Page 112 of The Future Play

This is my personal hell.

Thankfully, with that last crisis averted, our meeting ends, but no sooner am I out the door of the café when my phone rings.

Cursing to myself, I dig through my bag and fish out my work phone. “Hello, this is Amanda.”

“Amanda, hi. It’s Alannah.”

“Hi, Alannah. What can I help you with?”

“I wanted to talk about the flower colors and then the lighting. I’m standing in the middle of the space now, and everything is so harsh. We want something that’s soft, warm… inviting.”

“We can make that work. We don’t have to use all of their lights. Light strands can give great warmth and ambience without being aggressive.”

“Hm. Do you think we could get some strands of colored lights in addition to some white ones? Pink and blue for the trans flag?”

“I’ll start looking as soon as I’m home and can get on the computer. Now, what did you need to discuss about the flowers?”

She launches into a conversation about displays, colors, and making sure nothing is too gaudy as I walk back to my car.

The second I hang up the phone, I pull out my notebook and scribble down everything we talked about so I don’t forget anything. In the midst of it all, my regular phone alarm goes off, reminding me I’m meeting the girls for lunch.

Shit. That meeting this morning took longer than I planned for. I quickly look up some of the lights Alannah mentioned and send them to her so she can get an idea, then let her know I’ll email her more details later.

When I open my calendar to add a reminder for myself, I cringe. A mixture of blocked out colors stare back at me. Jamie’s travel schedule, the schedule of when I’m traveling with him, my scheduled events, everything I need to do for those events, plus small snippets of time blocked out for family and friends.

It’s Wednesday now, and I’m in Ida for the rest of this week. Jamie will be back tomorrow night, so after the wedding on Saturday,I’ll head back down to the city. On Tuesday, we leave to go to Arizona, and I’ll be working other than at Jamie’s games. I still try to go, even when he’s not pitching. Then I’ll be back to Ida for the last volleyball tournament that Saturday. Thankfully, I won’t be missing anything next week since our last Wednesday game is tonight. Then on that Sunday, I’ll head back to New York City to do all the final preparation for the gala the following Saturday night.

Inconveniently, Jamie will also be pitching that day, but their game is late afternoon, so he should still be able to go to the event, and I know several of the Metros are on the invite list.

My head is spinning with how chaotic the next two weeks will be, but it’ll be worth it. Well, I don’t know about this wedding, but I’m honored to be a part of the gala, and the planner who did most of the planning for the event was fantastic. She kept detailed notes and information, so there wasn’t much I had to do besides some final things and little changes. The only hiccup was finding another set up and tear down crew because the others had only been in contact with the other event planner and had booked another event that night when they hadn’t heard from her, but I got it taken care of.

Because I’m a badass.

I lean back against my car seat and close my eyes, reveling in that feeling for a moment.

But then my phone goes off in my hand and I let out a whimper. This bad bitch is exhausted.

When I look at the screen again, I find info from the contact form on my website. It’s someone looking to book a consult sometime in the next two weeks. I let out an unhinged laugh, then email her back that it’ll have to be the first week in August instead.

I let out a breath, shoulders still a little tense, but when no other notifications come through, I put my work phone away,then grab my regular phone and snap a selfie.

Me: [picture message]

Me: My day is crazy, and I’m afraid if I put my phone down, I won’t pick it up again, so I wanted to wish you good luck now. Miss you.

A second later, I get a text back.

Jamie: [picture message]

Heaven help me. He’s wearing a backward ball cap and he’s shirtless with sweat glistening on his chest.

Jamie: Busy day here too.

Me: Is that picture trying to threaten me with a good time?

Jamie: Maybe. I think I’d like tothreatenyou over the phone tonight. Sound good?

Me: Sounds perfect. Talk later. Love you!

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