Page 50 of Always Be True: Tino
“I’m not so sure about that, and we still have dinner to get through.”
“I know. That’s one reason I wanted to talk to the man from the symphony sooner rather than later. If things get too awkward over the shrimp cocktails and salads, we’ll be free to make our escape.”
He feigned distress. “What? With no dancing? But I promised your mother.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, it’s your funeral. You can even dance with Mrs. Humboldt if that would make you happy.”
He shuddered at the thought. “No way. I’m restricting myself to dancing with the Kennigan women tonight.”
“Good plan. Now let’s go see what this guy has to say for himself.”
—
Twenty minutes later he had a clearer picture of what Natalie dealt with on a daily basis. By the time Mr. Walters finished talking, Tino would’ve whipped out his own checkbook and funded the small community orchestra himself if he’d had the money. After a few more questions, Natalie had finally handed the man her card and told him to contact her office assistant to set up a meeting to discuss the matter further.
“If nothing else, I might be able to suggest a few other avenues you can pursue for additional funding, Mr. Walters. I know quite a bit about the charitable foundations in our area and can provide you with the names of others that might consider helping you for the long term.”
The man’s gratitude was obvious. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Kennigan. I fear we put you on the spot here, and you’ve been most gracious.”
She offered him her hand. “While it’s true that I prefer to handle such requests at my office, I do understand that these are unusual circumstances. I look forward to talking to you again.”
“That’s great. I’ll call your assistant first thing Monday morning to set something up.” He then shook Tino’s hand. “Thank you for your patience, Mr. Gianelli. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Walter looked considerably happier now than he had at the beginning of the conversation. They watched him walk away before turning back in the direction of their own table. “You’re going to give them the money, aren’t you?”
“If I can. I’ll have to do some number crunching before I can give him a final answer. The upside of what I do is that I get to help people. The downside is that there are always far more good causes than there is money to hand out.”
Rather than let her dwell on that, he changed the subject. “I don’t know about you, but lunch was a long, long time ago. I’m looking forward to dinner.”
“Me, too.”
But then her smile faded. “Or at least I was.”
Tino followed her line of sight to figure out what had made her unhappy. It didn’t take him long to figure out what—or rather, who—had taken the wind out of her sails. There were exactly two empty seats at the table, leaving them no choice about where to sit. The only question was which of them was going to get stuck sitting next to Mrs. Humboldt and which one was going to end up beside a man who could only be Natalie’s ex-fiancé.
“Would it be tacky to stop and flip a quarter? The winner gets first choice of seats.”
“Probably.” Her expression was more than a bit rueful. “Besides, I’m not sure there’d be a winner either way. My suggestion? Eat fast.”
He laughed and followed her the rest of the way to the table.
