One Unforgettable Weekend

Violet glanced up from the paperwork she’d been blankly starting at and found Aidan looking at her with a sly grin plastered across his face. “What?” she asked, as she felt a blush warm her cheeks. Did he know what she’d been imagining just now? It felt like she’d been caught red-handed.

“You’re not listening to me at all. You’re a thousand miles away.”

She bit at her lip sheepishly and shook her head. “No, I wasn’t listening to you. I’m sorry. I got lost in my thoughts for a minute. Repeat what you said, please.”

“I hope they were dirty thoughts,” he teased.

If he only knew...

Aidan shuffled the paperwork and pointed his finger at one of the sections he’d highlighted in yellow. “But seriously, I was asking about this part in the paperwork that talks about helping my new organization build its own donor base. How will we do that?”

Violet took a deep breath and launched back into work mode. She was more comfortable there than in thoughts about her involvement with Aidan. “While we provide funds to you, we also provide connections to a network of other charitably minded people and organizations. Typically, we will do some kind of event to help you draw donor support, raise some additional funds and connect you with people that may want to be involved with your organization in the long-ter

m. Our hope is that the money we give you is seed money to get the charity off the ground and that eventually, you can support yourselves.”

“What kind of event are you talking about?”

Violet picked up a couple invitations from past occasions they’d put together. She kept a file of them to use as examples. “Sometimes we do a walk or fun run. Themed parties or galas are always well attended. There’s been a few carnivals. A concert. You get the idea. Galas are probably our most successful events. The return on investment is pretty good and you don’t have the major outlay for bringing in a celebrity or something. Rich people like to dress up and mingle, and doing it for charity makes them feel good. With any event, you’re really just looking for something to get some publicity for your charity.”

Aidan flipped through the cards she handed him with a thoughtful look on his face. “I never imagined doing something on this scale.”

“You’ve got to if you’re going to get word out about—By the way, what are you going to be calling it? I never quite know what to refer to your halfway house as when I’m speaking about it.”

He sat back in his chair and thought for a moment. “For a while I was playing around with Stepping Stones or something like that, but eventually I let that go and decided I kind of liked Molly’s House. That was my mother’s name and it was her house, after all. It was her dream to help people like my dad recover from their addictions since she couldn’t save him.”

“Your father was an alcoholic?”

Aidan nodded. “It’s what killed him in the end. And I can’t help but think that the years of stress on my mother contributed to her illness, too.”

Violet tried not to think about how rough it must have been on Aidan to lose both his dad and his mother, and so close together. He was older when it happened, but it still seemed to define him in some ways. He dedicated his life to running that bar and making it successful again. He fought to open this facility in his mother’s memory when it would’ve been so much easier to just sell the house and move on.

She appreciated how much he cared about the people in his life. He would be a great father for Knox, and a wonderful husband to whatever lucky lady snagged him. Somehow, she didn’t think that would be her, even if she wanted it to be.

“That’s a great name.” Violet reached for one of the forms and filled out the line for the organization title. She needed to focus on the event, not on who might be lucky enough to be with Aidan someday. “Having a name can also help with the event planning,” she continued. “See what flows well, like the Friday Suppers Fun Run. We did that race for a local soup kitchen.”

Aidan looked down at the stack of invitations she’d handed him before dropping them onto the table. “You know, I think a party would be the thing to do. You said they turn a nice profit and that’s what we need. Maybe a Midnight Ball for Molly’s House?”

That wasn’t bad. A shame it wasn’t closer to the New Year. “How about a Masquerade for Molly’s House? We could do a black-tie party and encourage everyone to wear Mardi Gras or Venetian-style masks. That’s a little different from the usual party and yet I think a lot of people will have fun with it.”

He nodded. “I like that. A Masquerade for Molly’s House. I think Mom would’ve liked that, too, especially everyone wearing masks. She always made a big deal out of making my costumes for Halloween each year.”

“Great. With that kind of setup, Molly’s House will earn the profits on every ticket sold after we recoup costs for renting the venue, entertainment, refreshments and such. The most valuable part of the event is collecting the names and contact information of all the attendees for your future fundraisers, but the cash is great, too. We can do some additional things like a raffle to raise more money. Perhaps we can get a local company to donate something valuable, like a diamond necklace or a car to raffle off.”

“An actual car?” Aidan asked with wide, surprised eyes.

“I’ve done it before. We gave away a sporty little BMW one year. The dealer basically sold us the car below his cost for the advertising they would get. We charged twenty-five dollars for each raffle ticket, and it did so well, we paid for the car and made a tidy profit on top of that. It was something different that the attendees enjoyed. It doesn’t have to be a car, of course. We could come up with something that’s meaningful to you and your organization.”

Aidan looked at her for a moment as his brow furrowed with thought, then he ran his fingers through the strands of his copper hair. “What about a trip?”

That wasn’t a bad idea. They hadn’t done that before. “What kind of trip?”

“My mother always wanted to go to Ireland. It had been her dream to visit the village her family came from and tour all the sites. After my father died, she even made plans to go there with a group of ladies from the church, but she got sick and had to cancel before they went. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is so aggressive and difficult to treat. She fought so hard and only lasted about eight months from her first oncologist’s appointment. I would love it if we could give away a trip for two to Ireland. You wanted something meaningful, and that would fit the bill more than a BMW.”

Violet smiled. That was a perfect suggestion and one she wouldn’t have ever thought of on her own. “That’s an amazing idea. I’ll get my assistant, Betsy, to call my travel agent and see if they could get us a good deal on an all-expenses-paid trip for two. I know a few people at an airline. Perhaps we could get first-class airfare or a week at a hotel donated. Make it really nice, so the donors will be excited to buy raffle tickets.”

This was really coming together and she was excited by its potential. Violet reached out and took Aidan’s hand as it rested on her table. The sudden movement seemed to startle them both since they hadn’t touched since this morning, but neither pulled away. Instead, he looked at her and smiled. The warmth of his skin chased away the chill she always felt in the air-conditioning of summertime, and the heat in his gaze made her core feel like it was molten inside. She didn’t know how she could possibly want him again so soon after last night, but she did.

While she was hopeful to have her apartment back in one piece soon, staying with Aidan wasn’t bad at all. The Plaza was nicely decorated with all the amenities of a five-star hotel, but the master bedroom didn’t come with a sexy ginger to keep her warm at night the way his apartment did.