Tempting the New Boss(74)

“Not because he was different,” Mason continued. “But because I was. And I started Camp for Kids because I wanted a place where they could feel, not different, but special.”

The audience clapped and he went on. He had more to say. “A very, ah, extraordinary woman told me once that there are some people who are so evolved they can go on to heaven or Nirvana or whatever…graduate, I guess…”

The audience laughed.

“But sometimes one of those people doesn’t go on. Instead, they come back here, to Earth, so we can all learn from them. And those people are special. Special.”

More than a hundred pairs of eyes watched him, waited for what he was going to say. And he didn’t mind it at all. His voice didn’t even shake anymore.

“And since she, this, ah, extraordinary woman, was pretty special herself, she knew what she was talking about.”

For just a second, he could see Camilla in his mind, and it didn’t hurt as much as it usually did. He had learned from her. He’d learned he wanted to love someone, he could love someone, and even if they didn’t love you back, or couldn’t be with you, you were better for it anyway.

And he had learned he loved her. He didn’t shy away from it anymore. He knew he did. Whatever that meant or didn’t mean to her. And he needed to make sure she knew that.

“So, ah, I’m grateful to have been invited here tonight, by Mrs. Vintilla there.” He remembered her name! She smiled and waved, as proud of the mention as Nathan had been. “Because it gave me a chance to remember what Camp for Kids is all about. It’s about not letting the fact that we can’t give speeches or be what everybody expects us to be or to do some things,” he glanced at the audience where there was a little girl in a wheelchair at a front table, “make us think we’re a failure at everything, make us feel anything other than special. These kids are special, and I wanted a place where they could feel that.”

Abruptly, he went over and sat back down, to his surprise to the accompaniment of thunderous applause. He and Nathan grinned at each other this time.

The board member returned to the podium, clapping, and said in the microphone, “Now Nathan, let’s see if you can top that!”

Nathan popped up, eager to try, and Mason sat back to listen.



At the back of the ballroom, in a chair against the wall on the far left, Camilla held back tears. Marcia slipped into the seat next to her and handed her a tissue. She wiped her eyes.

“That wasn’t the speech I wrote for him.”

“Did you tell him I was here?”

“Give an old lady some credit,” she sniffed. “If he was that nervous already, what do you think knowing you were in the audience would have done to him?”

She laughed.

“Besides, he didn’t answer when I called. They must have made him turn off the phone.”

Camilla shook her head. “Traitor.”

“I know where my loyalties lie. Always! I just think you may be good for him after all.”

“I’ll try.” And she felt very humble about it, too.

A young man was at the podium, talking about the summers he had spent at the camp in upstate New York when he was younger, charming the crowd, reminding Camilla very much of her little brother, especially when it took a few gentle prods from the woman in charge of the microphone to get him to wrap his stories up. But everyone loved it. And Mason, on the dais, was laughing and smiling with everybody else as he listened, his bow tie untied and his ill-fitting tuxedo jacket on the back of his chair.

“Maybe you’ll have more luck with him on the clothes thing,” Marcia observed as they watched him, the man she was pretty sure they both loved, in different ways.

She leaned over to the older woman and said, “Mason might not have lucked out on his biological mother, but he did pretty well with you.”

The woman reddened, and she handed her the tissue. “And his sperm donor must have really been something,” she added, and Marcia laughed.

There were a few more speeches and then the guests were eating desert, drinking cappuccino and starting to file out. Despite that she and Marcia were both considerably underdressed, nobody gave them a second look as they threaded their way through to the dais.

At the last second, Marcia touched her shoulder. “You two need to talk alone. I’ll see him tomorrow. Tell him I was proud of him.”

“I will.” Camilla smiled. “Thanks for the ticket to get me in, and the talk and everything.”

“No problem.” She headed back out into the crowd as Camilla went on ahead. Deep in conversation, Mason didn’t notice as she approached.