Chapter Three
“Right. Jasper said most of the boys agreed to the plan. He’s going to get me a list of names, and then we can make a schedule. The cocky bastard wants to go first, of course.”
Wild horses couldn’t make me confess what I agreed to—or what I got up to with him last night.
“That sounds like him. I only met him yesterday and I can already see he’s not lacking in the confidence department.”
Mimi laughed. “He definitely has a lot of confidence. He’s always been like that. I remember one time in high school, a rumour went around that he’d accepted a bet to get a teacher to go out with him. He made a big show of getting the boys to pay up one day in the lunch break. I’ve never forgotten that.”
How could I forget? That was the day I knew he’d never be interested in me.
“Wow.” Alyssa didn’t have to say anything else.
Getting away with the forbidden had always been a skill Jasper held dear and Mimi shook the memory away as she pulled a writing pad toward her. “Let’s make a list. Have you ever done something like this before?” Alyssa shook her head. “Me neither, but it can’t be that hard. It’s just a matter of making a schedule and getting everyone to do their bit. So, we have our models organised. What else?”
“We’ll have to talk to the printer and get their timeline and requirements. The photographer will need that information.”
“Right. I’ll call Cate tomorrow and ask if she can help us with the photos.”
“I’ll call Penny at the printer. We need costs and a timeline. Anything else?”
“I’d suggest you ask them. We don’t know what we don’t know. I’m hoping Cate will take care of all the styling or at least give me a list of what she’ll need. She has a studio, but she’ll have to tell me if it works for her.”
“How about we start organising contractors for the repairs, too?” Alyssa shuffled a stack of papers on her desk. “I have the costs from the insurer and a list of people who put in quotes. When we know an end date for a calendar, we should be able to work out when we’ll have the cash available.”
“That’s tricky. We need to make a plan to sell those calendars. It’s no use having them delivered only to discover it will take us weeks to ramp up the sales. Whatever happens, though, the hall needs to be ready by the first week in December or we’re toast.”
“Let’s get all the details together and plot them on the whiteboard. We can cross off each thing as it’s completed. I’ve been dying to use those coloured markers we got last month!”
The two women laughed and Mimi caught sight of the clock. Jasper could call at any moment. She’d been on tenterhooks all day at work, wondering when her phone might ring. He’d said he would call late and it was already after nine. It would be kind of pathetic to sit up and wait, though, just in case he remembered.
“Let’s get out of here. How about we have dinner tomorrow night and we can go over the information we have?”
“Sounds good. I can’t wait until this is behind us and we can get back to normal volunteer hours. I talked to some kids outside today and they were asking when they’d be able to come back.”
“I actually sold our first calendar today. A parent called, asking when her kid could come back, which made me laugh. I told her about the fundraiser and she said to count her in, if only to get the hall back and get her some peace!”
“Do you think you’ll be like that when you have kids?” Alyssa shook her head as she asked her question. “I feel like I’d want them around every minute of the day, but that doesn’t seem to be the opinion of people who actually have them.”
“You’re right. Sometimes I wonder if the parents even know where their kids are when they stay here late. More than once I’ve driven a child home because they were going to be walking by themselves.”
“I guess we won’t know until we have our own.”
***
At ten o’clock, Mimi’s phone vibrated on the kitchen bench. She’d just finished feeding the cat and was about to collapse into bed with a good book. When she saw his name pop up on the screen, though, all thoughts of her book disappeared.
“How’s my favourite kisser tonight?” His cheery voice made her smile.
“I don’t know. You should call and ask her. I’m doing fine though, since you’re stuck with me.”
“Ha! Funny, funny—not. You know I meant you. How’s your day been?”
“Actually, we made a tonne of progress on the calendar. Our task list is complete and we’ll start calling around for contractors tomorrow. Thanks for talking the boys into it. It’s made all the difference now that we know we have victims—I mean models.”
“Oh, you’re on fire tonight. Maybe we should have gone on a date, after all. We could have seen a late movie.”
“Don’t let my feistiness trick you. I’m in bed, ready to crash.”
“Oh, great, now I have visions of you in bed. I’ll never get to sleep.”
“Sorry—and sorry to anyone whose fire you’re called out to tomorrow after a sleepless night.”
“I’ll pass on your condolences.”
“That sounds so awful. We shouldn’t joke about things like that. I am tired, though. I think I should go.”
“No problem. Sweet dreams, then.”
“You too. Goodnight, Jasper.”
She hung up and looked at the phone.
I managed to avoid talking about our next date. Go me!
***
Jasper hung up the phone and flopped back onto his couch.
How the fuck did I not get a second date out of that call?