Page 24 of Never To Be Mine

He made the adjustment, bringing the color down to something more realistic. More like the shakes actually looked. Authenticity was the key to all of this. People could smell bullshit a mile away.

“Better?” Toby asked.

I studied it critically. “Yeah. That’s perfect.”

“Cool.” He started saving the file. “Want me to export it now?”

“Hold on. Play it again.”

I watched it with the same critical eye. It was solid. But was it perfect?

We spent another twenty minutes making it perfect.

This was why I paid him well. Probably more than most social media managers made right out of college. But he earned every penny. He never half-assed anything.

Plus, he put up with my perfectionist tendencies without complaint.

“Okay,” I said finally, sitting back in my chair. “I think that’s it. That’s the one.”

“You sure?” Toby asked, his finger hovering over the export button. “Because I can stick around if you want to keep tweaking.”

“No, we’re good. Export it.”

“This is going to kill at the meeting,” Toby said. “Seriously. The PriceCo people are going to lose their minds.”

I hoped he was right. This reel was the centerpiece of my pitch. Everything else was just supporting evidence.

“Want me to put it on a thumb drive for you?” Toby asked.

“Yeah. And send me a backup copy to my email just in case.”

“Smart.” He pulled a thumb drive from his bag and plugged it into his laptop.

“I know I made you redo stuff a bunch of times, but it paid off. This is exactly what I needed. Thank you. I know I can be a pain in the ass.”

“That’s what I’m here for, man. We done for today?” Toby asked, already packing up his equipment.

“Yeah, we’re done. Thanks for coming in on short notice.”

“No problem. Just let me know if you need anything else before the meeting.”

I needed to let Juno know what I had. She’d want to review it before the meeting, make sure it aligned with whatever standards Young at Heart had for presentations.

I pulled up my messages and found her contact.

This shouldn’t be complicated. It was just a simple text about business. Completely professional.

So why did my heart rate pick up just thinking about sending it?

I typed out the message: I prepped something for the meeting. Can I drop it off for you tomorrow?

I hit send before I could overthink it any more. I was a flirty guy. Friendly. But with her, I had to keep all that locked down.

The message showed as delivered. Then, after a few seconds, the read receipt appeared.

I waited for a response.

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