Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
She laughed softly and turned to English. “Hey, no boys!” she said with a laugh. “Girls’ day out, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, putting the phone away. “I wasn’t messaging Court anyway. It was Winnie. The company is getting off its feet after the holidays.”
“Gah, next week already?” Lark asked.
English nodded. “Now that Margery is out of the picture, we’re free to start our own publicity firm.” She smiled brilliantly. “Signed the paperwork before we left. Just have to open my office in the city and start collecting clients.”
English had left her old PR firm in LA to start over here after she and Court got together. Her old colleague Winnie had left the firm, too, and they’d decided to branch out on their own. One firm, two offices—New York City and LA.
“Are any of your old clients coming with you?” I asked.
“A few, but a lot of them are staying with Winnie. I’ll have a different client base here in New York.”
“Makes sense.”
“Speaking of new ventures, I’m excited and nervous to start my new job with the mayor,” Lark admitted.
She had recently been appointed as Mayor Kensington’s chief of staff. It was a huge honor, and she had gotten it all on her own merit. Not because she was Upper East Side. Not because she was close to the mayor’s son. I was so proud of her. Even if I thought her talents were wasted, I knew it made her happy.
“You’re going to do great,” English told her.
“I know that I’ve been working with Leslie a long time, but it’s still something new.”
“If she gives you any shit, sic Penn on her,” I suggested.
Lark laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“What about you, Whitley?” English asked.
Whitley looked up at English, then to Lark, and then finally me. She quirked a smile. “I’m happy not to talk about work, thank you.”
I chuckled. “Oh, Whit.”
“Don’t use that tone with me,” Whitley said with a wink. “We’re here on vacation. I hardly get any time off, and I had to move clients around to even get here. The last thing I want to talk about is my latest face lift.”
“Fair enough,” English said. “What about you, Katherine?”
“What about me?” I asked in confusion.
“Tell us about being a socialite,” Whitley encouraged. “What fancy parties and premieres and events do you have coming up? Isn’t Fashion Week soon?”
“It is,” I admitted.
Though I hadn’t been thinking about it much. Last year’s party had been such a disaster that I’d put it out of my mind. I’d acquired a designer for my dress, but I’d been more hands off about this than any other Fashion Week. To the point where… I didn’t even want to talk about it.
“But you know, actually, I’m more excited about this charity that I’m going to start helping.”
Lark’s eyes widened in surprise. “What charity?”
“ChildrensOne,” I told her. “They work with the local children’s hospital to get volunteers to help when they can. They plan events for the kids—carnivals and game nights and dances. And when I spoke to the director, I offered to help fundraise for the cancer wing.”
“Wow,” English muttered.
“Wait… there are carnivals at the hospital?” Whitley asked. “That sounds badass.”
Lark just smiled faintly. “Are you going to throw a gala for the charity?”
Something clenched within me at the suggestion. I couldn’t help but think about what Camden had said. That I did charity work for me. So that my name could be on it. I didn’t want to do that for this.
“That’s a great idea,” English said. “You could invite all your friends and get them to donate money.”
“I’d go,” Whitley agreed.
“Oh, yeah, I don’t know yet,” I told her, reaching for my water and taking a sip. “We’re still discussing it. I’ll meet with her and visit the hospital once we get back.”
“You’re a great party planner,” Lark said. “I’m sure it would be a hit.”
“We’ll see. There are other options, too,” I said. “But mostly, I’m going to meet the kids first.”
I didn’t admit to them that I was nervous. I knew what it was like to be hospitalized for an illness that I couldn’t control. It wasn’t the same as what these children were going through. But I didn’t know how much of what I’d gone through would come back to haunt me once I got there. Maybe if I faced my fear, I could finally put the hospital behind me.
“All right, I’m thinking, beach time,” Whitley said, standing as our plates were being cleared away.
“I’m down,” English said.
“Me too,” Lark agreed.
I opened my mouth to agree. We’d done nothing but hang out at the pool and beach since we’d been here. I was itching to get back out there, but I’d left Camden that morning with a dozen calls he had to make and some report he needed to write up. I wondered how far along he was on that. If he was going to spend the entire day inside.