Page 97 of Devoted Enough

I let out a soft laugh. “That would be fun. I don’t think Nate has anything going on, so I’ll ask him. What time are you going to be heading out?”

She shrugged. “No real set time. Probably later in the morning, I would think.”

“I’ll ask Nate, but I think it would be fun to do that together.”

“How is everything going?” Kaylee asked as she walked up to us with another box of decorations.

“Good,” I replied. “I’m almost finished with the tree and was going to work on the table decorations next.”

Kaylee nodded. “It looks like we’ve had nearly a hundred-and-fifty people RSVP.”

Sophia gasped and I was pretty sure my mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”

She smiled. “Yes! I’m so glad I told the caterer to plan for one seventy-five. We should have plenty of food.”

I slowly shook my head. “I never dreamed we would have that many people say they would come.”

Sophia clapped and did a little jump. “This is amazing!”

I hung the last ornament on the tree. The only thing left was the tree topper, which we would need one of the guys to putup.

“You know, we should make this an annual thing,” I suggested as I glanced around the large room. Round tables were set up with chairs. “If this one is successful. Maybe we can even pick a charity to support each year and donate the proceeds from the dinner.”

Kaylee looked up from a box she was looking through. “Haven, that is a wonderful idea! There are so many businesses here in Hamilton willing to donate their time and goods that I think we couldmake that happen.”

I smiled. For throwing this party together so quickly, we had lucked out with the caterer who had donated her time and the food. The decorations were from the city of Hamilton that they had donated to the community center a few years ago. The tables and chairs were owned by the community center, and since Brock Shaw owned the community center, we got to use it for free.

“Did Jo get back with you about the menu she was doing?” I asked Kaylee.

She stood and wiped her hands on her jeans. “She did! She is going to do antipasto skewers, savory s’mores, cranberry and feta pinwheels, andpear and pomegranate salad. Each table will also have a hummus wreath, baked brie puffs, seven layer-dip cups, and last but not least, roasted butternut squash french bread bites.”

My stomach growled and Sophia and Kaylee both laughed.

“She is doing all of that and doing it for free?” I asked, still surprised that she had offered to do it all on her dime.

Kaylee winked but didn’t answer me.

“Kaylee, is she doing this all for free?”

She looked everywhere but at me.

“I’m going to take that as a no.”

Finally looking at me, she sighed. “Okay, she is being paid, but the person paying her is doing it as their part of helping out.”

“Who is it?” Sophia asked.

Kaylee chewed on her thumbnail. “I promised I wouldn’t say.”

“Josh?”

“Nate?”

Sophia and I had asked at the same time.

Kaylee laughed. “No, but you’re not far off.”

“Is it a member of the Shaw family?”