least two rounds," Aiden says. "And this is Tanner," he says, pointing to the guy on the other side of me. "He's a lawyer."
"Hey." Tanner shakes my hand. He's cute, with wavy dark hair, olive skin and a big bright smile. "Don't be turned off by the lawyer thing. I work for a nonprofit."
"Which he'll talk about forever if you don't shut him up," Aiden kids.
"What the hell?" Tanner says, sounding offended.
"What?" Griffen says. "It's true. You'd talk about that shit all day if we let you."
"What kind of nonprofit is it?" I ask.
"Don't get him started," the guy across from him mutters.
"It's an environmental group," Tanner says. "We're working to clean up the oceans."
"That's great! I'm always hearing about how much plastic is in the ocean."
"It's more than just plastic. It's all kinds of trash. Our oceans have become a landfill for trash."
"Here we go," Griffen says. "Someone please stop him before this gets out of control."
"Across from Tanner," Aiden says, "is Pete, one of my friends from back home. He's a writer for a biking magazine. If you have any questions about cycling, he's your guy."
"Do you bike?" Pete asks.
"I haven't for a long time," I say, "but I used to like it."
"I'm Celine," the woman next to Pete says. She holds her hand out to me, her eyes locked on mine. "I'm Aiden's girlfriend."
"Hi," I say, noticing how firmly she grips my hand as we shake, almost like she's warning me to stay away from Aiden. Does she think something happened when we were in Vermont? I wonder what he told her about that weekend.
"Next to Celine is John," Aiden says. "He's a high school history teacher."
"More like a babysitter on most days," he says with a laugh.
"It's nice meeting you all," I say. "I hope I didn't intrude on your night."
"Not at all," Tanner says, turning to me. "So what do you do?"
"I'm an event planner. Well, assistant event planner. I'm hoping to get a promotion soon."
"What kind of events?" Celine asks.
"Mostly corporate functions. We set up parties, client meetings, sales conferences. We also do the occasional wedding or baby shower but mostly we work for businesses."
Celine looks at Aiden, who is now sitting beside her. "Do you think we could use her for the client dinner?"
Aiden glances at me. "I think you should probably stick to someone you've used before. You know how your father doesn't like change."
"He won't know who's planning it, and he wouldn't care. All he cares about is it being a success, which he knows it will be if I'm handling it."
"Are you looking for an event planner?" I ask Celine.
"In a way, yes. The location is already set. I just need someone to find us a caterer. The one we had just cancelled and now I'm scrambling to find someone else. The dinner's in a few weeks and everyone I know is booked."
"We could probably find you one," I say. "My boss has a lot of connections. Would you like her card?"
"Yes, and yours as well, if you don't mind," she says, her thin red lips turning up.
"Not at all." I take the cards from my purse and hand them to her, feeling Aiden's eyes on me as I do. I get the feeling he doesn't want me working with her but I don't know why he cares. I may not even be involved. Bianca is in charge of events. I'm just there to help when she needs it.
I'm actually excited about this. If Celine hires us, I'll get a bonus for bringing in new business. It won't be much but at least it's something.
I still haven't paid my rent. I used what little money I had to pay my cell phone bill and buy groceries. I need to talk to Bianca about bumping up the timeline for my promotion. I've run out of savings and my paychecks can't even cover the basics.
"I'll call her first thing in the morning," Celine says. "It'd be a miracle if she could find someone this late."
"Trust me, she'll find someone. If anyone can pull off a miracle, it's Bianca."
"So where are you from?" Tanner asks me.
"Kansas. I grew up in a small college town."
"No kidding?" He turns to me smiling. "I grew up in a small town in Ohio."
I smile back. "I bet mine was smaller."
"Bet it wasn't. My town only has 500 people."
"Okay, you win. Mine has about 50,000."
"That's not a small town," he says, still smiling. "That's a city."