Neighbor Dearest by Penelope Ward Read Free Book Online Page A

say his flight home from London was cancelled and that he wouldn’t be able to make it. While the event would still have to go on without him, I knew that this wasn’t going to look good in front of the donors and wouldn’t bode well for center management or me.
    Feeling desperate, I wracked my brain for a solution and immediately thought of Damien. I wondered if he would be willing to be my fill-in, if he’d be willing to demonstrate some of his talent. It would also include talking to the kids, which I wasn’t sure he’d be comfortable with.
    Damien and I had only casually hung out a couple of more times since the night he made me pizza. Both times I had initiated it, knocking on his door and inviting myself in. At no point had he ever really spoken about his art, so I wasn’t sure how he would feel about running a workshop, especially on such late notice. But with two hours to go until people would be arriving, I was feeling desperate when I picked up the phone.
    My heart was pounding when his voicemail kicked in.
    My voice was shaky. “Hey, Damien.” I cleared my throat. “It’s Chelsea. I have sort of a huge favor to ask, but I’m not sure if it’s something you would even consider. Basically, it’s Arts Night here at the youth center. It’s a huge event, and the biggest artist I had lined up, Marcus Dubois—you might have heard of him—bailed on me. We have all of these sponsors here and are trying to make a good impression and well, this just looks really bad. I’m kind of desperate and freaking out, so—”
    BEEP.
    His damn answering machine cut me off.
    Shit!
    Now, I would sound like a total desperado if I called back. Deciding to try to forget about it, I did my best to suck up my embarrassment about having no visual arts presenter. I would explain what happened as best I could and cut my losses.
    Feeling completely defeated, I went through the motions, letting the caterer in, helping to set up and eventually greeting the arriving guests with a fake smile on my face.
    An entire section of the room that had been set up for Marcus Dubois sat blatantly empty.
    Just as I was in the middle of explaining the Dubois situation to another sponsor for what felt like the hundredth time, I heard a deep voice behind me.
    “Sorry I’m late.”
    When I turned around, Damien was standing there in his classic gray beanie, dressed in all black and smelling like leather and cologne. He was carrying a massive bag around his shoulder. My weak knees felt like they were ready to snap from under me. So shocked, I stood there speechless until I finally found the words to introduce him. “This is—”
    “Damien Hennessey,” he interrupted, offering his hand to the woman along with a flash of his perfect teeth that I wanted to run my tongue along. “Chelsea called me to fill in after Dubois cancelled.” He looked at me. “Where do you need me?”
    “You can set up right here in this corner.”
    Damien followed me and dropped his stuff. Once we were alone, I turned to him. “I can’t believe you came. I didn’t even get to actually ask you to come on the message.”
    “It was obvious where you were going with it. And Jesus, you sounded like you were afraid or something. Why were you so nervous to ask me?”
    Because I have a major crush on you.
    After getting lost in his eyes for a few seconds, I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    “Anyway, I got here as fast as I could.”
    “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
    “I think I do. You look like you’re about to cry. You don’t hide your feelings very well.”
    He was right. I could barely contain the tears of relief.
    “It really means a lot.”
    Damien looked around. “So, what do I do?”
    “Okay…did you bring all the supplies you need to paint?”
    “Yeah. I have everything.”
    “Your workshop starts in a half-hour. All you need to do is create something of your choosing, maybe explain a little bit about how you do what you do, your