Thankfully, she had no time to track him down and climb him like a tree. Between shooting and production duties, she was spread dangerously thin. If it weren’t for her mother sending a steady stream of leftovers to set with Paige, Cat would be collapsing into bed without dinner most nights.

Her phone vibrated in her back pocket, and she tugged it out. It was Lorinda, her partner for all intents and purposes when it came to the school, she noted with a quick stab of guilt. The woman was as excited about Cat’s plan for a school as she was. Enough so that she’d signed on the dotted line to become the superintendent. She’d shuffled a facilities manager Cat’s way and had taken Cat’s rough research on educational tracks and dug in with both hands. She’d also taken over the grant writing when she’d discovered just how truly awful Cat’s writing style was.

They were almost close enough that they should be choosing a location and now everything was at a standstill while Cat’s time was taken up by Merry.

“Hey, Lorinda. How’s it going?” Cat asked.

“Cat. I have the best, most amazing news. Just incredible. I’m so excited.” Lorinda was not an effusive, excitable person. Only something really big could have her utilizing so many adjectives.

Cat laughed. “What is it?”

“We got the Oppenwick grant.”

Cat gripped her phone hard with her gloved hand. “What did you say? Because it sounds like we got the Oppenwick grant.”

“Three million dollars, Cat. Three freaking million dollars!”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cat screamed jumping up and down ignoring the stares.

“I am not freaking kidding you! They absolutely loved the idea, the curricula, the small business development center. Everything.”

Cat doubled over and was surprised to find tears clouding her eyes. “This is really happening?”

“We are going to educate the hell out of a lot of women,” Lorinda announced.

“Oh my God. We need a location. We need staff. We need students.”

“We need to circulate a summary of the goals and objectives and timelines and then get everyone committed to the project on at least a video, preferably a face-to-face if you can swing it.”

They ran through the list of giant whopping to-dos as a few stray tears worked their way free from Cat’s eyes. It was happening. She was really doing this. This was something that was just hers. It wasn’t the family business. It wasn’t a TV show with her brother. This school was her baby!

“I had an idea on how to choose a location,” Lorinda said, regaining a small semblance of composure.

“What? Tell me. I’m open to anything.”