After the incident with Bobby a few days earlier, I restricted my time at the shelter to just two afternoons a week. That was enough for me to keep feeling sane, whilst limiting the time I was out of the house and Alejandro could worry about me.
I was in the break room chatting to one of the other volunteers when Kristen popped her head in. ‘Alana, can I have a quick word?’ she asked.
‘Sure,’ I replied as I picked up my mug of tea and followed her to her office.
She closed the door behind us and I sat down and looked around. I loved her office. She always had the sweetest smelling diffusers dotted around, and statues of the Egyptian Goddess, Isis, and Buddha, as well as dozens of bright green plants.
‘I wanted to catch up with you today anyway, Kristen. I need to talk to you about Bobby and the app.’
‘That was why I wanted to talk to you too,’ she said with a frown. ‘Mr Conroy’s organization have pulled out and withdrawn their funding offer.’
‘What?’ I snapped. Was this because of our conversation a few days earlier? I hoped I hadn’t unintentionally lost the shelter a lot of money. ‘Why would they do that?’
‘I have no idea. Someone from the HR department called me and simply said we weren’t the right fit,’ Kristen said as she rubbed a hand over her chin.
‘Wow! How bloody infuriating!’ I snapped as I shook my head and sat back in my seat.
‘Well, yes. Except, we have a new, mysterious benefactor in their place. They have doubled Mr Conroy’s pledged donation, and also agreed to fund your post indefinitely.’
‘Indefinitely?’
‘Yes, and at a much higher salary too.’
‘Oh,’ I said. Suddenly, I realized exactly who our mysterious benefactor was.
‘You know something about this?’ she asked.
‘Probably,’ I said with a sigh. ‘I’m pretty sure our new mystery donation is coming from the Montoya Corporation.’
‘Your husband’s company?’
‘Yes.’
‘But they already donated a sizeable amount this year.’
‘I know. But … I don’t know how to tell you this. So, I’ll just lay it all out for you. Bobby was my ex-boyfriend from high school. I’m not sure that his offer to fund my post and donate to the shelter was entirely altruistic.’
‘Oh, really?’ Kristen replied. ‘And he seemed so nice.’
‘And he is. Well, he used to be. But I saw a different side to him last week too. He was nasty,’ I shook my head. ‘That doesn’t detract from the fact that my husband is an egomaniac though,’ I said with a grin. ‘And he didn’t want my ex-boyfriend paying my salary. He would rather I worked for the hotel, but he understands that I want to work here. I had never thought about the post being funded before and how that would make the whole charity more secure, but if I had I know he would have offered to fund it, and I think he was kind of hurt by that too.’
Kristen nodded. ‘Well, as long as you’re happy with the arrangement, Alana, it works out well for the shelter.’
‘It’s all fine by me,’ I agreed, even as I was thinking about exactly what I was going to say to Alejandro when I called him in a few minutes time.
He was a possessive asshole sometimes. But, who was I kidding? I loved it. And I loved him.
I closed the door to my office and took my cell phone out of my purse. I’d asked Hugo to wait outside for me a few minutes while I spoke to Alejandro.
I dialed his number and waited for him to pick up. It rang out a few times before he finally answered.
‘Hola, princesa,’ he said breathlessly when he did.
‘Hi. Is this a bad time?’
‘Kind of. But I always have time for you. What is it?’
‘Did you warn Bobby off donating to the shelter?’
‘Hang on,’ I heard him sigh and then he barked some orders in Spanish. A few seconds later, he spoke to me again. ‘What were you saying?’ he asked, with clear exasperation in his tone now.
‘I asked you if you are responsible for Bobby’s company withdrawing their donation to the shelter?’
‘Yes,’ he snapped. ‘I told you I don’t trust him.’
I wasn’t sure what to say next. I hadn’t expected that to be so easy.
‘Is there anything else, princess? I’m kind of busy.’
‘Yes. Did you offer to fund my post instead?’
‘Yes,’ he replied.
‘Oh,’ I said softly. I knew that he had. And I was kind of mad at him for it. But what could I say? He had made his feelings clear about Bobby. He had made sure that the shelter wouldn’t lose out because he had matched the donation and then some. What the hell did I have to argue with him about really? I knew the kind of man he was, and it was one of the many things I loved about him.
‘I’ll let you get back to your work then,’ I said.
‘Good.’
‘Alejandro! Wait. There is one more thing.’
‘And what’s that?’ he asked, the irritation in his voice clearly audible now.
‘Te quiero.’
I heard a soft sigh this time, not one of exasperation, but perhaps of relief. ‘I love you too, princess.’
