Page 106 of Never To Be Mine

“No, no, no.” I tried again. Voicemail again.

I sent a text: Juno, I just saw. Please call me. We can fix this.

I called her office.

“Young at Heart, this is Kari.”

“Kari, it’s Hollis. I need to talk to Juno. It’s urgent.”

There was a pause. “She’s not available right now.”

“Please. I know she’s upset, but I need to talk to her.”

“She’s in a meeting with her father and the legal team.” Kari’s voice was professional but not unkind. “I’ll let her know you called.”

The line went dead.

I stood there, staring at my phone, feeling the walls closing in. The legal team. That couldn’t be good. That meant they were discussing the partnership, reviewing contracts, figuring out their options.

I’d fucked up. Badly. I called Micah.

“Can’t you go one week without going viral?” he said when he answered.

“You’ve seen it.”

“Everyone’s seen it, bro. It’s everywhere.” I heard him sigh. “How could you fuck up the timing that bad? What were you thinking?”

“I was doing research!” I started pacing, unable to stand still. “I wanted to taste the competition. See what we were up against. I had no idea someone was filming me, fucking creep.”

I told him about meeting with Dan, about the offhand comment about not remembering the last time either of us had eaten a fast food burger. I had gotten curious how we stacked up to the competition.

“So you were doing legitimate product research,” Micah said slowly.

“Exactly.”

“And you didn’t think to, I don’t know, do that research somewhere private? Somewhere you wouldn’t be recognized and filmed?”

“Obviously not.” I rubbed my face with my free hand. “I wasn’t thinking. I was hungry and curious and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Well, it wasn’t.” Micah’s voice was gentle but firm. “Look, I get what you were trying to do. It makes sense from a development standpoint. But optics-wise? You fucked up.”

“I know.”

“The problem is context. Without the full story, it just looks like you don’t believe in your own product. Like you’re pushing a healthy burger you don’t eat yourself.”

I sank into a chair, feeling defeated. “Should I try explaining myself? Put out my own video in response?”

“I don’t know, man. I’m not sure how to handle this one.” He paused. “You need to talk to Juno. Come up with a strategy with them.”

“I’m sure they hate me right now,” I said, sighing.

“Maybe.” Micah’s bluntness was oddly comforting. At least he wasn’t sugarcoating it. “But sitting around feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to help. Get your ass over there and fight for this. Fight for your company.”

He was right.

“Thanks, Micah.”

“Anytime. And Hollis? For what it’s worth, I believe you. You’re a lot of things, but you’re not a hypocrite. I know you eat your own burgers because you’ve made everyone in the family try them. I know you actually care about this stuff.”