"Maybe it just hasn't set in yet." I tried to be hopeful. "You never did anything like that to get someone out of your system?"
Ivy smothered another laugh. "I tried, but it didn't work."
"Really, who?" I asked.
"My husband," Ivy said.
I sat up and then dropped my forehead to my desk. "Great. And now I might end up working with Rainer again. Are you sure you didn't fund the gardens just to play cupid?"
"Oh, wait. What if Rainer funded the campaign in order to keep working with you?!"
"Ivy, you're not helping," I said.
"Well, track the money and get back to me. Good luck, lady!" Ivy hung up the phone and left me speechless.
I went to work right away, trying to uncover who the anonymous donor could have been. My contacts in every Hyperion office tried to help out, but there was no tracing the source. Most people never imagined not-knowing would be a problem. They kept highlighting how great it was that my work with Rainer could continue.
I gave up after an hour and let my forehead sink back down to the cold surface of my desk.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your, ah, nap?" Amy bounced from one foot to the other in the doorway. "It's just that I read the email about the big donation and I wanted to see if we should celebrate."
"Thanks, but not now," I told my assistant.
She raised an imaginary glass anyway. "Well, here's to a great start. First the East Bay and then the whole world!"
I didn't want to admit it but my hapless, temporary assistant had given me a great idea. Amy swooped back out the doorway with a dramatic bow and went back to her internet surfing and gossip. I sat up and poised my fingers above my keyboard. I needed to pitch a new idea to Stan by the end of the day, and I'd been up all night trying to think of something I wanted to do that had the same positive impact as the GroGreen application ended up having.
Exactly what would I need to stretch the funding and expand our community gardens idea into a national campaign?
Brainstorming, problem-solving, and filling in the details gave me a few blissful hours of productive work. It felt like a tonic. When I was busy at work, my disastrous personal life could not intrude. Yes, I thought of Rainer every minute or so because he had been so integral to the original campaign, but I was able to stay focused on the work side of it through sheer will.
Once I had a working proposal, a list of critical questions, and detailed action steps, I sat back and let my mind drift for one moment. To the exact moment that Rainer lost control. We were at the foot of the queen-sized bed in the private cabin of Berger's luxury yacht, but it felt like a tsunami had hit me head-on. Rainer's ragged moan had reverberated through my body as well fell together onto the silken bedspread.
It was so vivid in my memory that, for a moment, I didn't understand how my pregnant sister could be standing in the doorway. I blinked hard and came back to reality in my office.
"Daydreaming?" Barbie backed out and checked my name on the door. "No. I have the right office, but what have you done with my sister?"
"I'm fine," I said.
"That's what everyone who isn't fine says."
"How are you?" I asked Barbie.
She waddled over to one of the chairs that faced my desk and sank down. "Fine," she said, slightly out of breath.
I jumped up. "I'm sorry, Barbie. I can't believe you came all this way. And our office building must feel like one giant obstacle course. How are you doing, really?"
My sister slapped my hand away. "The baby's fine; I'm fine. Just uncomfortable."
I moved the other chair and then lifted her feet onto it. "I don't think you should be here. Big building, long elevator rides, all the crowds and the work and the stress. Are you sure you aren't overwhelmed?"
Barbie glared up at me. "Yes, yes, you work in a big, busy, impressive office building. I'm just so common that I can't even navigate the elevators."
"That's not what I meant," I told my sister.
"You know I'm impressed with you, but the rest of this? Who cares? I just came to get the scoop on Seth," Barbie said.
I groaned and retreated back around my desk to slump into my chair. "You could have just called."