“Sounds perfect.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and forward her the phone numbers before I forget. “Done!”

“You’re the best.” She tucks the clipboard with the checklist I emailed to her yesterday under her arm. “I’m just putting it out there: We’ve been thinking about hiring an in-house event planner. I know you have a job, but if you ever consider a career change, the job is yours.”

I file that offer in the back of my mind. “Just wait a couple months and I might take you up on the offer.”

“I’m serious,” she says. “You’re really talented at this, both visually and with the numbers. We’d be lucky to have you.”

I decide to let her think I wasn’t being serious when I told her to wait a couple of months. Nobody needs my heavy baggage laid on them on a Saturday. And despite really not wanting to care about this event anymore, I’m secretly really excited for it.

It has nothing at all to do with Quinton, but I wasn’t lying when I told him I’m a details girl. And big events like this are comprised of nothing but details. From the napkins to the color scheme to the guest list to the budget, no detail is too small.

After my dad passed, I was able to distract from the pain by throwing myself into planning his funeral. And it worked so well that I haven’t really stopped. I guess you could say busywork has become my coping mechanism. Because ignoring the problem completely instead of facing it head on has never backfired on anyone in the history of humanity.

“I appreciate you saying that, really.” Especially since I’m not sure Quinton is actually aware of how much work I’ve put into this event. We spend the majority of our time together focused on the foundation itself. I only ask him questions for the launch when I really need to.

“Appreciate what?” Quinton, the stealthy fucker, says from right behind me.

“Nothing.” I plaster on my professional “the person who just became a potential job lead is watching” smile and turn to face him. “Are you ready for the launch?”

“I am.” He looks around the empty venue and an almost wistful look crosses his face.

“I think this is going to be one of the best events we’ve ever hosted. Elle really did a great job picking all of the vendors,” Jen cuts in. “And I know this is to launch your new foundation, so what exactly is your foundation about?”

Quinton looks to me for permission to answer. I told him in no uncertain terms he was not allowed to discuss his foundation with anyone. I mean, what’s the point of a reveal if everyone already knows what it is? But I’m still kind of shocked he’s listened to anything I’ve told him.