Chapter 10
VICTORIA
Isat in my tiny cubicle, surrounded by spreadsheets and donation receipts, trying to make sense of the numbers on my screen.
The auction had been a massive success. We’d raised more than we’d ever dreamed possible.
Betty had actually cried when she saw the final total.
Happy tears, the kind that made all the stress and planning worth it.
My phone rang, interrupting my concentration. I glanced at the screen and saw a number I didn’t recognize.
“Victoria Cavendish.”
“Hi! It’s Chantilly!”
I inwardly groaned. The woman was a lot to handle.
I hated to admit that I completely understood why there had been a fire alarm pulled to get away from her.
I might have been inclined to commit a felony to escape her company as well.
But she was a donor. Our biggest donor and that deserved my time and respect.
“Chantilly. Hi. How are you?”
“I’m amazing! So amazing. That’s actually why I’m calling.” She paused, and I could hear what sounded like wind in the background. And was that a boat horn? “I have some news. Bad news, I guess. Or good news for me, but maybe bad news for you?”
My stomach dropped. “What’s going on?”
“So, I can’t make it to the dinner with Callum this Saturday.”
Relief flooded through me so quickly I almost laughed. “Oh. That’s—I mean, that’s okay. We can reschedule. It doesn’t have to be this weekend.”
“Here’s the thing—I met someone. Like, the someone. We’re like, so in love. It’s crazy. We’ve only been together for a few days, but I just know, you know? And he would be so jealous if I went out with Callum. Like, so jealous. And I’m not actually in town. We’re on our way to Ibiza on his yacht!”
“That’s completely understandable,” I said, trying to keep my voice professional. “Really, it’s not a problem at all. You made your donation, and that’s what matters. The dinner was just a bonus. You don’t actually have to go to dinner.”
“I don’t want to feel like I paid for nothing.”
I hoped she wasn’t going to try and back out of her donation.
There were forms signed. I knew we couldn’t force someone to give us money, but we did try and cover our asses.
It had happened before. Someone gets buyer’s remorse and changes their mind.
They get all the good press from promising to pay and none of the negative press when they back out.
I frowned at my computer screen. “You didn’t pay for nothing. You paid to support sick children and their families. That’s everything. And you are one of our gold donors. You’ll have a plaque and be featured in the press release.”
“I know, but still. I want someone to actually go out to the dinner. And I’ve already decided who.”
I didn’t think there was anything in the rules about that. And it would be funny. Callum had probably already worked out a new escape plan. I hoped she chose someone even more obnoxious than she was—if such a person existed.
“I would need her name,” I said.
“You! You should go with him in my place.”
“Wait, what? No. Absolutely not. I can’t do that.”
“Why not? You were super into him the night of the auction. You kept making me bid higher and higher. I saw the way you were looking at him.”
My face burned. “I was not—that’s not what was happening. I was just helping coordinate the auction.”
“Sure you were.” She giggled. I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle her. “Come on, it’ll be perfect. You go, have a nice dinner, and I don’t have to feel guilty about taking back my donation.”
“I can’t. I work for the charity. It would be completely inappropriate. I’m sure I can find someone who’d be happy to take your place.”
“No.”
I blinked. “No?”
“I’ve already decided it has to be you. That’s my condition.”
“Your condition for what?”
“For keeping my donation.” Her voice was still cheerful, but there was steel underneath it now. “If you don’t want to go with him, I’ll just take back my donation. No big deal.”
I gripped the phone so hard I was surprised it didn’t crack. “You can’t do that.”
“I can, actually. My accountant hasn’t processed it yet. I can just tell him to cancel it. Easy peasy.”
My mind raced. Two hundred thousand dollars was a lot of money and we had already made commitments based on having it. If she pulled it now, we’d be completely screwed.
“Chantilly, please. Be reasonable.”
“I am being reasonable. I’m giving you an easy solution. Just go to dinner with the hot guy. How is that a hardship?”
Because the hot guy was an arrogant, entitled asshole who thought fire alarms were an acceptable way to escape uncomfortable situations. I’d spent the last few days trying not to think about his green eyes and the way his tuxedo had fit him perfectly. I didn’t trust myself anywhere near him.
But I couldn’t say any of that.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Yay! This is so exciting. You’re going to have such a good time. Callum is like, super hot. And rich. You should totally try to lock that down.”
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. “Is there anything else?”
“Nope! That’s it. Bye!”
She hung up before I could respond.
I sat there for a long moment trying to process what just happened. This could not be happening. My revenge plan had come back to bite me in the ass. Now I was going to have to sit across from Callum for an entire dinner.
I dropped my head onto my desk with a thud.
This was karma. This was definitely karma.
I found Betty in her office, buried under a mountain of paperwork that looked like it might actually consume her. She glanced up when I knocked. I must have looked as miserable as I felt because her expression immediately shifted to concern.
“What happened?”
I closed the door behind me and slumped into the chair across from her desk. “Chantilly called.”
“Oh God.” Betty set down her pen. “What did she want?”
“She can’t make it to the dinner with Callum. She met some guy named and they’re sailing to Ibiza on his yacht.”
Betty’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, that was fast. But that’s fine, right? She already made the donation.”
“She wants me to go in her place.”
Betty blinked. “What?”
“She insists I go to dinner with Callum. Says she doesn’t want to donate for nothing.”
Betty leaned back in her chair and ran her hands through her hair. “If she pulls it now…”
“I know.” I felt sick just thinking about it. “That’s why I told her yes.”
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
“I’m not.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
Betty was quiet for a moment, studying me. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared. I’m annoyed.”
“You’re scared,” she repeated. “Because you’re attracted to him and you don’t want to be.”
I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again. She wasn’t wrong. I’d been trying not to think about the fact that he’d actually come to my rescue when Jeff Connors was being a creep. Before I knew it was Callum, the man had been my hero.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m attracted to him,” I said finally. “He’s exactly the kind of person I left behind. Rich, careless, thinks the rules don’t apply to him.”
“Maybe. Or maybe he’s more than that and you’re too stubborn to see it.” Betty stood up and grabbed her purse from the back of her chair. “Either way, you’re going to that dinner.”
“I know.”
“We’re going to find you a killer dress,” she said.
My stomach dropped. “Betty, I don’t want to spend money on a dress to have dinner with a man I can’t stand.”
“Nope. No arguments.” She came around the desk and pulled me to my feet. “If you’re going to do this, you’re going to do it right. We’re going shopping.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You’re going.” She grabbed her keys and started herding me toward the door. “Besides, think of it as practice.”
“Practice for what?”
“For when you meet a guy you actually like. Consider this a dry run. You get to practice conversation, practice being charming, practice not letting someone get under your skin. And you get to look good doing it.”
I let her lead me out to her car, still protesting weakly. “I really don’t think this is necessary.”
“It’s absolutely necessary.” She unlocked the doors and we both got in. “You’ll feel better about the whole thing once you know you’ll be looking good.”
I wanted to argue, but her logic was sound. I didn’t want to feel out of place sitting at a table with Callum Blackwell. The dress I would have worn to a dinner like this had been ruined in Callum’s fire drill. So I actually did need a new dress.
We spent the next three hours going from boutique to boutique. Betty had opinions about everything. Too short. Too conservative. Wrong color. Not enough wow factor.
I tried on what felt like fifty different dresses. Some of them were beautiful but didn’t feel like me. Others felt like me but weren’t quite right for a nice night out. I was starting to get discouraged when the saleswoman at the last boutique brought out a dress that made me stop mid-sentence.
It was a deep purple. A power color. Royal. The dress had a fitted bodice and a flowing skirt that hit just above my knees. It was elegant and sexy, not too revealing.
“Try it on,” Betty urged.
I took the dress into the fitting room, half expecting it to look terrible on me.
But when I zipped it up and looked in the mirror, I barely recognized myself.
It made my boobs look amazing, showing just enough cleavage to tease while hiding some of the extra padding around my mid-section and hips.
I looked sophisticated. Confident. Like someone who could absolutely hold her own across the dinner table from Callum Blackwell.
I stepped out of the fitting room and Betty’s jaw dropped.
“Winner, winner,” she said.
“You think?”
“I know. Trust me, Vic. That dress is perfect.”
I looked at myself in the mirror. She was right. It looked great.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I said quietly. “Sitting across from him for two hours, making small talk, pretending like I don’t want to throw my drink in his face.”
Betty came and stood beside me, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “You can do this. You help families navigate the worst moments of their lives. You can handle one dinner with an arrogant rich guy.”
“What if I say something stupid?”
“Obviously, the world will end.” She chuckled and squeezed my shoulder. “Make the best of it. And remember, it’s two hundred thousand dollars. That’s a hundred thousand dollars an hour for your time.”
I laughed despite myself. “Well, when you put it that way.”
“Exactly.” She grinned at me in the mirror. “Now let’s get you some shoes to go with that dress. If you’re going to do this, you might as well look absolutely killer while you’re doing it.”
I took one more look at myself in the mirror. The woman looking back at me looked ready for anything. Even Callum Blackwell.