Page 44 of Dear Rosie

If the kid didn’t sound so awkward, I would wonder if this was a prank, but I’m not really in a position to turn down jobs. Not after putting new brakes on my van last month.

“If I can, I’d love to,” I tell him. “What’s the date of the event?”

“Next Thursday.”

My brows go up. “Like a week from today?”

“I know it’s last minute, but… I’m gonna be honest. My boss sent me an email an hour ago asking if I’d finished planning the picnic. But I didn’t even know there was a picnic.” Panic causes his voice to rise.

“It’s alright.” I try to calm him as I put my phone on speaker and look at my calendar. “Depending on how many people you’re expecting, I can probably make Thursday work.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.” I smile at the sound of his relief.Poor kid.

I spend a few more minutes talking to Blake. Getting the location—some courtyard of an office building in St. Paul. The number of people—he thinks around thirty. And what sort of food they’re looking for—classic summer fare.

I take a gamble and add a five percent upcharge to my usual rate since I’ll be squeezing this between a birthday party the night before and a retirement party the next day, but Blake doesn’t hesitate at the cost.

Corporations usually have money to spare, and his boss deserves a higher fee for putting Blake through all this stress.

“I’ll send you an email with the contract, then we can finalize the menu.”

“Perfect. Thank you so much,” Blake tells me, then ends the call.

Reaching up, I slap my phone onto the island, then grip the counter and try not to groan as I pull myself back up.

Feeling suddenly more positive than I have in a while, I hurry my naked ass back down the hall to find clothes.

I have a menu to work on.

TWENTY-FOUR

NATE

Leaning against the wall next to my office door, I smirk.

I know I should feel bad for putting Blake through the stress of thinking he’s late on a project, but the kid needs to learn how to relax. He was my intern for almost a year before I hired him on as my assistant, but he still walks on eggshells around me.

Maybe I’ve been too easy on him.

Overcoming this difficult situation will be good for him.

Really, it’s a win-win all around.

Blake gains confidence.

Rosie gets a gig.

And I get to see Rosie.

And since Blake was too flustered over the whole company picnic thing, he didn’t question the fact that Rosie’s business card was stapled to the paper with all the details about time and place.

I push off the wall and head back to my desk.

There’s a chance Rosie will look up Catch Tech, the company name. And if she does that, she might click on theWho WeAresection of the website. Which could lead to her reading the name of the owner and CEO.

My name.

---