Even though Kate had hoped to have time to meet someone and have a real relationship with them once she got settled in Boston, it hadn’t happened.  She had spent so much time wrapped up in whatever it was she had with Brian that she had pretty much forgotten how people interacted when they weren’t working together.  She was also a workaholic. It made it difficult for her to have close friends, but she had made a few.

Brian found ways to visit her in Boston.  He wasn’t crazy about where she lived, but he couldn’t make himself stay away from her.  Plus he really genuinely liked the woman she had become.  She was changing things.  She was almost in the midst of a career change and she didn’t even realize it yet.

Kate was working full-time at the Dorchester House Multi Service Center and she loved it.  She was able to practice nursing and help educate the community around the clinic.  And she had done so well at organizing events for the clinic that she had been asked to plan outside events.  It seemed that every time she had a new event concluded, she had at least 2 of 3 people asking her about planning their events.  At an event to help raise money for children with cystic fibrosis, she was approached by Donnie Wahlberg.  He wanted to do a fundraiser to help raise money for one of the youth associations in Dorchester, the Dorchester Youth Collaborative.  She was familiar with them; their offices were just down the street from her full-time job.

Donnie had just separated from his wife and was keeping busy with community projects  and work to help keep himself busy.  It wasn’t just the event that Kate had pulled off for Cystic Fibrosis that got him interested in hiring her.  She wasn’t just a good event planner.  She was obviously someone who had lots going on in her life and would be able to understand his crazy work and life schedule.  Plus, she didn’t care that he was a celebrity. He laughed when he remembered their first meeting.

He had walked over to near where she was standing with one of the host’s for the event.  He could see that she was on the phone and asked the host if he could introduce them.  He was impressed that someone could say what she had said and have such a pleasant tone of voice: “I don’t really care who the hell he is or what he wants right this second.  I have a bride on the phone having a total meltdown and I need to keep her from calling off the wedding…” He couldn’t help eavesdropping on her conversation after that.  If he hadn’t known any better, he’d have sworn she was on the phone with her closest friend trying to calm her down and not just a client.  After a few minutes he walked away realizing that it might be a long conversation.

After about 15 minutes, he saw her walking towards him.

“Hi,” he said once she had reached him.

“Hi, I’m Kate Parker,” she said holding out her hand for him to shake.

He shook her hand and smiled. “Donnie Wahlberg.  Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.  Jerry said you wanted to talk to me.  Are you looking for an event planner?”

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty unsuccessful at raising money for the Dot Youth Collaborative and wanted to try to get some help doing that.”

“Any ideas why you haven’t had a good response?” she asked.

“Probably because I’m too busy working or actually spending time there with the kids to do anything else,” he admitted.

“I understand.  Completely.”  She pulled out her phone and checked her calendar. She made a note to visit the DYC one afternoon the next week.  “I’ll go by and check things out there this Tuesday.  I can give you my number and when you have time, you can get in touch with me. Once I’ve visited and have a feel for the place myself, I can work up a plan and present something to you formally. ”

That was perfect to Donnie.  No deadlines. Just call her when he had a chance.  He took her cell phone number and then she was off and back in control of the fundraiser in progress.

It took Donnie about a month before he called her.  She laughed when he got her on the phone and identified himself.  She hadn’t forgotten him but she was in a meeting and would have to call him back in about half an hour.  She sent him a text message with a file attached.  She explained in the text that the file was an outline and tentative proposal of what she had in mind to help raise money for the DYC.  He looked it over and couldn’t think of a single thing to change about it. He especially loved the way she involved local businesses in the whole concept.  It wasn’t just great for the DYC,  it was great for the whole community.

When she called him back, they discussed a few more details and she said she would finalize her paperwork and wanted to figure out a time when they could meet to review it and sign a contract. After discussing several dates that either one or both of them were unable to agree on, Kate finally had an idea.  She hated faxing things.  If there were questions, she wanted to be able to be sure her clients understood all the  details.

“Donnie, you said you are at the DYC sometimes. How often is sometimes?”

“At least every two weeks. Why?”

“How about if you call me the next time you are there and I’ll come over and we can take care of this?”

He was so relieved.  “Sounds good. I promise it won’t be a month before I get back to you.”

She laughed and they ended their call.

He ended up at the DYC about 4 days later and called her.  She asked how long he’d be there and made plans to be there before he left.  He was surprised to see her in a nurse’s uniform, but she explained that she had been covering in the clinic for one of the nurses who had a family emergency. They reviewed the contract together and he found nothing he wanted to change.  The wording was simple and the contract indicated that any changes he wanted made could be done so in writing up to one week prior to the event.  The event date was left blank.  It took them a few more minutes of schedule comparing to come up with a date that was 3 months away: April 2nd, 2009.  He was so excited.  Kate already had pretty much everything laid out and she just needed to notify everyone of the date.

Donnie kept in touch with Kate weekly.  A lot of the time it was just phone tag, but he genuinely liked talking to her.  He had talked about her to his brother Mark, and the guys in his band, New Kids On The Block.  Soon, he was calling her to see if she had time to help with events for them.

By the end of the night for the DYC fundraiser, they had raised almost $150,000.  Kate had been a little stressed at the start of the night.  But she said she was always nervous when things got started.  After it was all over, she was there helping tear things down and making sure everything was in order.  Donnie saw her take off her heels and her blazer and stretch her shoulders and neck.  He couldn’t not walk over and tell her thank you and rub her shoulders just a little bit.  He laughed at the way she tensed up at first but then gave in to his hands. He only worked on her shoulders and her neck. When he went to work on her lower back she moved away and turned around to face him. He couldn’t fathom why she’d want him to stop. Women never wanted him to stop. Hell, no one ever wanted anyone to stop a massage, did they?

“That was great, but I like to try to keep professional things separate…and a massage isn’t something I routinely get after an event,” she explained.

“You should look into it then. They’re great.”

“I’m pretty sure most of my clients aren’t going to pay for me to get a massage, especially after the event is over.”

“They will once they realize how amazing you are.  It could be a bonus.”

“I’ll be sure and put that in my next contract,” she teased and ran off to help stack chairs.  He laughed and took off his suit jacket and joined her.

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