Page 7 of Forget Me

Oh, wow. I’d forgotten that the original venue, a hotel, had included catering from the onsite restaurant. The donors expected fancy food for two thousand dollars a plate.

“It’s going to be a blast. You’ll see, Mimi.” Jackson wedged a corner of a napkin into a crevice of my laptop. “The planning committee needs to be out front to represent the foundation. I’m good, but I can’t do it all.” He flashed us a dazzling smile, and if I’d had any cash in my wallet, I’d have whipped it out and given it to him. For the kids.

“Parties aren’t really my thing.” I almost wished I’d opted out of last night’s party. Then my head wouldn’t pound like Larissa had beaten it with my dead laptop.

Jackson leaned forward. “But my parties are everyone’s scene. Right, Nat?”

She rolled her eyes. “Hardly. I’ll make sure you feel comfortable at this gala, Mimi. Promise.” And her smile was so kind I nodded.

I’d always preferred the planning and behind-the-scenes work to actually attending events. At parties, I hung awkwardly at the fringes. Not like Mateo, who was always at the center of the action.

Plus, what was I going to wear? Ugh, clothes were even worse than parties. I’d worry about that later. First, I needed to focus on why I was at the meeting. “I’ll draw up a revised budget with the new venue. You’ll get me the invoices, Larissa?”

Larissa waved her elegantly pale hand. “Jackson’s paying for it out of pocket. You don’t need invoices.”

“But”—I cocked my head at Jackson—“you’ll be writing off the expenses on your taxes. Surely you want to track them?”

“Well, I…” He shrugged and shot a quick glance at Larissa. “Larissa said she’d take care of it.”

I widened my eyes to keep from rolling them. Larissa lost half the receipts before she got them to me. If she tried to take care of anything to do with money, she’d be sure to screw it up and then ask me to fix it. “I’ll help her.”

But Larissa didn’t look like she appreciated the help. She pursed her lips again. “Really, I—”

“Hey!” Jackson cut in. “Speaking of help, what about promoting Mimi to that open assistant director position? Her financial skills are a good complement to your nonprofit experience.”

My skin buzzed, and my breath stuttered in my chest. There was an available paid position at the foundation? One Jackson Jones thought I was qualified for? Assistant director sounded like a lot. And I’d hardly call it a promotion since I was currently an unpaid volunteer, but I wasn’t about to contradict the guy in charge.

Larissa smiled, but it didn’t reach her cool blue eyes. “I thought you said I could select the candidate.”

“Oh.” Jackson shifted in his chair. “Yeah, of course.”

The buzz on my skin turned to painful tingles. Sometimes it felt like the thing Larissa liked best about me was that my labor was free. This morning’s presentation fiasco hadn’t raised my value in her eyes.

“I’m looking for someone with nonprofit experience. Though I suppose I could consider Miriam.”

Mom’s voice sounded in my head.Speak up for yourself. Ask for what you want.“I’d love that. I’ve already done a ton of research—”

“We’ll talk about it later.” She didn’t look at me, but her smile for Jackson was lemonade-sweet. “Thanks for the idea.”

“Have we covered everything?” Jackson asked. “Nat and I need to pick up Alicia and the kids for the family brunch.”

Larissa scanned her paper. “That’s all that was on my list. We’ll meet again in a couple of weeks, after the holidays. Natalie, if you’ll send me your ideas for the gala with projected costs, I’ll send it to Miriam for tracking.”

“I will.” Natalie stood and brushed the wrinkles from her dress. “Mimi, I’m looking forward to working on the gala with you. Happy holidays.”

“Happy holidays,” I said, even though Hanukkah had been over for weeks. “I’m looking forward to it, too.” It sounded like a lot of extra volunteer work, but if I did well, Jackson and his sister would notice. Larissa wouldn’t have a choice but to consider me for the assistant director position. I could finally get paid for my work at the foundation, quit my job at Synergy, and have some free time. Maybe I’d even humor Bree and find time to date.

Jackson handed back my laptop and the battery. “Leave it out of the case for a few more hours, put the battery back in, and give it a try.”

“Thanks.” I tried to infuse the word with my full gratitude, not only for the laptop help but for speaking up for me about the assistant director position.

He winked and turned to escort Natalie out of the café.

Larissa hit me with a steely glare she must have been holding in for the last hour.

“Look, I’m really sorry,” I began.

She checked that the Joneses had exited the building. In a frosty voice, she said, “If you want to be considered for the assistant director role, you have to up your game, Miriam. Humiliate me again, and I’ll have to let you go.”

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