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Jenni quickly scanned her menu and, settling on something pretty quickly, she responded, “Right now, I’m holding my breath because everything looks fantastic. We are at three hundred guests and that’s far more than we’ve ever had. I’m glad that my boss insisted we book a larger venue. Based on the sponsorships alone we are looking at about twenty-five thousand dollars, and once you add in the ticket prices,silent auction, raffle tickets, and the like, we might clear forty thousand which would be incredible.”
Tory’s eyes widened. “That is incredible. I know what some of the large, really large charities do, and it’s difficult to compete with that, but for your size organization, you can really feel good about things. I know Mr. Prescott will be impressed.” She looked up and seemed to be waiting for Jenni to respond.
At that moment, the server came to take their orders, so Jenni had a slight reprieve, but she again realized that Tory didn’t miss a trick.
Jenni just smiled and said, “Well, that’s important. We always want our sponsors to be pleased. And speaking of that, we really need to discuss your table arrangements. You’ll want the full table of eight that comes with the sponsorship, correct?”
Tory nodded and sipped on her water. “There will be two other VPs and their wives since Mr. Ragland can’t make it, I’ll be there with my boyfriend, and then Mr. Prescott and his plus one.”
Jenni expected that Tory wanted her to ask about the “plus one,” but she held her tongue. The news, however, gave her a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She recovered enough to say, “That’s good to know, Tory. I’m looking forward to meeting your boyfriend. Chase, isn’t it?”
Tory grinned, and Jenni felt she had successfully shifted the conversation away from Caleb for the moment. Tory gushed about Chase’s new job and his apartment and dog for several minutes, so much so, that by the time she’d exhausted those subjects, their food had arrived.
They chatted about inconsequential things, but Jenni couldn’t help but wonder who Caleb would be bringing to the event. It was none of her business, of course. She had turned him down twice, but she wondered anyway.
She was surprised that it hurt.
As they paid their respective bills and turned to go back to their offices, Tory added, “You know, Mr. Prescott says he is really looking forward to this event. He usually doesn’t care much about these kinds of things. He goes to so many.”
Again, she seemed to expect some sort of reply from Jenni, but Jenni just said, “Well, I hope he won’t be disappointed. We all have worked so hard, and of course that includes you. You’ve been a rock star.”
Tory smiled and waved goodbye, leaving Jenni to feel more confused by the moment. So, he’s bringing a plus one, but he’s very excited about the event? Again, she tried to sort out her feelings, but she realized she just couldn’t, so she headed back to the office feeling very out of sorts and unsettled.
Those feelings continued to plague her as the big day approached, and she slowly started to understand that she truly wanted to impress Caleb Prescott.
Chapter Fourteen
By the time that Thursday came, the day of the actual event, she was more excited than ever.
She tried not to dwell on the plus one and rationalized it in every possible way she could. Maybe there was another assistant somewhere, or that classy receptionist in the lobby, who needed to be rewarded for some reason. But Tory said he was excited to attend, and that was all that mattered to her.
She spent the morning and the early afternoon at the venue. Dee finally ordered her to go home and get cleaned up so that she could arrive an hour before things got underway.
“I just want to be sure everything is perfect,” she stressed to Dee, once again counting tables and place settings although the venue staff obviously knew how to count to three hundred.
“I know that, but I need you fresh for this evening. I think we have done everything here we possibly can, and it looks great. Did I mention to you that at the close of the evening I want you to thank the sponsors? That’s an appropriate thing for you to do, and it will really put your face out there for the organization. It’s a small thing but an important one.”
Jenni knew she should thank Dee for the opportunity, which she did, but inwardly, she was less than enthusiastic. She had hoped just to remain on the fringes of everything.
Gala events are great fun for attendees. But staffing one, being responsible for one, is a tremendous amount of work. She’d have to remember to bring an extra pair of shoes so that when she stepped up to the podium, she’d look like the professional she was supposed to be and not the exhausted party planner she felt like. Normally, she’d just wear flats.
Jenni had dithered over what she was going to wear, and she still hadn’t made a decision when she stepped out of the shower. She had thought about a very chic jumpsuit, but at the last minute, she went for the classic little black dress. She’d lost enough weight over the past year that the dress fit her like a glove, and with her grandmother’s pearls and a pair of high black heels, she felt classy and elegant. She would definitely throw in some black slip-ons for that hour before everyone arrived and for clean-up. But for the big event, she would wow them all.
Dee was the first to notice when Jenni walked back into the venue at half past five.
“Well, look at you. You’re like the butterfly that emerged from the cocoon,” Dee exclaimed. “Jenni, you look lovely.”
“Thank you, I guess,” she said as she feigned a sad look. “I didn’t know I’ve been looking like a caterpillar recently.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Dee said. “I’m just pleased to see you getting excited about life. When you first came to us, I honestly wasn’t sure you’d come out of that self-imposed shell you put yourself in. I’m glad I was wrong.”
Jenni hugged her and began the final checklist before the onslaught of guests. There were always people who came a bit early, and she was there to greet them along with Dee, encouraging them to have a glass of champagne and to bid on the silent auction items. Soon, the guests were arriving in droves. Jenni quickly remembered to switch shoes, shoving the flats under her seat, and taking a moment to scan the crowd. She hoped she remembered how to walk in heels.
It was quite a bit later that she saw Tory waving to her and bringing the young man who was obviously Chase to meet her. She and Tory hugged, and they both exclaimed how fabulous the other looked. Chase held onto Tory like a prized possession, and Jenni was sure to tell him how much she enjoyed working with her and how Second Bank was lucky to have her.
“Speaking of the bank,” she said to Tory. “Where are your colleagues?”
“Oh, they’re here somewhere. Probably bidding on things. It’s a thing at the office the day after a gala event. It’s like a competition to see who scored the best item.” Tory paused for a moment and then said in a rush, “Um, Mr. Prescott isn’t here yet. He’ll probably get here late. He got hung up with something, he didn’t say what. I just got a text from him.”
