Morgan moved to the sofa and opened her laptop; clearly the conversation was over. I didn’t want it to be, and I knew I could push it, and the spat could turn into an all-out fight. I could feel it brewing and knew it would happen eventually, one way or another.
But as I watched her instantly lock into whatever she was doing on her laptop – probably more gala prep, or freelance work – I could tell how overloaded she felt. How one more straw might break her back in two. And as strongly as I felt about the conversation we needed to have, I didn’t want to be that straw. To risk pushing her further away. I could press pause instead.
Chapter37
Morgan
About two-thirds of the way through the most stressful night of my life so far, I finally got a chance to take a deep breath. I pulled myself off the path to lean against the castle wall, narrowly dodging a caterer carrying a tray of champagne. I closed my eyes and tried to focus my breathing, feeling the rough stone on the back of my shoulders. Another niggle popped up telling me it was probably snagging my dress, but the night was over anyway, so I batted it away.
The past four hours had been like playing a logistical game of whack-a-mole; I’d had to deal with everything from last-minute guests to an interpersonal conflict between three members of the string quartet. It seemed two of the violin players were both sleeping with the cellist, and shit was hitting the fan. I’d had to threaten them with withholding the rest of their fee to get them to play nicely, and even then I’d heard what sounded like some competitive violin playing during the silent auction.
But the gala was past the point of no return – the logistics were done, and guests were officially just mingling – and months and months of stress could finally be put behind me.
I’d been told countless times how lovely the event was, both by guests and employees. And looking around at the crumbling castle around me, I had to admit it was definitely an upgrade from last year’s boring hotel ballroom. The bunting and string lights looked genuinely magical zig-zagging across the courtyard formed by the ruined walls, offering a glimpse of what I hoped the Ren Faire would be like. We hadn’t even had to use the marquee or two hundred umbrellas we’d hired, because the rain had held off. I’d have to make sure everything came down in a couple of hours, but whilst there were still guests dancing and drinking, I could pretend that was further off than it was.
Plus, it had been pretty thrilling to see my designs come to life everywhere. I’d been staring at the printed materials for weeks, but seeing the seating chart on the easel and the signs hung from the historic stone walls, I felt a pride that buoyed me all night.
Jack had been my anchor in the storm. Despite how shellshocked I knew he was from finding out about the York job – despite how close we’d come to an actual fall-out the other night – he’d stayed by my side with a cup of tea at the ready since then, and he’d been a quiet shelter for me several times throughout the night.
The cynical part of me did wonder if it was him trying to ingratiate me; to manipulate me into feeling bad about exploring all my options. I could tell from the look in his eyes when I caught him staring at me that there was a lot on his mind, and I didn’t blame him. I’d been thinking a lot about it, too. Still, though, I was grateful for the support, regardless of the motives.
Chloe looked gorgeous, of course, her burgundy strapless gown with a thigh-high slit somehow complementing rather than clashing with her red hair. She looked like Jessica Rabbit, actually. I’d opted for comfort myself – a simple black sheath dress with a shawl, and black flats I could scurry around in easily – but Jack had told me I looked beautiful in it anyway.
For me, the highlight of the night had been Pablo. Lauren had brought some of the dogs to play with the guests, and Pablo had whined for Jack and me the moment he’d spotted us. I’d been able to steal just a couple of minutes with him, especially whilst Lauren was distracted by Chloe putting the moves on her, and though I’d had to take a lint roller to my dress afterwards, it had calmed me enough after managing the dinner service to tackle the silent auction.
The night had been a smashing success from a fundraising perspective. The silent auction alone had met our target, and the call for donations at the end had almost matched the contributions again. Whether Aaron had been conservative in his estimates, or the event had just been that much of a hit, I wasn’t sure; I wanted to think it was the latter, despite how much I’d hated being the one to orchestrate it. On some level, it would make it all feel worth it.
But the bittersweet side of raising so much money was that I knew Simone would be offering me the promotion officially. And just like when she’d first mentioned the possibility, I knew I should be grateful. Jumping for joy, even. But I couldn’t bring myself to feel excited.
“Well done,” Jack said, appearing suddenly beside me, making me jump. The blue light caught his blonde hair, making him look like a fae prince or something. I arched away from the wall so he could wrap his arm around my back, and I leaned my head against his chest as we watched Chloe flirting with Lauren on the other side of the courtyard.
I let my eyes shut for just a moment. I couldn’t wait to get into bed later, especially next to Jack. “Did you have a nice time?”
“Yeah, really nice,” he said, “though I could have done without Chloe’s running commentary about which couples she thought she could break up if she wanted to.”
“I’m glad she waited untilafterthey gave us their money,” I said. “That was kind of her.”
“Speaking of which,” Jack said, shifting against me as he used the hand around my waist to reach into his jacket pocket. “I have a last-minute donation.”
I looked down at the pledge card he’d filled out. The amount line read “£500.00.”
I squinted at him, trying to figure out why he wanted to donate so much. Part of me wondered if he was trying to do what he could to help us hit the goal so that I’d be offered the promotion. I didn’t like that it was my first thought when he was being really generous, but that didn’t change the fact that it felt like a loaded gesture.
“Jack, that’s really unnecessary,” I said, smiling up at him as thankfully as I could. “We brought in almost twice what we expected to. But I really appreciate the sentiment.”
He shook his head. “It’s not for you. Presumably they could always do with a bit more for the animals.”
“Well, yeah, but?—”
“No buts about it,” Jack said. “I can’t adopt one of them, so this is the next best thing. I want to help.”
“Okay…” I said, not sure what to say to convince him to keep his money, and even less sure why I wanted to. He was right; every little bit helped. But after he’d learned about my likely promotion, and about the other jobs I’d applied to, it was hard not to read into it.
“Do you not want me to give the money?” he asked, a slight edge of annoyance in his voice.
“It’s not that,” I said with a sigh. “It just feels really pointed after our conversation on Monday, doesn’t it?”
Jack pulled his arm out from behind me and ran his hand over his face. As if he were the one who felt dead on his feet, not me. “Morgan, not everything is about you, okay?”
