Nesto turned to look at me then and smiled. “I actually want your opinion too, Easton. You’ve been in this town your whole life and people trust you. I talked to Harold about it and he wants to do a match giving, or some shit. Whatever we raise that night, he’s going to match it and give the same amount to that place that works with black and Latinx kids teaching them about their rights, the Ithaca Justice Project.”

He lifted a shoulder then and looked back to Patrice. “I’m not worried about people getting pissed and losing business. I just need to do something.”

Patrice dipped his head in agreement with Nesto’s words.

“I think that’s great, Nesto.” I glanced up at Patrice and saw that he was completely focused on me, clearly waiting to hear what I was going to say. “As a matter of fact, I’ll go in on that. Whatever you raise that night, I’ll match the amount for each agency.” I put my hands up, needing to make it clear I didn’t want cookies for this. “I’ll be an anonymous donor. I don’t need to sidle into your event.”

Nesto smiled wide then and sent Patrice a look that was very much in the vein of “I told you so.”

“That’s great, man. Thank you. We’re going to start promoting the event more aggressively since it’s in a couple of weeks.”

He sighed and looked over to Patrice who was still focused on me. “What do you think, P?”

He didn’t hesitate, nodding enthusiastically as he answered Nesto. “I think that’s great, Nes, when local businesses do this type of thing it really gets communities more engaged. OuNYe’s a new place, but it’s already well-respected, and so are you for that matter. Harold Sheridan is a big fish here. People will pay attention to the fact that you’re giving to the Justice Project. I’ll make sure to go in hard on my Twitter account promoting it over the next two weeks.”

He looked over to me and then he did something that had Nesto and me almost dropping our jaws. He walked over and bent down to kiss me. Not just a peck either, he braced himself on the arms of the chair and licked into my mouth.

My heart actually skipped and by the time he pulled back I was lightheaded. “Thanks for offering to help.”

“Of course.” I was breathless, and would’ve gone back for another kiss, but Nesto cleared his throat reminding us he was still there. Patrice and I both turned to find him grinning at us, like we’d just made his entire week.

“Okay, I’m going to go get Jude, since you two seem like you need some privacy,” he teased and made a show of putting a hand over his eyes as he stood up.