Out of Bounds - Quick Snap

It was like the worst version of a dating introduction ever. There were no long walks, helping kids, doing stuff for charity, none of the stuff that gave a hint that the person you were meeting was a good person.

Instead, I sounded like a crazy person who was responsible for multiple injuries to the guy. Oh, and I had a brother who was a well-known soccer player for the Seattle Sounders. That was the extent of my resume.

Thinking she was helping but was in fact digging my grave that little bit deeper, Demi recounted the story I’d told her on the way here. “She also has a partially blind Yorkshire Terrier that she used to take to the pediatric ward at the hospital, but he got into some cupcakes and had diarrhea in one of the rooms. She’s not allowed to take him back.”

Glaring at her, I considered correcting the parts that she’d gotten wrong—like the fact that it was one of the nurses who kept feeding him the aforementioned cupcakes even though I’d told her not to—but decided that silence was better.

Eyes wide, Kip gasped, “That was you? We got there ten minutes after that to hand out some stuff to the kids, and the smell almost made me puke.”

I held in the wince that wanted to break free. Admittedly, it’d been horrific, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him.

Instead, I ground out, “He’s getting a vest that says not to feed him. Once he has that, he’ll be allowed back because the kids loved him.”

“That’s if she doesn’t use him to break her fall or as a voodoo doll,” Will snickered, making everyone else in the room laugh.

Sighing, I rolled my eyes and got back to work.

After that, the day went better than it had started, and I was able to forget about all of the bad things that I’d been thinking about the new ‘Seattle solidarity’ mentality, where big companies and sports teams used Seattle based companies for their merchandise which led to me having to deal with big assholes.

That was until I got home and my brother called to ask me to go in his place to the charity gala I’d just been outfitting the Seahawks for. Oh, and my boss somehow found out thanks to him Tweeting about it and decided I had to go to represent Because I Said Sew, too.

Doing the only thing I could to feel better, I sat on the couch in my one-bedroom apartment over my brother’s garage, with Able, my hospital banned Yorkie, curled up beside me, and ate ice cream with Baileys poured over it.Two weeks later, at the Lust for Life Gala…I hated wearing ballgowns. Every time I took a step forward, I had to make sure I wasn’t standing on the bottom of the dark red strapless dress I’d bought. And would it kill shoe designers to do something to the sole of them to stop them from slipping on the floor?

Sighing, I smiled at the waiter as I took a glass of champagne from his tray and looked around the room, taking a small sip. I was a lightweight, so I drank sparingly and carefully so that I didn’t end up making a fool of myself. I could just see the news tomorrow—a photo of me lying on my back, making marble angels on the floor of this hotel, while grinning up at the crystal chandelier hanging above my head.

Regardless of all my complaints and irritation, I was hugely supportive of what the money being raised tonight was for.

Lust for Life was a charity that renovated old buildings into mental health wellness drop in centers. People of all ages could go and either sit and talk or speak to one of the counselors. Therapists and mental health professionals from all over the city had volunteered to take on hours at the center once it was completed, and if they thought that the person needed further help or treatment, they would refer them on and support them throughout. There were even debt advisors, grief counselors, people trained to help kids… it was a huge deal and had already proven successful in other cities.

“Ashley,” a familiar voice called, and I turned around to see Will Montgomery walking toward me with a beautiful auburn haired woman that I recognized from the news as his fiancée, Meg.

Smiling back, I raised my hand in greeting, doing my best not to blush at the memory of the last time I’d seen him. “Hey!”

As they reached me, he chuckled. “Meg, this is Hayden Wilkes’s sister, Ashley. She was the one who—”

“Landed on Kip and then stabbed him in the thigh,” she snickered, not looking at all ashamed for interrupting him. Shocking me, she held out her hand. “Trust me when I say that it’s a huge pleasure to meet you. The videos didn’t do you justice, but they were absolutely awesome.”