Page 85 of Never To Be Mine

I showed Dad the screen. “Look at that spike.”

“Impressive,” he said, and I could hear the genuine approval in his voice. “Very impressive.”

I pulled up the video again.

“Two hundred thousand,” I said, my heart racing. “Oh my God.”

The numbers kept climbing. Not even one at a time. It was thousands.

“This is insane,” I breathed. “I’ve never seen anything move this fast.”

450K.

My phone rang. I answered immediately. “Hollis?”

“Are you seeing this?” His voice was breathless, excited, almost disbelieving. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“I’m seeing it. We’re both seeing it. My dad’s right here.”

“Tell him thank you,” Hollis said. “Tell him this wouldn’t be happening without Young at Heart’s support.”

I looked at my father, who was smiling. “He says thank you.”

“Tell him he’s welcome. And tell him congratulations.”

“Five hundred thousand,” I said into the phone. “Hollis, you just hit five hundred thousand more sales.”

This was business. Professional. But seeing someone work this hard and have it pay off? It meant something. I wanted to celebrate with him.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice soft. “For believing in me. Even after you thought I was just some cocky asshole.”

I laughed. “You’re still a cocky asshole.”

“But my sales numbers don’t lie. Time to get that bottling plant ready for the first run. We have a lot of orders to fill.”

He laughed and hung up. I set my phone down and looked at my father, who was watching me with an expression I refused to acknowledge.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.” But he was smiling. “You did good work here, Juno.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“And for what it’s worth, I think Hollis Blackwell is going to be a very valuable partner for Young at Heart. In more ways than one.”

I felt my cheeks heat, wondering exactly how much my father had picked up on. But he just rolled his chair back around to his side of the desk and focused on his screen. I imagined he saw dollar signs.

We all were.

My phone buzzed with a text from Hollis.

600K. I think I’m going to pass out.

I grinned and typed back: Don’t pass out. You have orders to fill.

I sent Hollis another text: Come to the office. Now. It’s celebration time.

His response came back almost immediately: On my way.