executive director in a record five years.
“Does it look like I can’t go to battle with them?” Danielle turned, picked up her coffee mug off the counter and took a sip.
“Of course you don’t look like you’re ready for battle. That’s why you win. You surprise people with ferocious tenacity beneath your girl-next-door exterior.”
“I do not.”
“Yeah. You do.” Debra eyed Danielle from head to toe.
Danielle straightened her glasses and smoothed the front of the white cardigan she wore over a navy sundress. “Maybe I use that as a slight tactical advantage.”
“You’re never afraid to do battle with anyone, which is why I love working with you.”
“Don’t try and butter me up for a raise,” Danielle teased. “I won’t be able to cover the part-time salaries of the interns next fiscal year if we can’t get any more donors.”
“I’m not worried. Since you became executive director a year ago the donations have improved. The idea for the River Gala and silent auction this year was smart. I’m sure that’ll help raise some funds.”
Debra nodded and looked at Danielle like she was the great black hope. Danielle’s earlier freak-out about the success of the events she planned came back full force. They would need several successful events, not just the gala in a few weeks, to keep their doors open.
“If it makes you feel any better,” Debra said. “I think Mr. Springfield knows this is going to be a huge battle for us. He gave us a gift to thank us for our efforts.”
“A gift?”
“Two tickets...wait let me start over. Two—courtside—tickets for tonight’s Jacksonville Gators game.” Debra pulled the tickets from her back pocket. “He said to go, enjoy and relax before the fight. I know you’re a huge fan. I figured you’d be excited.”
Danielle rushed over to Debra’s side to snatch the tickets. “Are you for real?” She scanned the tickets to confirm the unbelievable news.
“Yep. Mr. Springfield has to go out of town tonight. He said he couldn’t think of two more deserving ladies than us.”
“Tonight’s game is a big one for them. They’re playing Miami.”
“Ooh, double the eye candy. Miami has some sexy players.” She bumped Danielle with her elbow.
“I wasn’t thinking about the sex appeal of the players. If this game was after the gala it would’ve made a great prize for the auction.”
Debra poked Danielle’s shoulder. “Will you stop thinking about the gala for a second and accept this completely fantastic gift?”
Danielle rubbed her shoulder even though the spot didn’t hurt. “I don’t always think about work. And we had drinks a few weeks ago.”
“Drinks with the other river rats a month ago doesn’t count,” Debra said, referring to the other conservation leaders in the area.
They’d gotten the nickname after a snarky reporter accused the environmental community of “scurrying around the river looking for problems” like rats. Instead of getting offended, Danielle insisted they accept the nickname. They did look for problems, and they made sure the problems were fixed.
Some called her overzealous. She didn’t care. There wasn’t much she could hold on to in her life. She was single, her parents were always busy with other things, she had no siblings, and she hadn’t had a significant relationship since college. Her passion for protecting the river was about the only thing to keep her warm at night. A state some would consider depressing if they didn’t consider her reasons.
The Ridgeport area was her home. She’d inserted herself in the community, made connections with residents and other activists there. What she did to protect the people hurt by industries like Clear Water, and their appreciation for her efforts, was the only proof she had that she mattered to someone.
“Come on, Danielle. We’ve got courtside seats. We have to go.”
Danielle did a quick count in her head. It had been over a month since she’d done anything remotely fun that had nothing to do with raising money for the River Watchers. “Why not?”
Debra did a quick shimmy of her hips and grinned. “Yay! It’s going to be so much fun. Hey, we’re right behind the bench. Maybe you can put that unassuming girl-next-door charm on blast and snatch a towel from one of the players.”
“Really, Debra, how am I supposed to do that?”
“They won’t suspect you of stealing a towel,” Debra said with a wiggle of her eyebrows. “Try to go for one that Jacobe Jenkins uses to wipe the sweat from his brow. Since you salivate every time you see him on television or on a billboard.”
Danielle waved a dismissive hand, but her heart wasn’t so indifferent. It jumped with a secret thrill of excitement. “I do not salivate.”
Debra’s smirk screamed, Yeah, right. “Yeah. You do. You both were at the University of Miami at the same time. Did you drool over him then, too?”
Drooling over Jacobe Jenkins was an understatement. Hiding how much desire gripped her whenever he came near had become her number-one priority. Except for that one night. Danielle tried to force the long-ago encounter from her mind and focus on the myriad of ways Jacobe Jenkins had irritated her, when he wasn’t sending her estrogen levels through the roof.
“Every time I was around Jacobe he was being a cocky jock who thought the world was his to command, or he was on his way to a party.”
Debra held up both hands in front of her body. “Shut the front door. You did not tell me you know Jacobe Jenkins!”
“I don’t know Jacobe. I knew him. A hundred years ago when we were freshmen in college. I tutored him a few times in Biology 101. He left for the draft right after freshman year, and I never saw him again. A few brief interactions do not count as knowing him.”
One night of fast and hot sex the night before the draft could count as knowing him, but Danielle was taking that secret to her grave.
“It’s still cool that you kinda know him. It’ll be fun to sit right behind him and the rest of the team at the game. Maybe he’ll see you and recognize you. Then he can introduce me to one of his sexy teammates. That team is full of grade-A, prime-choice, hot-guy sexiness.”
“First of all, I doubt he’d recognize me. Second, if he did I doubt even more that he’d speak to me. Third, prime-choice, hot-guy sexiness? What is that?”
“Um, every single man on that team.”
Debra and Danielle both laughed. Someone cleared their throat. They both stifled the laughter and turned toward the door. One of the female interns who took water samples along the river stood there with a cooler in her hand. “I’m going to take some samples on the beach today. You need anything before I go?”
Danielle shook her head and tried to look professional. Hard to do after being caught talking about prime male sexiness. “No, Marie, we’re good.”
