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I watched him exit, then spun around and ran straight into a thick wall of chest clad in an elegant tux.

“Whoa there,” Charles said as he wrapped his arms around me and pressed a kiss to my hairline. “Sorry I’m a few minutes late. Had a client meeting run over. How’s everything going so far? How can I help?”

I fell into his hug, trying to allow myself a quick moment of relaxation. My heart still thrummed wildly, though. It seemed taking care of all these last-minute details had sent my body into fight or flight mode.

I’d been so busy running around that I hadn’t even realized Charles had turned up late. Did that mean I had even less time than I thought?Ugh.

For his part, Charles had agreed to serve as our chief auctioneer. Nobody could state a case like he did in the Blueberry Bay court rooms, so I was counting on him to also be fantastic at getting great prices for not-so-great items. Charity, and all that. Nan had also asked a few friends to help drive up the prices on the silent auctions, which I hoped wouldn’t backfire on us in the end.

“Angie, is everything all right?” he asked, studying me closely. He’d always been able to read me just like a book. There was no hiding anything from Charles.

“Everything’s fine.” I gave him a quick kiss hello and pulled away. “Just lots to do.”

“Then put me to work. Does Cal need help moving the furniture?” He cracked his knuckles in an adorable display of manliness.

“Not while you’re wearing that,” I said with a chuckle. “You look very handsome, by the way.”

“And you look gorgeous, but not much like the Angie I know.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him. “What’s with these gloves? Fancy, but definitely not you.”

“Nan,” I muttered under my breath, and he broke out laughing.

“That’ll do it.” He took my hand and kissed each of the gloved fingertips. “When this is all over, I’ll take you out for a nice dinner to celebrate, and you can wear the outfit you were planning to wear tonight. Deal?”

I nodded and flashed him a grateful smile.“Thank you. I may need a week or two to recover, but that would be lovely.”

“Okay. Enough yammering. How can I help?” He released me from his arms and stepped back. That made it easier to think. Otherwise, I could lose myself in those strong arms of his.

“Can you check that everything’s ready for the 5k? I think the start and finish line banner still needs to be hung up. Nan went overboard of course, and it wound up at least three times bigger than it ever needed to be. You may need to find someone to help secure one end while you work on the other.”

Charles gave me his cheesiest grin along with an enthusiastic thumbs up.“I’m on it!”

Okay, so he was taking care of that. The volunteers upstairs had the adoptable pets under control. That left… The DJ. Debbie the DJ. I’d found her when she replied to an online job listing I’d posted asking for a volunteer to aid in a charity event. Since she was the only one who ever bothered to reply, she was the one who got the job, sight unseen and DJing unheard. I know this wasn’t a paid gig, but shouldn’t she have been here by now?

I tracked back to the kitchen and found my phone waiting on the counter. I had three missed texts, all from Debbie.

Hey. Feeling a bit under the weather. Not sure I can make it tonight, the first read. That had been sent just over half an hour ago. Talk about short notice! How was I supposed to find a replacement at this late hour?

The next message was worse still:Feeling a lot under the weather now. Rain check?

Rain check? Seriously? This event was happening tonight, with or without our DJ.

Sorry. Will see if I can find a replacement.

That was sent ten minutes ago. I hated this. Confrontation was not my forte, but neither was failure. Yes, this event was huge and convoluted and crazy, but we’d already put so much work into making this night a success. I refused to let a case of the sniffles ruin that.

I took a deep breath and braced myself for the uncomfortable call ahead. Before I could hit the button to place that call though, I received a new text from an unknown number.

Hey, this is Max. My friend Debbie said you need a DJ for tonight. How much does the gig pay?

I clenched my jaw. Debbie had agreed to do it on the house. Apparently she hadn’t passed that bit of info on to Max. Still, I’d rather pay for the help than take over the job myself. I already had a million and one things to oversee, and Nan hated my taste in music as it was.

And so I typed back:$100?

Sold. Text me the location and I’ll be OMW. Cash only btw.

Yeah. I didn’t have one hundred dollars on me tonight. In fact, I never did. Credit cards existed for a reason, but fine. Maybe we could pay Max from the donations jar, and I could write a check for the shelter to make up for it.

Yes, that would have to do. I definitely didn’t have time to rush to the bank so close to go time.