A Heart to Trust, A.L. Brooks [speed reading book TXT] 📗

lovely welcome.” More cheers and hoots. “Oh, hush now.”

The audience laughed, and Olivia hoped Broderick, Philip, and Mallory had made sure to watch the show from the very start so they could all witness Katherine having the room eating out of the palm of her hand.

A few minutes later, after all her introductions and explanations of the evening’s structure were complete, Katherine introduced the first model. “He needs no more introduction than his name,” she said with an extravagant opening of her arms.

Olivia snorted to herself. She knew very well Katherine had no idea who half the models were, not being a sports fan at all, but she had to give her mother-in-law credit—she was certainly faking it well.

“Please give a big welcome to Chad Bauer!” Katherine cried.

Bauer entered the stage from Olivia’s side.

She held open the heavy curtain for him and was rewarded with a cheesy wink. She nearly tutted but decided to ignore the hulking quarterback, then watched with grudging admiration as he strode down the runway as if he did it every week.

The audience went wild as he threw up his arms and encouraged them to cheer more, all the while strutting his way down the illuminated runway like a peacock in heat. It was over-the-top but absolutely perfect, and pride swept over Olivia at what they’d made happen. At what Jenny had made happen.

She risked a glance over to the other side of the stage and her breath caught in her throat.

Jenny clutched at the curtain on her side of the stage, hidden from most people’s view. Her expression said it all—pure joy lit up her features. She was so caught up in what was happening, she nearly missed her cue to step aside for their second model, the golfer, Kyle Copeland. He laughed good-naturedly as she nearly tripped him up by stepping back too quickly. Jenny slapped her forehead as she ducked back behind the curtain.

Olivia wished she could go to her. Wished she could tell her how fantastic this whole thing was, because of her, but knew that wasn’t an option. Not so soon after what had happened backstage. Maybe later. When it’s all over. Except she knew the temptation to hug Jenny would be too strong—as would the temptation to kiss her again. No, I need more time. A little distance between us again. I’ll tell her one day.

Jenny slumped onto the edge of the stage, groaning in relief as her tired feet didn’t have to support her weight any longer. She leaned back on her hands and stretched out her legs. Jeez, how long has this day been? Still, it was done now. Although her adrenaline was on the decline, she was still pretty buzzed from all that had transpired.

“Did you see how much we raised?” Maxwell asked as he took a seat next to her.

“No, did you?”

He shook his head. “Not officially, but someone backstage said 2.5 million.”

Jenny sat up straight. “For real?”

“I think we’ll find out for sure on Monday. Your idea was excellent. I’m sure it raised much more than if we had used the original plan.” He tapped his chin. “I wonder if there is any way to calculate that? Some forecast analysis, perhaps. If I could get the original data the marketing team was basing their calculations on…” He pulled out his phone and tapped a few keys in a notes app.

Jenny patted his back. “Don’t ever change, man.”

Maxwell blinked. “Huh?”

“Hey, you two, you can take off.” Derek smiled down at them. “Good job all around, but the rest of the cleanup will be done by the hotel’s staff.” He looked at Jenny. “Nice work. We’ll have the final numbers by end of Monday, but it looks very good.”

“Thanks, I’m pleased to hear it.” She stood, bone-weary, and glanced around the mostly empty room.

Chrissy talked to someone on the far side, but there was no sign of Olivia.

The event starting so soon after their moment backstage had done Jenny a huge favor—she hadn’t thought about Olivia and her lips more than maybe eight times in the whole evening. But now, though she was exhausted, she wanted to find Olivia, talk about what had happened and what it meant. She said a quick goodbye to Maxwell, then wandered around the room.

Chrissy waved at her, then motioned she was leaving.

Jenny returned the wave and mouthed a goodbye, thankful Chrissy didn’t want to linger. She still had strong feelings about her colleague’s behavior toward Olivia and didn’t need a confrontation to finish off her day.

She made her way to backstage, wondering if Olivia was helping with tidying the greenroom. The room was empty as were the dressing rooms.

One of the technicians wandered by, a guy she’d worked with a few times during the day. “Hey, Dixon, have you seen Olivia?”

He shook his head. “You just missed her. She and the host lady got a cab together.”

Jenny’s heart sank. “Ah, okay. Thanks.”

She left without saying goodbye. Jenny guessed she shouldn’t be surprised, but it still caused a little jab of pain in her chest. She made her way to the small room where they’d all stored their jackets and bags, retrieved hers, and made her way out the back door to the alley that ran up to the street. It was freezing out, and she turned up her collar as she walked to the subway.

Do I call her? Message her? Or take the hint and leave her alone?

The latter didn’t feel right at all. Sure, stepping back and pretending nothing had happened would be sensible. But not after a kiss like that. A kiss that said so much, even as it left her more confused than she’d ever felt in her life.

She boarded the subway carriage and found a seat. After a moment to gather her thoughts, she pulled out her phone and tapped a quick message. She might not get an answer. She might not like the answer she got if she did get one. But doing nothing,