Page 35 of The Fake Husband Deal

I stopped by my usual coffee shop to grab coffee for the weekly Monday meeting with my brothers. I didn’t know when we’d fallen into this routine, but the bastards hadn’t bought a coffee in months.

Maybe I’d ask the barista to make theirs extra weak, or worse, swap it for tea.

As I walked in, I saw West, one of the founders of the Star Finders Youth Network. He smiled as I joined the line with him.

“Hey, Noah. So great to see you. The kids missed you on Saturday.”

“Hey, West. Sorry, I was at a conference in Atlanta this weekend, but I’ll be there on Saturday.”

West held his to-go coffee in both hands. “Sorry to bother you, but since I caught you, do you have a few minutes?”

I checked my watch. “Sure. What’s up?”

“It’s about Star Finders.”

We left the line and took up a table. At this time in the morning, most orders were to go, so there were a lot of empty tables.

West looked a little dejected. I didn’t know him well, only through Star Finders, which he’d started with his foster brother, Drew.

“You work in PR, right?”

“Right.”

“Um, I’m not sure how much it would cost to hire you, but we need help. Drew and I have been waiting months for the mayor to release the lease on the old hospital building.”

“Yeah, Drew mentioned you’re planning to open a shelter slash welcome center for foster kids and kids from low-income backgrounds. That building would be amazing.”

“It’s big enough to add rooms for anyone needing shelter, it has a cafeteria, we could host events, and there’s a huge parking lot we could partly use for sports.”

“I bet it would save you a lot of money from renting the basketball courts at the park.”

West nodded. “You can see why we want it.”

“Absolutely. What’s the problem?”

“The mayor stipulated that the new leaseholders also need to make a donation to the local community to improve their public spaces. They want fifty grand, which is a lot of money for us but peanuts to the large corporations that have already placed bids on the space.”

“Shit, man. I’m so sorry.” I stood and paced the space between our table and the window. “Okay, let’s think about this…we can run a campaign in the local community. Tell themyour plans and how they can be included. After all, you're welcoming kids from the area who might not have anywhere else to hang out, especially low-income families.”

“Absolutely. That area has a lot of low-income families. We want to prevent kids from going into the system by supporting the families and the community.”

My phone buzzed with a message, making me jump.

Adam

You’re late. There better be muffins.

“Shit. West, I gotta go, but let me think it through.”

He nodded. “Thank you. Um…I hate to ask, but how much do you think this will cost us?”

“Fucking nothing, West. I can’t take money from you.”

He looked so relieved his eyes went all red. “You’re unbelievable, Noah. Thank you so much. And now you made me cry.”

West had a heart of gold and wore it on his sleeve. It was such a shame Drew was completely blind to it.

I grabbed the coffee and three muffins and practically ran to the office. Okay, so I wouldn’t mess with my brothers today because Iwaslate.