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I mean, I know she’s right. They both are. My taste in men is horrible, but it’s because I know they’ll never be as good as the one man I’ve never even had.
“And then he says it would be better if he was the one in my bed.”
Silence.
“Sara?” I ask to see if she’s still there.
“Holy fuck, Natalie. He told you he wanted to sleep with you?”
“Yeah, pretty much! What the hell do I do now?”
“Um… say yes, god yes, please?”
“That’s your advice?” I ask incredulously. I can’t believe she thinks it would be smart to sleep with him. “Sara, he’s the man I’ve been in love with for my whole life. I’m not just going to throw caution to the wind and say, ‘Sure, I’ll sleep with you tonight and then never talk about it again.’”
“Ah, yeah, sorry. I didn’t think about it that way. I was more going for he’s a Greek god, and you could bang him. Okay, I’m focusing on the whole picture now. So, he actually said, ‘I’ll give you one night and nothing else?’”
“Well, sort of. Maybe. He didn’t say that specifically, but we already know he doesn’t date, so why would it be different for me?”
“I mean, I guess, but unless he straight up said it would be for one night only, I wouldn’t assume anything. Did you ask him to clarify?”
“Not exactly. As soon as the doors opened, I bolted out of embarrassment.”
“Fair. Are you going to ask him?”
“Hell no! He probably only said it because we were stuck in an elevator, and I was talking about my bare vagina.”
“Also, fair. I can’t believe this happened to you, Nat.”
“I know. I was freaking the fuck out.”
“I bet! Okay, we need a girl’s night now because everyone’s going to want to hear this story.”
“Ugh, there are times when I wish we weren’t so open with each other.”
Sara just laughs at me. “I have to go. Mrs. Fitz’s poodle is going to be here in a minute, and I need to prepare my hands for the biting.”
We say our goodbyes, and after having told the story, I feel so much better. It still seems far-fetched that the man of my dreams wants me in his bed, but saying it out loud has helped me to calm down. More than likely it was due to being confined to the small space and the topic of conversation. I highly doubt he’ll follow up on the idea.
* * *
Despite the eventsof this morning, I still manage to get back to the library and get some things done. We’ve got two big events coming up, and I’ve got a million things to do to get ready for them. The first, and my personal favorite, is our Christmas fundraiser. We put together a huge gala and silent auction every year. It’s our biggest source of income.
The second event is a spring book drive we utilize for our reading programs. While it doesn’t take quite as much planning as the gala, there’s still a ton of logistics to coordinate.
As the director, all of these tasks fall on me. It can be super overwhelming sometimes, but I love it. I also have help, so between my assistant, Emily, and the volunteers, we somehow manage to get everything done.
“What do our RSVPs look like right now?” I ask Emily. Her light brown hair is pulled up in a high ponytail, and her hazel eyes shine with determination. We’re sitting in my office trying to get our ducks in a row.
“We’re at a sixty percent response rate right now, which is pretty good considering we’re still six weeks out.”
“Fantastic. The caterer needs a final count two weeks before, so let’s schedule a reminder social media blast in a couple of weeks.”
“Got it,” she says, scribbling in her notebook. Emily is twenty-two and fresh out of college. I see a lot of myself in her, which is why we work so well together. She got her degree in English but didn’t have any plans on what she’d do with it. I had the same issue with my degree in business.
She started working here as a volunteer in college, and after she graduated, she asked if she could come on full-time. Since I’d been able to secure funding from the city council for some of our programs, I was able to bring her on full-time. She has been worth every penny.
With her help, we’ve been able to utilize our fundraisers to bring in more money than ever before, which makes her invaluable and a trusted asset to me.
