: Part 10 – Chapter 42

There’s a round of applause as June runs out of the room, and I follow her down the hall with my eyes until I can’t see her anymore. I try to step around my dad, who’s gotten up to give me a hug, but my team crowds me too, giving me handshakes on a job well done after months of work and a last-minute change-up. The last week has been filled with late-night meetings and overnight pizza, and I couldn’t have pulled it off without any of them.

Still, the only person I want to see right now is June.

“We think both directions have potential, but yours felt truly personal, Beau,” Marcus Hughes states with a small smile. “It’s sex without overdoing it, and we think it’s the perfect launch for Midnight. We’re excited to be working with you and your impassioned team, and you can bet we’ll be back with some of our other companies that need a rebranding.”

I shake Marcus Hughes’s hand, elated and deflated all at the same time. At the start of all this, I couldn’t have named something that would mean more to me than winning this campaign. Today, I hardly care at all. “Thank you, sir. It was truly a firm effort to bring you the best options we could. I’m really looking forward to working more with you in the future.”

He steps away and lassos a finger, rounding up the rest of his team as they pack up their stuff on the table, and my dad’s assistant Denise escorts them out of the office. My dad pulls me into another hug and shakes my hand. “I’m proud of you, son.”

Chris shakes my hand too. “Good job, Beau. Interested to see where the next year takes us.”

I nod as he and Seth leave the room together, Seth trailing behind, a little dejected. I’d love to feel worse for him, and maybe I would if he hadn’t tried to rob my whole campaign right out from under my nose just like he did with my ex-girlfriend.

Ironically, I changed my team’s campaign pitch because of June. But not because she told me more about Seth’s scheming, but rather because my love for her is the ultimate inspiration.

Because I felt like this was the only way to reach her. Ever since Christmas Eve, she’s refused any contact with me, and this pitch felt like the only way for me to tell her how I really feel about her. To tell her that I love her.

Quite a risk, given the importance of the pitch, but I guess when you find the one person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you’re willing to put it all on the line.

Though, right now, after June disappeared from the room, I don’t have a fucking clue where I stand with her. And that reality is the only thing my brain is fixated on, even as my dad continues to tell me congratulations and comment on how great he thought my pitch was.

“Hey,” Avery says, shoving in where my dad and I stand at the front of the room. She’s out of breath, and her normally carefully crafted appearance is frayed around the edges. “I tried to catch up with her, but Steve says she was already out of the building before I got downstairs.”

Instantly, her words give me hope that my sister has finally come around to the idea of June and me together. Because if Avery is okay with us, then maybe, just maybe, I can get my June back.

“What?” my dad asks.

“June,” Avery and I say at the same time, and once again, his eyebrows draw together.

“I’m confused. Are the two of you speaking again? Have you made up with June?”

Avery rolls her eyes. “Geez, Dad, didn’t you hear Beau’s presentation? Of course we’re speaking.”

My dad just stares at her. “Say it slow for me because I still don’t understand.”

Avery stomps a little foot, and I remember everything I’ve always loved about my sister. She may be flighty and work-averse, but she also believes in doing what’s right for the people she loves. “Dad! Beau just professed his love for June, live and in color in front of all these people in here.”

My dad’s jaw gapes as he looks at me. “He did?”

“The whole campaign is their story!” Avery nearly shouts.

“So, we’re good?” I ask.

Avery’s smile is huge. “Are you kidding? My bestie for the restie is actually going to end up being my real sister one day. This is the best-case scenario times a million.”

I shake my head. “Yeah, well, none of that is going to happen if I don’t find a way to convince her.”

“Wait, wait,” my dad cuts in again. “You’re in love with June?”

“Yes, Dad!” Avery and I both say at the same time.

“Well, then I should probably let you know she emailed me her resignation letter this morning,” my dad updates, and my stomach plummets to my fucking shoes. “Starting in the new year, she plans to go work for her father.”

“What?” Avery shouts. “No way! No way is that ho taking that job and leaving me behind to do actual work here!”

“Avery,” our dad chides, and she holds up a playful hand in his face to talk directly to me.

“No, Beau. We’re not letting that happen. Not on my watch.” She pokes a stern index finger into my chest. “Beau, you just be at the company party at midnight tonight with a plan and a speech to win our girl over. I’ll get her there, okay?”

“You know where to find her?” I ask, and her nod is solemn.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

“All right,” I agree. “I’m counting on you.”

“Save your counting for sheep, Beau Banks,” Avery says, heading for the door. “I’ll have Juniper Perry at that party tonight one way or another. That’s a guarantee.”

And all I can do is offer up a silent prayer that she manages to come through.