An unfamiliar, much-too-new for the area truck rumbled down the road behind them, and Kate’s stomach clenched. The government reps. They stepped to the side to let it pass and moved backward to try to avoid the clouds of dust left in its wake. They fanned the air in front of them and walked along the grass to keep from sucking in the dust.
“I know that, but I took it all on face value. When Raymond said we were getting all the funding we could and to make it work, that’s what I did. I made it work, and I never minded that. I was resentful that I didn’t have more interested volunteers, but I didn’t mind the work I was doing. You know, this makes me want to step back from it all—or go full force to fix it. Have you ever felt that way? Like you want to run away and curse a blue streak all at once?”
“Only every day of my career.”
People of all ages gathered in groups in the road and in the yards of their small huts, talking among themselves. Most of the men were still out at the fields, and while many children were at school, there were several young girls who regularly stayed to help their mothers with the cooking and cleaning, as well as toddlers, too young for school. Kate waved to an elderly gentleman sitting in a chair by his front door. He nodded and waved back.
The truck that had passed them was parked to the side, and two men dressed in short-sleeved, button-down shirts were traipsing through the grass, holding enormous maps. Their faces were serious as they studied the area, pointing to different parts of the land. Panic prickled Kate’s nerves. What if this is our only chance? What if they deny us and they won’t consider it again for a year or two? Then I’ve failed the community. She had an urge to throw her hands up in the air and say, Wait! I made a huge mistake. We can raise the money for the well. I know we can. Give me six months and then come back. She also had an urge to turn and run back to the cabins, to find Sage and apologize for being so damn stubborn until she had no words left.
“What do you think? Should we go badger them?” Kate asked.
Luce shrugged. “I know about American PR, but Belize PR might be very different. What have you done in the past?”
“Emailed. About a hundred times over the last two years.” Kate had sent so many emails lobbying on behalf of the villagers that she was sure whoever read the emails rolled their eyes when they saw them in their Inbox. “You know, standing here, watching them survey the land like they hold all the cards…”
“Which they do.”
“Yeah, I know. But watching them pisses me off. Build the damn well. It’s that simple. See the need. Find a way. Fill the need.”
“And that’s exactly what makes you so good at your job.”
Kate spun around at the sound of Sage’s voice. “Sage.” She looked down at her sweat-soaked clothes.
“What’s a little sweat between friends?” He pulled her close and kissed her quickly. “Hey, Luce, how’s it going?”
“We can’t really tell. One of those guys is the engineer, we assume. We just got here, but they arrived only minutes before us.”
“That’s not really what I meant.” Sage nodded toward Kate.
“She told me about the press for the mural, if that’s what you mean,” Kate said. “Sage, I feel like such an idiot. What Luce said makes sense. I think she’s right, and I have been very, very wrong for a long time. You must think I’m an idiot for not using every possible avenue to gain attention and funding.”
“I don’t think that at all. In fact, you changed my thinking, which is a good thing. My first inclination was to paint and ship those canvases back to the States, remember? Then sell them and give the income to the community. But after listening to your reasoning, which I have to admit, at first seemed slightly on the conservative side, you made me realize there’s a better way to do this.”
“I don’t follow,” Kate said.
He pulled a fistful of rolled-up papers from his back pocket and flattened them against his thigh. “This is what it costs to put a single well for each family here.” He pointed to a figure. “And this is what it costs to install a community well.” He pointed to another figure. “Obviously, the community well is the more cost-effective route, and that’s what the Belize government will be looking at. The way it works is that water is pumped from the ground into large tanks and gravity takes over from there. Each house has one water spigot, which I believe engineers call the pipe.”
Kate listened with awe. He’d spent the morning painting. How on earth did he dig up this information, and where was he going with it?
“I know about community wells, but where did you get all this?” She pointed to the papers.
“I called Jack. He studied engineering and he went to school with a guy who does this for a living. He pulled a favor. Basically, this is what we need to get the well.” He pointed to the community-well figure. “The problem is, it doesn’t cost that much more to put in a community well that serves three times as many people in a larger community, and that’s what your engineers are going to squawk about. In their budget-conscious minds, why give water to a few hundred people when for a few bucks more they can give it to a thousand?”
“So we’re back to square one?” Kate sighed, feeling defeated and beyond frustrated. She wiped her brow with her arm.
“No. That’s what I was getting at next. Luce, you got me thinking the other day about PR and what it can do for a place like this. On the one hand, the wrong public relations will turn this village into a spectacle and a nightmare. These people have happy lives, or they seem to, and while they need better amenities, they don’t necessarily need the fanfare that comes along with it. So, I had a few ideas. The first of which is my favorite.” He shoved the papers back into his pocket.
“It’s no secret that I feel a little strangled in New York, and I feel gluttonous with my income and all that I have. I came here to figure out a way to pay my good fortune forward. The one thing my art has done for me is given me the ability to earn a living doing something I love. It’s just the location I don’t love. I don’t hate New York. I just wish I had more time in rural areas with grass and trees and not so much stress. And that’s where this trip has made a difference. I’m well connected in the arts community, so why not open a nonprofit to fund villages like Punta Palacia through the arts? I’m not talking about bringing in celebrities. I don’t think that’s the right tactic for something like this. I envision keeping the close-knit, private villages as just that. Private. Without the disturbances of celebs and cameras. I envision the funding handled in the States, and then when the wells are installed, no press. Or if anything, a local photog taking a few candid shots without any fanfare or even recognition of who is there when they’re onsite, so the focus is where it should be. Installing the wells, or running a program.” He looked around. “By the way, where are Clayton and Cassidy?”
Kate and Luce exchanged a curious glance. Kate had been so involved in her own thoughts and what Sage was saying that she hadn’t noticed that they didn’t show up.
“No idea,” Kate answered.
“Hm. We’ll find them later, I guess. Anyway, I think we can market the idea to artists who create tangible art instead of actors and actresses, see who we can get to donate one piece per year and then hold an annual auction.”
Luce nodded. “Brilliant.”
“An annual auction? How can that possibly bring in enough money to help any community?” Kate watched Luce and Sage exchange a look that clearly said she had no idea what she was talking about.
“With the right artists donating their work, we could be talking a total of a few million, Kate. Some pieces go for the mid-six-figure range. If we do this right, with an annual auction and high-end work, we can help many communities,” Sage answered.
Kate blinked several times, thinking she misheard him. “How much?”
“Millions. It’s brilliant.” Luce pulled out her phone and typed something in.
“I want in,” Luce said. “I mean, part time, just to help you create a strategy and s
pread the word.”
“Sure,” he answered. “I figured you’d also know some key PR players in the nonprofit world.”
“In?” Kate asked. Why did she feel like she was lost? She was never lost.
“She wants to be part of the effort,” Sage explained. “What do you think, Kate? Does it sound like something that might work?”
“I…Yeah. I’m floored.” She shook her head. “That must cost a lot of money to start up, and it probably takes a lot of time, and I can’t imagine the—”
Sage touched her arm, and when she looked into his eyes, she immediately felt calmer. She loved that about him.
“There are costs associated with setting up the actual nonprofit, but it’s not an enormous sum of money. It takes a few weeks for each part of the process, probably ninety days on the outside, quicker if the attorneys pull strings. Then it’s whatever we make of it. We can decide on what we’ll fund and focus on those areas, such as wells. There will be some major expenses. I have an accountant who can handle the finances and ensure we’re meeting all nonprofit requirements. We’ll need someone to handle the administration of the business, and it’ll mean researching villages, traveling, so there’s a big time commitment, and the administrative expenses will need to be recouped by the sales at some rate—the accountant will handle all of that. It won’t be an easy effort, but it would be a meaningful one.”
I want to do that. She imagined the elation of the residents if she came into Punta Palacia with the news that they were bringing in a company to drill a community well. She eyed the two gentlemen and their big maps as they crossed the thick grass and walked into the jungle a few feet from where they stood. It would be so great not to rely on people like them for a community’s needs to be met. Adrenaline soared through her.
“Do you really think that’s all possible?” She bit her lower lip, trying to keep herself from getting too excited.
“Nothing in life comes with guarantees. If we fail, we fail. If we don’t try, villages are at the mercy of people like them.” He nodded to where the men had disappeared into the forest. “There’ll be headaches and red tape, and according to Craig, there are all sorts of hoops to jump through to gain approval, but I’m confident that with the right people on board we can make a go of it.”
We? “You keep saying we.”
Sage held her gaze, and when he spoke, his voice was dead serious. “Kate, I don’t know where we’re headed as a couple, but this idea was born because of you, and regardless of where we end up, I was hoping that you’d want to be part of it.”
Where we’ll end up? “I…”
“I feel like I’m witnessing a major moment here. I think I’ll wait over there.” Luce walked away, and Kate looked up at Sage with a million questions.
Where are we heading? She had to concentrate on what he was offering first. What did it all mean? Where would she work? What resources would she have? She couldn’t formulate the questions. He took her hand in his, and her mind fell right back to wondering where they were heading.
“You look like I scared the shit out of you, and I’m sure I did. This is a lot to process, and it’s a huge idea taking shape, Kate. An idea that could bring the kind of resources that you want for villages like this one. It would bring fresh drinking water, alleviating the need for the kids to haul buckets before dawn and come to school exhausted.” He stepped closer and his gaze softened.
“I want to be with you, Kate, but that doesn’t mean that you have to be involved with the nonprofit, or that I have to open it. This is like the missing piece of my life. I have so much, and I can use what I have to help others. That would make me happy, but nothing would make me happier than being with you. Now, next week, ten years from now.”
Kate swallowed hard. Me too!
“I’m not asking you to run off and marry me. I’m saying that I want this relationship. I want to see where it goes—separate from the nonprofit. I also want the nonprofit. It’s a good idea. It’s a meaningful endeavor, and it would mean the world to me if you wanted to be involved with it, but if you don’t want to be, that’s okay. I just need to know if you want us.”
“I want us. I want to see where we go.” More than anything in this entire world, I want to be with you.
Sage’s lips curved into a smile.
“And I want to be involved with what you’re planning, but I don’t know anything about running a business.”
“We’ll hire experts who will guide us, and you do know about running a business. You keep schedules, budgets, oversee volunteers. You might not be well versed in the fundraising end of things, but you don’t have to be. You can learn that. I can learn that. The PR person we hire will do that and tell us what we need to know. The most important thing is that you want to see where we go. As long as there’s an us, anything else is doable.”
“You’re so confident. Aren’t you scared?” I’m scared shitless.
“I’m more scared of not being with you than starting a business.”
God, I love you. She clenched her lips together to trap the thought. “I…Oh God, Sage.”
He smiled down at her. “I know.”
And she knew he did.
“We’re falling for each other and it’s all so fast it feels crazy.”
Yes! She managed a nod.
He brushed her bangs from her forehead. “It’s all gonna be fine. I have faith in what I feel, Kate, and I can feel how much you care about me. I’m not worried.”
“I do care about you. What if the business fails? I don’t have a home, an income…”
“Kate.”
“Would I work remotely? From my parents’ house? Travel when I have to? How would I see you?” Kate was used to having her finger on every aspect of her life and keeping it all under control. In the span of ten minutes, Sage had managed to cast her organized life into the wind. Her stomach churned and her nerves tingled.
He must have read the worry in her eyes, or in her trembling limbs, because he settled his hands on her shoulders and said, “Breathe, Kate.”
She nodded, taking one deep breath after another.
“We’ll figure it all out. I know my artwork will sell at an auction, and I have friends who will want to take part in the effort. It’s exciting. Risky as hell. But the worst that happens is that we try and we don’t hit our mark, and then we regroup and figure out another way.”
“What if...? What if we don’t make it? Then I’ll have given up…” She looked around at the place she’d called home for the past two years. The location she was getting ready to leave without any knowledge of where she would be going next. What was she really giving up? Her autonomy? She didn’t love the idea of autonomy like she used to. She shifted her gaze back to him. She loved Sage.
“Well, first of all, I wouldn’t try something this serious if I didn’t think we’d make it. And second of all, I’ve never been in love before.” He searched her eyes as he drew in a breath.
Love!
“So I don’t have much to compare what I’m feeling to, other than to know that it’s way bigger than like, and it’s scary as shit. But when I’m with you, I feel whole. I love the person you are. I love your heart, which I swear is bigger than anyone else’s in the world. I love how you stand up for what you believe in, with me and for others. Kate, you’re everything I could ever want. You’re strong, and smart, and generous, and you’re sweet, and delicious.” He kissed her. “There’s no better feeling in the world than what I feel when I’m with you.”
You love my heart. She pressed her hand to his chest, feeling his heart beating just as fast as hers. “I love your heart too, Sage.”
Luce’s footsteps pulled her attention back to where they were. Several women stood with their hands clasped before them. Some covered their mouths, while others nodded with a dreamy look in their eyes. Kate felt her cheeks flush.
Sage took a respectful step back.
“Hey, lovebirds, here they come.” Luce nodded toward the tw
o men walking through the thick grass toward the group.
“You can do this, Kate. I have faith in you,” Sage said.
Pull it together. Focus. How am I supposed to focus after everything Sage just said? Kate took a deep breath and pulled her shoulders back as the men approached. This was her chance.
The taller of the two gentlemen addressed them with a thick Creole accent.
“I am Ivan Dawson, from the Ministry of Rural Development’s office, and this is Paolo Hernandez, a developmental engineer. We are considering proceeding with the implementation of a community well.”
There was a collective gasp, then a low murmur among the residents.
“Considering proceeding?” Kate asked. That’s not a rejection. Yes! She shot a glance at Sage and Luce, and when a smile stretched across her lips, she was unable to rein it in.
Mr. Dawson nodded. “Yes, we are taking it under consideration.”
Kate held her hand out. “I’m Kate Paletto. I’m with Artists for International Aid. Thank you. That is great news. Is there anything we can do to help?”
Mr. Dawson shook her hand and narrowed his eyes. “Kate Paletto?”
“Yes.”
He shifted his eyes to Mr. Hernandez, then back to Kate. “You have been very persistent in your efforts to secure this well.”
Kate held his gaze, but the weak tone when she answered reflected her silent internal cringe. “Yes, sir.”
He nodded. “You’re hard to ignore.”
Sage cleared his throat and took a step closer to Kate, standing behind her and settling his hand on her shoulder.
“If you had not been so persistent, we might not be considering this location.” Mr. Dawson turned and looked over the community again. “Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, Ms. Paletto. I will be writing a letter of commendation to the director of your organization.”
Kate blinked several times, trying to mask her shock. “Thank you, sir. I’m…Thank you. What happens next for the people of Punta Palacia?”
“Mr. Hernandez will put in his recommendation, run the necessary tests, and we’ll have a final decision within the next thirty days. Assuming the recommendation is accepted, we will begin implementation of the well within sixty days.”
Stroke of Love Page 19