Page 95 of Fumbling for Perfection

At the end of the event, Channel 8 interviewed me briefly, asking how much we raised and where people could donate. The cleanup is just as much work as the set up, but many hands make less work.

All afternoon, people kept asking me how I knew Walker and Declan and why I kept their appearance a secret.

“We could’ve had more walk-up registrants if people knew they’d be there,” Brad says once we get back to Boston Strong.

“Yeah, well, our social media pages are buzzing right now.” Julie giggles as she and Brad leave my office.

I can only imagine how many videos and pictures there are of Walker—and Dec—from today. If a handful of them also tag Boston Strong, we could possibly garner more donations. People are crazy like that. They see a celebrity endorsing a product and they’re all in, no questions asked.

Yeah, I suppose I could have asked Walker to speak at the 5K, and promoting his appearance would have brought a spike, but I couldn’t use him for our gain. He doesn’t like the spotlight, and the fact that he spoke for so long, and so eloquently...

Hell. I wanted so badly to jump into his arms and wrap my legs around his waist and kiss him for hours. Days. Weeks.

Kendall drops a box of shirts on the table in my office and wipes her hands on her leggings. “That’s the last of it.”

“Thanks so much for sticking around after you and Rowan ran to help clean up.”

“Yeah. Real convenient on Row’s part that she had to work. Way to get out of cleaning up.”

“Are you saying you’d rather work a twelve-hour shift in the OR after running a 5K?”

“Whatever.” Kendall rolls her eyes in jest. “‘Kay. Now that we’re alone. What. The. Fuck?” She gives me a playful push on my shoulders.

“What?”

“Um. Hello? Your man fucking stole the show. And not for his own good, but for you. And seriously. You were eye fucking him the entire time up on the stage.”

“Was not.”

“Yuh uh.” She takes out her phone. “I recorded it from the mosh pit.”

She shows me the grainy video she took from the middle of the crowd. She was too far away to really zoom in on my face, but I blush anyway.

“I had no idea he was going to be there.”

“He deserves the best blow job of his life tonight.”

“I hope not.”

“Why not?”

I grab my backpack and throw it over one shoulder. “He leaves for North Carolina tonight.”

“No reason why you can’t rush over there now and give him a BJ.”

“Is everything always about sex with you?”

We walk down the now empty corridor to the back door and out to the vacant parking lot. “Since you’re still in denial of your feelings, sex is the way to go.”

“I’m not in denial.”

We stop in front of my car and Kendall crosses her arms. “He wants you, Riles. Bad. He pretty much told the city of Boston that today.”

“Drama queen.” I wave her off. “He did me a favor by hyping up Boston Strong.”

“Andyou.”

“Yeah, well, he’s already told me he wants me back. That’s not the problem. I can’t let my heart get ripped out again.”

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