Chapter 39
SHELBY
Shelby’s phone rang. She fumbled on the bedside table looking for her phone. A pool of light spilled through the bottom of the curtains, casting a thin shadow on the hotel-room floor.
Only one type of call came in this early. She flipped her phone over on the nightstand. Yep. An unknown number.
Another debt collector. She ignored the call, letting it go to voicemail. How long could she keep the credit card companies and her mom’s mortgage lender at bay? Not much longer.
She needed the promotion, the bonus, and the pay raise that came with it. The calls, texts, and emails were becoming more frequent and more aggressive. None of this was her fault. None of it was her debt.
And yet here she was stuck in the middle.
Her mom had mastered the art of ignoring them, but Shelby couldn’t. How many times had she tried to explain to Mom that her house and everything within it would indeed be repossessed if she didn’t at least try to negotiate with the creditors?
Mom kept blowing her off, reminding her that this was her dad’s doing. That was true, but it didn’t change the stark reality that their family’s house was about to go into foreclosure. Once that happened, her mom was going to be homeless.
How could she have her head in the sand?
How had she missed the warning signs of her dad’s gambling?
Shelby vacillated between feeling entirely responsible for her mom’s well-being and furious that she had to parent her own parent.
A text message vibrated on her phone. She rolled over to check it. It was from her sister.
Mom’s freaking out. She says they’re going to take everything in the house. I don’t know what to do. When are you back?
Tomorrow. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it then.
Would her mom take care of it? No.
The burden of her mom, her sister, and her own future fell on her shoulders.
That might have been part of what got to her last night. Watching Miranda and Pete’s effortless relationship, friendship, and the way they looked out for each other, ripped a hole in her heart. Shouldn’t her parents be taking care of her? Not the other way around?
She threw the covers off and dragged herself out of bed.
Lying here wallowing about it wasn’t going to do her any good.
The sun was already streaming in through the slit in the curtains.
It was early. There was still ample time before she was due to meet Jim for coffee and go over their game plan for the day.
Pete had mentioned this was a good time to catch the sunrise over the ocean.
A walk on the beach sounded like the tonic she needed, so she tugged on a pair of jeans, tennis shoes, and the Fall Harvest Fest hoodie one of the organizers had gifted her.
It was too bad that Pete and Lacy had hit it off so well.
She would have taken him up on his offer to show her around, but after last night, it was obvious that Pete was into Lacy.
She stopped in the hotel lobby to grab a coffee and a pastry and then headed toward the beach. It was a short walk along the tree-lined streets. No one was out this early, aside from a few surfers, lugging colorful boards on their shoulders, and a running group out for an early morning jog.
The sun on her face felt like the spark she needed to tackle the day. She stopped when she got to the shoreline, set her coffee on a rock, and kicked off her tennis shoes.
How is this real life?
I’m walking barefoot on the beach in October?
She actually smiled as her toes crunched in the sand. A slight, salty breeze kissed her cheeks.
No wonder everyone is so chill in Half Moon Bay.
If every day starts like this, I could probably get used to it.
She let her thoughts drift as she ventured closer to the water. The sand firmed beneath her, growing colder.
Yesterday had gone more smoothly than she expected. There had been a few hiccups with Jim, but nothing that had derailed the campaign.
Today, they needed to be even tighter. More cohesive in their approach.
As much as she hated the thought of having to watch Lacy fawn all over Pete, there was some real potential with him.
If she could play this right and pitch Voyager, she might be able to leverage a promotion just based on this.
Episodic video series were hot right now.
Social media was quickly gaining a larger audience share from traditional TV and movies as users’ attention spans shortened.
They were already on the apps, engaging with content, so it was a natural progression for influencer accounts to start sharing more “social shows.” Many brands had already jumped on the trend, but as of yet, Voyager hadn’t.
This was her chance to carve out a name for herself.
Her mind was spinning with possibilities.
Pete could be the travel version of The Bachelor.
With what she’d captured last night, she already had ample content for at least two episodes.
Today, she could stockpile even more footage to spread out over several short videos.
Pete was the perfect guy for a social show like this.
He was warm, kind, genuine, and handsome.
His wholesomeness came through in everything he did.
Lacy was much more in tune with the camera, but that could be a good thing.
Shelby could take their “love story” in a few different ways.
Some of the edits could be based on how people responded to the first episodes.
If users loved them as a couple, she could play that up, but if they sensed Lacy might be a bit too much for Pete—which she definitely was—Shelby could weave that into the arc.
That would be her preference. This idea had real legs.
Sending Pete all over the country and potentially the world on a variety of adventurous dates had lasting potential.
She just needed to finesse her pitch this morning and send it to her bosses. Scripting, filming, and editing a social series like this would require a larger budget and possibly a small team.
Shelby would let Jim handle Miranda. He had a vision, and it seemed to be working. She wanted Pete. She needed this to work. She knew it would work. Now she needed to convince him and everyone on the Voyager team.