Page 7 of Burning Love
Of course it didn’t matter if she agreed or not. It came with the job.
But she’d spent a month in New York City, staying at West’s Manhattan penthouse. Her brother was only there half the time, splitting his time between the city and the Hamptons.
She had to spend a month working with the staff he had that handled donation requests.
It was all hers now. A department of one.
But she had to know where the money was coming from, how to build it, and create criteria for who received it.
Nothing at all like she’d thought when she just assumed she’d be reading applications and handing out big cardboard checks and getting her picture taken.
Yeah, maybe shewasnaïve. But West set her straight and, other than some botched travel plans, she was loving her new job.
“Talia, grow up.”
She blew out a breath. “I am. I have been.”
Her mother reached her hand over and laid it on hers. “I know you have been. I’m so proud of you. I never thought this would be your passion.”
“I love helping people. I didn’t think I would either. Everyone wanted to rush me to pick a career. I’m not like everyone else. I’m glad I had an opportunity to really find what I like.”
“Me too,” her mother said. “But it’s not going to be as simple or easy as you want. I’ll be honest, I’m surprised West didn’t push for you to move there.”
Talia had thought that would happen also. “He said I can work anywhere as long as I travel when needed. I have to be willing to go there for events. Or anywhere for events. Thankfully I’m spending more time building money and getting the Carlisle Foundation name out there. I can do a lot of that remotely most times.”
West had sent her to one of his businesses in Colorado for a charity event to meet with the coordinators and get a feel for what and why they were raising money and for her to decide if the foundation she ran could be a part of it.
She was on the fence after talking to them and would have to explain her reasons why to West.
Though she decided who got money and why, West had the final say to veto it.
Bummer, but understandable.
It wasn’t about trust. It was about learning. She knew that.
“You’re young and have nothing holding you anywhere. You’ll get the hang of things. I don’t think you’ll be traveling like Laken. Maybe just in the beginning.”
“I hope not,” she said. “But I do know we’ve got to get more eyes on the foundation and that means raising money too.”
“You’ll figure it all out,” her mother said. “Until then, why don’t I treat you to dinner since you ruined what I was going to make.”
She closed one eye at her mother. There was no reason to argue about who ruined what.
“You can do that. I’ll go change first.”
Her mother looked at her black athletic shorts and red T-shirt she’d thrown on to replace the towel she’d been wearing.
“Good. Because your shirt is inside out.”
She dropped her head back and closed her eyes. Could this day have gotten any more embarrassing?
“Urgh!”
3
CHAIN OF EVENTS
“Can I help you?”
