Regrets Only Read Online Free PDF Page A

With a man, she could have turned
up the flirty, feigned helplessness and she would soon have forgiveness. And,
more often than not, a date for the evening. She wondered idly what the chances
were that Yvette was a lesbian.
    “Well,
I’ll be honest, Suzanne, I seriously considered contracting with Events by Emma
to finish out the benefit.”
    “Of
course.”
    “But,
given our short timeline, I think the benefit will be better if we keep our
current team intact. That’s the best thing for the museum, don’t you think?”
    “Well,
yes.”
    “And
naturally you understand that I’m doing you an enormous favor by keeping you on…”
    “Yes,
and I’m so grateful.” Uh oh.
    “So
I would really appreciate a favor in return.”
    “Sure,
Yvette, anything.”
    “Well,
Mr. Burke, as you know, is a big Atlanta Braves fan.”
    “Of
course,” Suzanne said. Pretty much everyone in the Southeast was a Braves fan,
except those transplants who had brought fierce loyalties from other cities
when they arrived.
    “Well,
he’s decided to come in from Los Angeles a few days before the benefit to meet
with a few old friends. They’d like to go to the game on Wednesday evening. I
believe it’s the opening series.”
    “It
is. But I think I can arrange it,” she said, scribbling a note to Chad to call
their contact at the stadium. Suzanne knew the stadium would be crowded during
the first week of hometown baseball, but for Dylan Burke, she was sure she
could get some decent seats. “How many tickets?”
    “About
twenty-five.”
    “Wow,”
Suzanne said carefully. Calling in every favor she was owed probably couldn’t
swing her twenty-five good tickets, especially not together.
    “They’ll
need a box, of course. Catered with an open bar. And a chartered bus to take
them to Mr. Burke’s lake home in Tennessee afterward.”
    “Oh,
Yvette, I’d love to help, but—”
    “Great.
I’ll send you the details via fax.” Click.
    Suzanne
held the phone to her ear numbly for a few minutes after Yvette hung up, trying
to process everything. Under normal circumstances, Suzanne could throw a party
in a box at Turner Field in her sleep. But with barely a week to plan, two days
before her biggest event of the year, and with everyone in the city chomping at
the bit to get back into the baseball season? She flashed a desperate look at
Chad, who closed his laptop with a snap and whisked himself to her desk.
    “What
do we need to do?”
    “Get
out the Rolodex. We need a miracle.”
    They
spent the next three hours combing through Suzanne’s extensive contact list,
begging and even threatening everyone they could reach. Even Chad had to cash
in a favor with an old boyfriend who waited tables at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack, persuading
them to cater at the stadium. “I might have hinted that he’d get to meet
Dylan,” he told her. “I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
    Suzanne
tossed him a grateful smile as she dialed yet another of her corporate clients,
looking for someone who could give up a box.
    Eventually,
she found him.
    Barry
Consuelo was the vice president of human resources at CleanMark appliances, who
employed about 4,000 people fifty miles west of the city. Suzanne had planned
CleanMark’s corporate retreats for years, and Barry was her primary contact.
She knew they had a box at Turner Field for entertaining big clients and as a
reward for the highest-performing middle managers. She also knew that Barry
desperately wanted to sleep with her.
    “Hi,
Barry—how are you, honey?”
    “Suzie
Q! Is it time for retreat planning already? You’re getting an early start.”
    “Oh,
no, sweetie. We’ve got weeks before we have to start on that. But I do have
some really exciting ideas for y’all. I know you’re going to love it. Chad and
I have been talking about CleanMark nonstop.”
    Chad
rolled his eyes dramatically and she threw a pencil at him. She swiveled her
chair around to avoid his eyes. “In the