Power and Passion (27 page)

Of course, she cheered on all the other
participants too. The first came in at a record time, a woman from
Dubai who Sara recognized—she had won several marathons in the
region in the last few years and had done a clinic with the Special
Olympic runners. When she saw Sara, she waved and smiled. Sara
raised her hands in the air, celebrating the woman's victory with
her.

And just as she did so, her cell phone
vibrated in her pocket. In the thrill of the moment, without
thinking, she simply took it out and picked up the call, not even
looking at the caller ID.

"Yes, hello!" she shouted into the phone,
trying to make out who was there over the din of the crowd. There
was nothing but silence on the other end. "Hello?" she said again,
putting a hand over her other ear and ducking away to find a
clearing. "Who is this?" she asked, almost ready to hang up.

"Sara, it's me, Pierce."

She stopped in her tracks. Suddenly her feet
felt like they were made of lead. In fact all her limbs felt heavy,
as did her head and most especially her heart. Just hearing his
voice, that familiar way in which he said her name…

"Why are you calling?" she asked before she
knew what she was saying. Normally she would be much more polite,
but he'd taken her by surprise. Besides, she thought, what did she
have to be polite to him for after what he had done to her?

There was another pause on the line, during
which she could hear him breathing softly but nothing else. It was
never that quiet anywhere Pierce went—not at his office, not at any
of the restaurants he frequented, not at the events he attended.
Even at home he always had the TV going, or music, or some online
conference call or webinar. He had never been comfortable in
silence.

Well, people can change
, Sara
thought, but could he really have changed his character that
much?

"Uh, I just want to talk to you," he finally
said then cleared his throat. He really didn't sound too good. His
voice was low and rough, and he spoke slowly. This was not the
Pierce that Sara used to know.

"About what, Pierce?" she asked, craning her
neck to see over the people in front of her. Runners were still
coming in at the finish line but no Adam yet. She would hate to be
stuck back there when he finally made it across. "Listen, this
really isn't—"

"I want you back in my life, Sara," Pierce
replied, not letting her finish her sentence. "I'm sorry for what I
did. I see now that it was wrong. I never should have left you like
that."

He stopped. Sara felt like she should say
something. "What about your new girlfriend?" It was the only
question that came to her mind.

Pierce sighed. "Things with her…didn't
work," he said, sounding so worn out that Sara felt a little bit
sorry for him. She had loved this man once, after all; not to feel
anything now would be cruel. Despite his faults, Pierce was a human
being. Sara could not deny him his pain.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she offered,
trying to keep her tone civil but sympathetic. "But, Pierce, I
can't—"

"Please, Sara," he said, bringing back a
little bit of that old Pierce—the one who was more interested in
what he had to say than in anything Sara might have thought or
felt. "I need you. I'll do anything. I'll…I'll give you the money
back. For the gala. I'll put back the funding I took away—"
"Pierce!" Sara did not like the turn this conversation was taking.
It seemed like he was trying to bribe her, to win her back with
promises of material things. Well, it just proved that he never
knew her well enough. If he had, he would have known that material
things would not sway her.

Oh, she had been very wrong about their
relationship. Now that she had some distance from it, she could see
how dysfunctional it had been.

"I don't need your money, Pierce," she said,
her voice low but firm. "I have raised all I need for the gala."
She thought of Maryam and Joan, her family, her friends, her
colleagues, her work, her goals. All these had helped her move
forward not just financially but emotionally, professionally, even
spiritually. With their support, and through her own inner
strength, she had come so far in such a short time, and she was not
ready to turn back. In fact, she realized in that moment, she never
would.

"And I don't need you," she finished,
feeling the sentiment in her very core. Then she simply ended the
call and put her phone back in her pocket. She took a moment,
breathing deeply. She had never hung up on anyone in her life.
Normally it would have made her feel so bad, but this— it felt more
like she was closing the door on a part of her past she no longer
needed.

What is that saying
? she thought.
When one door closes, another one opens.
Then she rushed
back to the finish line to wait for Adam.

S
ara's shoes clacked against the
floor in the Grand Creek, the sound echoing around the massive
lobby. Listening to it, she was sure of one thing: she should not
have worn heels that day. It was only three days before the gala
was to take place, and she'd been running around the entire city,
it seemed, from the moment she had woken up in the morning. First
she'd gone to her office, where everyone was just as busy as she
was—and all of them working on the gala. Isabella was making sure
all the signage and display photos would be printed and delivered
on time; Paolo was balancing out the expense reports and figuring
out how much last-minute cash they had to work with; and even Diana
was on the phone getting a head count of how many Special Olympics
staff would be there.

The show of support lifted Sara's spirit
immeasurably. She remembered just how unsure she had been about
this idea in the beginning—afraid even to think it to herself, much
less to talk to her colleagues about it. But she had gone ahead and
done many things that were outside her comfort zone even though she
had felt a little scared. Maybe what she did wasn't always perfect,
but that didn't matter. She did the best she could. After all, as
her parents always told her, not being perfect is being human. And
look how far she had come.

Knowing everything was in good hands at the
office, she was able to go off and do the rest of the things she
needed to get done. First up was this visit to the hotel. Sara had
met all the staff a week earlier and had confirmed what was
necessary to do. Today Adam would walk her through the setup for
the gala. The ballroom had already been cordoned off, he'd told
her. Some staff was in there at the moment preparing the stage for
the presentations and entertainers, and an interior
designer—courtesy of the Grand Creek—was overseeing the décor.

"Zhang-Jing," Sara said as she approached
the front desk.

The young woman looked up from her computer
screen. "Sara! We've been expecting you. How are you? Only a few
days left. Are you nervous?"

Sara smiled at her. She and Zhang-Jing had
not spent a lot of time together but enough that they had struck up
a bit of a friendship. She could see the two of them getting
together once in a while after the gala was through.

"Not at all," she replied. "I'm too busy to
be nervous."

Zhang-Jing laughed. "Well, is there anything
I can do to help?"

"Oh, thank you for the offer," Sara replied.
"But you're already doing enough."

Zhang-Jing had volunteered to be the liaison
for the technical support staff at the gala and for the
photographer who would be taking souvenir snapshots of the guests
near the gala's reception desk.

"Well, if there is anything else,"
Zhang-Jing said with a smile.

Sara nodded and was about to speak, but then
she saw Adam walking toward her across the lobby. She raised her
hand to wave to him, and he acknowledged her with a smile.

"I was just on my way back to my office," he
said as he reached her. "You're right on time. Nancy just
arrived."

"Who?" Sara asked as they began to walk
together toward the back of the hotel.

"You know, the woman who manages the
entertainment company I recommended you use to book entertainment
for the gala. She's an expat from Kenya. Wonderful person, and her
artists are top notch."

"Oh, yes," Sara said, feeling embarrassed
that she had not remembered the woman's name. She had met so many
people offering so many services for the night of the event that it
was difficult for her to keep track.

"I've worked with her many times," Adam went
on as they approached his office. "I know she will help you get
exactly what you need."

As soon as Sara met Nancy, she realized Adam
had been right—she really was a lovely woman not just in appearance
but on the inside as well. She was tall, slim, and dark-skinned,
professionally dressed and poised. When she spoke to Sara and Adam,
there was nothing but warmth in her voice. Even though she was
there to provide a business service, she was interested in learning
about the cause behind the gala first, and Sara was more than happy
to tell her. In fact all three of them talked for more than an
hour, not just about the gala but about music and the nonprofit
world in East Africa. Despite the fact that they had come from
different cultural backgrounds, they found they had much common
ground among them—many shared values and outlooks on life.

Adam was pleased that Sara and Nancy got
along so well. By the end of their conversation, they had set up an
excellent entertainment lineup for the gala featuring a Bollywood
dance troupe, a Spanish dance troupe, and two bands. One was a
trio—two female singers and one man on keyboards and guitar—from
the Philippines. The other was a band whose female singer and male
players all came from different parts of East Africa. Both acts
performed mostly English songs from different eras even though they
were not fluent in speaking the language. Their medleys also
included Arabic, Bollywood, African, Persian, and Italian
songs—diverse entertainment from diverse artists, which fit in well
with the theme of the gala. What's more, they all agreed to charge
reduced rates as their contribution to the gala's cause.

Once that meeting was through, Adam was
eager to show Sara the work that had been done in the ballroom.

"Come on, I'll show you," he said, smiling
wide as he held the door of his office open for her. He spoke
quickly and brightly to her as they walked; it was clear he was
excited about how the gala preparations were coming along. "Did you
meet with the caterers this morning?"

"No, that's later today, so they can show me
the buffet menu. I told them I want a wide range of appetizers,
mains, and desserts from diverse international cuisines: Arabic,
Indian, American, British, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Persian. I
explained the objectives of the SO gala to the head chef, and he
seemed quite excited about it. Said he would instruct his staff to
prepare the food straight from the heart." "Sounds great," Adam
said with a smile as he opened the door to the ballroom and ushered
Sara in ahead of him. "They're bringing sample dishes too," she
added. "Why don't you join me to try them?"

Adam agreed then went on to talk about some
other details about the gala, but Sara barely heard a word he
said.

She looked around the ballroom in awe. She'd
forgotten just how big it was, which meant the gala itself would be
big as well.

Not big. Huge
, she thought, looking
around at the flurry of activity. The staff was decorating the
stage with satin drapes, covering the tables and chairs with
colored fabric and gold sashes, setting up the screens and
microphones for the presentations, and testing the sound system. In
a corner a florist showed his wares to a woman in a black
embroidered abaya—Sara recognized her as one of Adam's staff. She
nodded and smiled as the florist brushed his fingers gently over an
arrangement, speaking with the most serious look upon his face.
Closer to where Sara and Adam stood, the designer—a female expat
from Iran—stood back looking at two different centerpieces,
deciding which one to use.

"I said just let me know if there's anything
else I can help you with," Adam replied with a laugh as he put a
hand on her arm and brought her farther into the ballroom.

"Yes, yes, I definitely will," Sara replied,
finally looking back at him. "I'm sorry. I'm just so in awe. I
can't believe this is really happening."

Adam tilted his head to the side and lowered
his eyebrows. "Can't believe it why?"

Sara sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"Because it all had seemed like such a dream when I'd thought of
it. I didn't think it would be possible. And we've had some big
setbacks along the way." "But you're here now, and that's what
counts," Adam told her, sweeping his arm out in front of them,
gesturing to the entire room. "Whatever hardships you've faced,
you've obviously overcome them."