Page 55

I shake my head. “Then I’ll deal with it then. For now, I’m happy and excited. Something I haven’t been in a long time.”

“What about Tanya?” she asks.

“What about Tanya?” I mirror her posture, leaning forward so we can have this discussion now.

“Why won’t you give her another chance? You two were inseparable for so long.”

Frustration ebbs in my chest and I shake my head. “Because we’ve both changed, Mom.”

I don’t know why I try to protect Tanya, to make it seem like I’m the one who broke up with her in the first place, but I’m over all this. It’s Monday morning and I need to get work done so I can go home and spend time with Dani. That’s not something I ever thought I’d say, but I like it.

“Well, change is to be expected. Don’t throw away your life for this girl.”

“She’s a woman, Mom. She’s a college graduate and she’s got a career. Don’t keep downplaying that as though I’m dating a leech.”

My mother snaps her mouth shut. “Well, you have dated some of those in the past year.”

There’s another knock on the door and my mother’s assistant pokes her head into the room. “There’s a call for you from the hospital board.”

“Thank you, Chesney.” She turns her focus toward me as she stands up. “We’re not done with this conversation.”

As far as I’m concerned, we are.

I’m falling for Dani, and while the thought scares me because she could stomp on my heart and leave me at any point, there’s something so different about being with her compared to Tanya or any of the other women I’ve dated.

She makes me want to be better.

I know it’s a cheesy sentiment, but if the person I’m with doesn’t inspire change and a hope for the future, then what good is that going to do me?

CHAPTER23

Dani

Welcome to the new week. Everything I’ve planned is starting to implode.

We’re only six days out from the mixer and I get a call from Sharon on my way in that a pipe burst in the convention room where we’d been planning to do the mixer this coming weekend.

“We won’t be able to use it at all,” she says, her voice bordering on hysteria.

I’m not sure why she’s worrying about it. The mixer is my bread and butter, what I’m going to have to prove and show to her and the upper bosses by the end of the summer in order to keep my job.

“Are there any other venues open for Saturday?” I ask, trying to do a mental walk through of the rest of the buildings on campus. There aren’t too many that would be a good fit for the numbers we’re hoping for.

“No, all of them are booked.”

“Maybe I can look outside campus. There’s got to be something open we can use on such short notice.” After all the research I’ve done over the past couple weeks, what is one more search?

“That’s not possible. We need people to come to campus and feel nostalgic. To get them to open their wallets in order to donate to the school.” Sharon’s words are firm, to the point I have to wonder if she’s okay.

Irritation clouds my vision and I don’t think before I say, “Is money really all you care about?”

There is silence for several moments and I want to curl in a ball I feel so bad.

When Sharon speaks, her voice is soft but sharp. “The money donated to the school supports both your job and mine, as well as several others in the department. My child was just diagnosed with kidney failure, Danielle. So yeah, I might be obsessed with making this a success because a lot is riding on it.”

I didn’t think I could feel any smaller than I had a few moments ago and then she hits me with that.

“I’m so, so sorry, Sharon.” I pause, taking in a deep breath before tears fall. “I had no idea. I just thought you hated me.”