Chapter 24
“Do you feel ready?” Rowan asked Juniper as she sat on the edge of their hotel bed the next morning.
Juniper tilted her head from side to side and slid on her heels. “I don’t know. I guess.”
“Do you want to go over the presentation one more time?”
“No. I got that part down. I’m nervous, generally.”
“Everyone here wants to hear everything you have to say.”
“If you say so.”
Rowan reached for her hand and pulled her to sit on the bed next to her. She furrowed her brows. Juniper spread her thumbs over them to smooth them back out.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m only worried that you feel like people don’t want you to be here or don’t care about what you have to say.”
“It’s just that this is like the culmination of my life’s work so far. And I’m presenting about it to people I don’t know. I don’t know that they’ll understand why it’s so important.”
“I don’t think anyone could hear you talk about your life’s work and not understand, very deeply, why it’s critical to our survivance as Indigenous people.”
Juniper blushed. “Thank you. That’s very kind.”
“I’m not trying to be kind, Junie. I’m being honest. Fuck what everybody else thinks anyway. You get to show up everyday and tell the world who you want to be, how you define yourself. You don’t leave it up to them to do it for you.”
They kissed and lingered there for a few moments before Rowan added, “Also, I’m sorry, but you look really hot.”
Juniper play-shoved her shoulder. “Shut up. So do you.”
She bit her lip at the thought of sliding her hands inside her jacket shoulders to push it off her body. She’d undo her tie, maybe leave it on the bed for later. Then she’d lift her shirt from where it was tucked inside her pants…
“I know that face. Coffee in the lobby before we get carried away?” Rowan interrupted.
Juniper grabbed her bag and sighed. “Safe bet.”
With fifteen minutes to go before their presentation, Juniper teetered nervously on her heels behind the curtains at the side of the stage in the ballroom.
She hadn’t known before this morning that due to the overwhelming interest in their presentation, their room had shifted from a standard conference room to one that could accommodate much more seating.
This room had screens to broadcast her face. And she had been mic-ed up with Rowan.
“You’re going to be great. You have always been enough. You are more than enough in this moment.”
Juniper drew in a breath that puffed out her cheeks, then blew it out. “Do I look okay?” She asked.
“So beautiful. So powerful.” Rowan tucked a strand of hair behind Juniper’s ear. “I love that you’re wearing these big ass beaded earrings.”
“It’s not too much is it? I wanted to Indigenize this place a little bit.”
“Hell yeah. It’s never too much. Never enough, really.”
Juniper smiled. “One last kiss,” she requested.
When she pulled back she saw the lipstick she’d left on Rowan’s lips. She used her thumb to wipe it off.
“I thought you might be trying to mark your territory for the audience to see.”
Juniper leaned into her ear. “There are other more enjoyable ways to do that, had I known you were interested.”
Rowan groaned. “Very, very interested.”
“Later then.”
Their attention was broken up by the moderator who was set to introduce them. She was a lithe, red-headed woman who looked like she spent as much time hiking mountains as she did working in an office. Cords of colorful braided bracelets donned the wrist of the hand she offered to Juniper first.
“Hi, I’m Sheila Fitzpatrick,” she introduced herself.
“Hi, I’m Juniper. Banks.”
She extended her hand to Rowan.
“Rowan Birdsong. Nice to meet you.”
“I have to admit I’m really excited to introduce you both. This is the presentation I’ve been looking forward to the most. And so has everyone else apparently.”
Sheila waved a hand to gesture toward the audience bustling to take their seats at all of the round tables in the room.
“Oh, thank you. I’ve never done anything like this.” Juniper responded.
Sheila placed a hand on Juniper’s shoulder and squeezed. “Do not worry. You’re going to be amazing. Everyone is so excited to hear from you. We had to switch to a bigger room because we had double the interest we normally see for these breakout sessions.”
Rowan raised her eyebrow at Juniper. “See.”
Juniper narrowed her eyes playfully.
“Well, we’re about to go on. I have your bios here. Is there anything else you’d like me to add when I introduce you both?”
“Um, no, I think that’s good,” Juniper responded, shooting a look asking for reassurance to Rowan, who agreed with a head nod.
“Perfect. Alright, here we go. I’ll go out first and introduce you one by one.
When I’m done reading your bio, you’ll come out, and you can sit in one of those chairs in the middle of the stage until you’re ready to give your part of the presentation.
The podium is to the right. The slide clicker is sitting on top. ”
“Thanks, Sheila,” Rowan smiled and nodded again.
Once Sheila took her first few steps onto the stage, Juniper looked at Rowan and linked their pinky fingers.
“You got this, Junie.”
“Yeah. I fucking do.”
They laughed together before Rowan kissed her cheek.
“No lipstick this time. Don’t forget to turn your mic on when you get out there.”
Then she gave her ass a little pat-pat when it was time to walk on stage. Juniper turned back before she took a step past the curtains and widened her eyes. She mouthed Rowan Birdsong. Rowan just shrugged and smirked.
Juniper flicked on the mic pack that was clipped to the back of her pencil skirt, adjusted her lilac button down shirt she’d tucked into it, and placed her hands on the podium. She took a deep breath.
“Wingapo. Hello. My name is Juniper Banks. I’m the daughter of Anita Banks and granddaughter of Helen Deerfoot of the Runapewak Indian Tribe.
I have the honor of being in community with you all today to share our Tribe’s efforts in restoring our connections to traditional food systems through the establishment and recent expansion of our Tribal gardens.
As most of you know, foods Indigenous to the Americas – like corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, and my favorite, coffee – have shaped the entire world’s palette; in fact, they make up nearly three-fifths of global agriculture. ”
Once Juniper got going on the presentation, she fully relaxed into herself.
Then she wondered what she had ever been so nervous about to begin with.
She was excited to share what she had learned with other Indigenous people in the audience.
She looked across the room at them, most of them representing their communities and cultures with some accessories or clothing elements that identified them as a part of their people, and felt true hopefulness for the future.
And the rest of the audience members needed to understand why food sovereignty work was so important, and why they needed to support it.
She could convey both of those messages seamlessly and passionately.
She understood now why Rowan enjoyed doing this so much. She could definitely get used to this.
When she was done with her part of the presentation, she walked back from the podium and sat down in her seat.
Rowan waited for her to be seated and flashed her the biggest smile before she stood up and approached the podium for her half.
As soon as she stood, Juniper saw how her whole demeanor changed.
She was poised as she tugged at her shirt cuffs to adjust them.
She projected confidence, intelligence, and charm. It was commanding. It was fucking hot.
Rowan angled her head back to Juniper as she leaned against the podium.
“After you all had the honor of hearing from my esteemed colleague Ms. Banks, I’m not sure there’s any reason for me to be up here.”
Juniper caught her wink that was so barely visible, anyone but Juniper would have missed it.
Once the presentation was done, Juniper and Rowan mingled in the room for a while, answering questions and talking to some of Rowan’s connections.
Juniper was surprised they almost always immediately turned their attention toward her.
She was definitely not expecting that. She received business card after business card, appreciation and accolades for her work.
Juniper challenged herself to accept what appeared to be true right in front of her.
She was meant for this, meant for everything she’d ever dreamed of. She was born for it.
There was one thing she couldn’t shake though, after the adrenaline from the presentation and networking began to wear off and something else sprouted in its place. After about the twentieth time she’d been referred to as Ms. Banks, half of that by Rowan, Juniper couldn’t help herself anymore.
She leaned in to whisper in Rowan’s ear. “You have to stop calling me Ms. Banks.”
Rowan turned her head with confused, narrowed eyes. “Why?” She whispered back.
“Because it makes me want you…”
Rowan’s eyes widened, her head still turned towards her.
“To fuck me,” Juniper finished.
In a move that surprised Juniper, she felt Rowan grasp the back of her elbow and quicken their pace toward the ballroom doors. Rowan leaned into her ear as they hit the elevators.
“I knew that did something to you. Didn’t know it did that.”
Elevator doors opened to their right, and Juniper sighed in relief that it was empty.
Rowan slammed the ‘door close’ button in rapid fire succession, and the very second the last strip of light dimmed from the doors closing, she had Juniper pressed against the wall, her lips crashing against hers messy and wanting.