After Amy took their order and left, awkward silence stretched between Owen and Carly. How could he get tonight back on track? How could he bring out the woman he’d spent the day with? Before he could figure anything out, Carly said, “For someone with no nonprofit experience you did an amazing job today.”
“I took a few business and marketing classes at A&M. For a while, I considered that as a career,” Owen said.
“Why did you decide against it?”
“You have to ask with my family tradition?”
Carly smiled. “Sorry. I forgot, but if anyone gets what that means, it’s me.”
With the family responsibilities she’d carried since her mother died, she understood in a way few others could. “You sure do.”
“You’ve done the family tradition proud.”
“But I need to get back to that job. It’s not only about Dad. I need to finish what Landon and I started.” He paused, but then pushed forward, needing to know. “Now that you’ve worked with me, what do you think my chances are of returning to duty?”
Carly’s forehead wrinkled. She shifted in her chair and cleared her throat making him worry she feared telling him the truth. “You’ve made progress already. That’s a good sign. I think you have a good chance to avoid being discharged, but what if the Army wants you to change jobs?”
He failed to consider that possibility, and now that she’d mentioned it, he wished he could forget the fact. “You mean like a desk job or recruiting?” She nodded and his apprehension increased. “Forget it. I want a job that makes a difference. One that honors Landon and the journey we started together.”
“There are other careers that will do that.”
He hadn’t considered what to do after the military. Like having a family, he believed he had plenty of time to decide. Before the attack, law enforcement or private security would’ve been an option. Unfortunately, those jobs required the same mental and physical skills as the military.
Tired of the conversation and not wanting to discuss other, he said, “What’re you going to do to keep from getting sick before speaking?”
“The program we created should help. But other than that, I don’t know. I’ve taken workshops and read books, but nothing’s helped much. If you have suggestions, I’d love to hear them.”
“What about hiring a full-time fundraiser?” Owen asked.
“I’ve discussed the idea with the board, but hiring more staff increases the operating budget, which requires more consistent funding.”
“The old ‘you need money to make money’ trap.”
Carly nodded. “Exactly, and my board, like most nonprofit ones, hates to spend money until they have twice as much as needed in the bank.”
“What about having a volunteer help?”
She laughed. “It’s hard enough to find someone qualified for the salary we can afford, but for free? Impossible. Think about it. Who likes to spend their days asking people for money?”
Speaking to the retired teachers had energized him. Sharing what he and his buddies had experienced led to the topic of Horses for Heroes being one solution to help vets. Asking for donations proved an easy step from there. “It didn’t seem so bad.”
“Sure, for one afternoon.”
Carly toyed with the stem of her wineglass and explained her and Holly’s frustration developing a building fund proposal to present to the board next week. “They want ideas but discovering something fresh is difficult. Without a new angle, walks and runs have become too common. Plus, their scale is too small for a building fund. Other ideas we’ve considered won’t bring in the kind of money we need either.”
“I have time. I’ll give it some thought.”
A surprised look flashed across her face. “That’s kind of you,” she said as if he were a stranger who’d made the offer simply as polite conversation.
Before he could press her, Caleb and his wife Melissa appeared at their table. “We were heading out but wanted to say hello.”
Lord, did every single man in town have this much trouble when out with a woman? Forcing himself to smile rather than tell his friend to get lost, Owen said, “Good to see you two.”
“You’re still planning on coming bowling next Friday, right?” Caleb asked.
“Cal, I said you could call Owen about that tomorrow,” Melissa said. “We said hello. Now we need to go since they’re on a date.”
Owen braced for the coming storm. Five, four…
