can move it around.”
“Will you be back by one?”
“Yes, definitely. I’m walking over there right now. I’ll be back in time.”
“Excellent,” she said, clapping her hands with glee. “I’ll call you when he’s here. This is exciting!”
At this point even my surly ass couldn’t help but be a little giddy. “This is like a dream come true, Melissa. We can do so much with that money.”
She nodded, her face open and happy. “It is a dream come true.” Then her eyes widened like she remembered something. “Oh, I forgot to ask. How did it go Friday?”
Oh god. I thanked the saints for my minimally blushing brown face and nodded tightly. “Good.” I squeaked out. “Very fun.”
“Great, I’m so glad you guys could make it. It would’ve been a shame for the tickets to go to waste.”
“Oh no, we sucked the marrow out of the evening.”
She gave that indulgent laugh she’d use sometimes with me and Ayako. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you two.”
If you only knew how literal I just got with you, boss.
“How are Rita and Theo? All better?”
She nodded a big smile on her face when I mentioned her wife and son. “They’re much better, thanks for asking.”
I nodded and pointed towards the door. “Okay, I’m heading to the shelter. I’ll see you at one.”
As I walked out of her office I realized I never asked her for the donor’s name.
Tom
“Are you fully recovered from Friday, Thomas? Because even I’m still thinking about that guy’s mouth.” I didn’t answer, hurrying to take Priya off the speaker.
I was still thinking about that mouth, too. In fact, I hadn’t been able to get anything about Milo out of my mind all weekend. Remembering how hot it had been with him for those few moments, to succumb to a desire so strong I forgot where and who I was.
“I know what you are up to, Priya Raghunathan,” I said unable to hide the humor in my voice.
Priya had been on a mission to get me to “get out more” for years now, so I was not surprised she was not letting this one go.
“I’m on my way to my meeting and I’m running late.
” I looked out the window of my Rover, still half-thinking about Milo.
Still kicking myself for not asking him for his number.
“Well, if you ask me—”
I did laugh this time interrupting her. “But, I didn’t ask.”
She went on unbothered. “You’re so cute, acting as if I’m not going to tell you what to do regardless. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I thought it was great that you did something a little impulsive, Tom.”
Her tone shifted and I knew we would get into the “you’ve changed” conversation that came up every few months since my divorce. I put my head back on the warm leather headrest and sighed.
“Priya, that was more than a little impulsive. I could’ve really embarrassed myself.”
“So fucking what? You relaxed for once. The way you were looking at him, I hadn’t seen that glint in your eyes since the Boston days.
” She clicked her tongue before she spoke, which I knew meant I was getting a lecture.
“You’ve always been serious and measured, but since things ended with Maxwell, it’s like you’ve been dead set on denying yourself of anything that’s just for you.
I just wanted to tell you how good it was to see you cut loose a bit, that’s all.
Even if you could’ve been arrested for public indecency, I feel like it was totally worth it. ”
I laughed again as my driver reached the Harlem address where I had my next meeting.
“Priya, I gotta go. I’m almost at the New Beginning offices.”
“Oh! I forgot you were going to that. Can’t wait to hear about it this afternoon. See you later.”
“See you later. And Priya?” One thing I’d vowed after that whole mess with my ex was that I would tell the people in my life how grateful I was for them.
“Yes?”
“Thanks.”