Page 146 of Manhattan Bossholes

“Yes?”

“Hey, girl! It’s Trish Baxter. Well, technically Armitage now,” she said, bubbling with too much enthusiasm. Once a cheerleader, always a cheerleader, apparently. “Long time no chat.”

“Hey, Trish,” I said. I hadn’t spoken to her since high school. She was a year ahead of me, and we hadn’t talked at all since her graduation. I was surprised she even had my number. “Yeah, it’s been a hot minute.”

“I totally had to track your mom down so I could ask her for your number.”

Ah, there it was.

“Anyhoo, I’m obviously calling about the high school reunion. Reaching out to a fellow class prez.”

“Right.” I leaned back against the couch. I’d gotten the notice that our reunion was coming up for those of us who’d graduated fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen years ago. The high school in our tiny New Jersey town was so small someone had decided individual class reunions were a waste of time, so they’d opted to combine reunions for three graduating years at each event. Technically, that meant Aiden and I were in the same reunion group even though I was two years younger than him. “You know I’m not local anymore, right? Or else I would have offered more assistance.”

“Oh, totally,” Trish said. “I get that. You’re living the NYC dream. Trust me, I was happy to take charge of planning. It’s been so fun getting in touch with everyone again.”

Reunion planning was the responsibility of the class presidents from each grouping, but it was usually understood that if one or more of them was local, they’d handle the bulk of the work. “That’s great.” I still didn’t understand the point of her call.

“I’ve honestly sorted out most of the preparations. Like seriously, the work is ninety-nine percent done. ’Cause it’s, like, three weeks away.”

“Trish, I don’t⁠—”

“So get this,” she carried on. “Mattie, my husband, he just won a radio contest this morning!”

“That’s really…wow.”

Jennifer shot me a look, trying not to laugh.

“You know what they’re giving us?” Trish continued. “Two tickets for a three-week Caribbean cruise! We leave in two days. Problem is, we won’t be back until the day of the reunion. And I am so sorry about this. Like I really, really hate to dump this on you. But is there any way you can take over the final preparations for the reunion? Like I said, most of the heavy lifting has been done. All you’d have to do is follow up with the vendors, be on call if there are any problems, and oversee the decoration setup the day before. Just little things like that.”

“Oh,” I said. “Umm…”

“I know what I’m asking, but Mattie and I haven’t had time away together since the kids were born.” The peppy Trish faded a bit, her voice laden with exhaustion. “And I need this, Cora. You have no idea how much.”

Well, what could I say without feeling like a total asshole? “I mean, if it’s all just little things⁠—”

“It is! I swear.”

“Then I guess…” I took a brief pause but couldn’t come up with any way to get out of it. “How can I say no?”

“Great! That’s so great.” Trish whistled with relief. “Really, you are a lifesaver, girl. And everyone is looking forward to the reunion. So many people are coming back for it.”

My mind spun with a thousand thoughts as Trish rattled in my ear. High school. Aiden. The breakup. Organizing the reunion.

“Okay, I should be back by the day of the event,” Trish was saying when I joined reality again. “If not, I might also need you to play greeter and hostess in my absence. But you were always such a people person, that shouldn’t be an issue for you.”

“Right. Sure. Greeter.” I looked around. I should find my notebook and start writing some of these things down…

“I will definitely make this up to you,” Trish said. “Really, Cora. I feel terrible for dumping this on you solo.”

She didn’t sound like she felt all that terrible, but that was probably because she was about to head off to the land of sun decks and tiny umbrella drinks.

“But there really wasn’t anyone else to ask,” Trish said, laughing a bit. “I mean, Aiden’s the other class president from our group, and who the heck knows how to get in touch with a billionaire, right?”

9

AIDEN

“Okay, hear me out⁠—”