13. Gemma #2
Over the course of a week and a half, Bas and I passed each other during the day and sneaked kisses as often as we could.
Once, he led me into the private tasting room in the event center, lifted me onto the table, reached under my skirt to remove my panties, then fucked me senseless.
Another time, he took me up against the wall in the office supply closet.
At night, we’d relive our first time together, alternating between eating, having sex, showering, and sleeping. When I woke each morning, he’d be gone, but each time, he left a sweet note and had coffee ready and waiting for me.
Camille from Salt and Pepper came to Whitmore at the start of the week to go over her section of the main hall with me.
“I’m meeting with each of the teams separately, so I’ll tell you what I told them. The room will be split into three sections, but without dividers of any kind between them. While you have free rein in terms of overall design and menu, I will need to approve it.”
“So, we don’t see the others until we walk in,” she said.
“That’s right.”
She looked at the empty space for a minute. “Denise wants bare tables. No cloth on them at all.”
“She rents linen for a living.”
“I said the same thing to her. She told me that if the woman who rents it says a table looks better without it, I should believe her.” Camille pulled a folder out of her bag.
“We’re calling it the Grove. Oak and manzanita, and flameless lanterns on the floor.
Petal and Vine is putting moss down the middle of the tables, and I’m doing stations instead of a seated service, so people keep moving through it. ”
“What are you serving?”
She handed me the menu, and as I read it, I understood why her brother put her in charge of catering.
“One thing,” she said. “Where’s Bas going to be?”
“Behind the bar. All night.”
Camille set her copy of the floor plan on the table and redrew her stations so that, rather than positioned along the wall, they were in an open run with a straight line of sight to the bar.
“This will keep everyone circulating even if they’re seated in different sections,” she told me.
“Excellent work,” I said, shaking her hand. While I’d wait to see how it all worked out on the night of the event, so far her team was the front-runner.
The other teams walked their sections later in the week, and I stayed out of their way.
One was calling theirs After Dark. Black to the floor, gold chargers, and flowers so dark they were nearly black.
The other was Grand Cru, all white and crystal and mirrors, with silver candelabra down the center of every table.
A few days after that, Izzy and Kick came out with Anais.
After I’d lamented that the invitations had gone out but the RSVPs were coming in slowly, she said she’d see me the following day.
“We’re calling them,” she announced when she walked in with Kick trailing behind her with the baby. “Here’s your list.” She glanced around the space. “Whose office is that?” she asked, pointing.
“Bas’.”
“What about this space?”
“Meeting room.”
“I’ll be in here.”
She directed Kick as to where she wanted the Pack ’n Play. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take her with me?” he asked.
I laughed out loud at the look she gave him.
“Never mind,” he muttered, setting Anais in with her toys. “Got a minute?” he asked.
“Sure.” I motioned him into my office and closed the door. “What’s up?”
“Alex told me she uploaded a bunch of photos from past balls so you could do a slideshow.”
“That’s right.”
“I don’t want to overstep, but if you could use a hand, I’d be happy to put one together. All you need to do is tell me about how long you want it to be.”
“Kick, are you serious? That would be fantastic.”
“Happy to do it, and I had another idea. Since I’ve been going to these things most of my life, if you wanted me to do a short presentation of how it works and the money we’ve raised, I could do that too.”
“You’re a godsend.”
He shrugged. “Here’s the thing about the bachelor auction. Put up numbers, and people hear a fundraiser. Put up faces, and they’ll see a challenge. Add in me telling them what a great party it is, and you’ll have people counting the days until November.”
“Are you sure?”
“Wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t. Here’s the thing, Gemma. I’ve been on that stage. I know what it feels like from up there, and I can get a laugh out of it. Coming from you, it sounds like a pitch. Coming from me, it sounds like that challenge I just mentioned.”
“I was thinking it would be a good idea to give the prospective bachelors in the room some examples for the kinds of dates that have been offered in the past.”
“Done, and the best part of that story is how the money Izzy paid for me got her a husband and kid out of the deal.”
“You’re not done giving me kids,” Izzy shouted through the glass. “Remember I said I wanted a houseful like—”
“My ma.”
She nodded and blew him a kiss.
“God, I love that woman,” I heard him say under his breath.
About an hour into our phone calls, Anais got fussy. Since Izzy was still speaking, I picked her up, which only made her cry harder.
“Here, I’ve got her,” said Bas from behind me.
As soon as the baby saw him, her wails turned into giggles and her pout into a smile.
He took her out of my arms and started talking to her in a voice I’d never once heard out of him.
“What’s all this racket? Come here and tell Uncle Bas all about it.”
When he sat down with his back against my desk and put her on his knees, facing him, the two had a lengthy conversation about whether she planned to be a winemaker or a lawyer and how the hours were better in a law office, but nobody ever brings an attorney a plate of food.
“He’s so good with her,” Izzy said from the doorway. “When she was colicky and Kick and I were at our wit’s ends, we’d call him, and he’d come right over. As soon as she heard his voice, she’d stop crying and reach for him.”
“Wow,” I muttered.
“Right? The guy’s a natural.” She nudged me. “He’s going to make some lucky woman a great husband and an amazing father to the slew of kids the two of you will have.”
I shook my head and chuckled, but the truth was, watching Bas with Anais made my ovaries ache and the alarm on my biological clock blare.