Chapter 37
JUNO
Isat in the conference room with my father, Kari, and three members of our communications team, all of us staring at a whiteboard covered in terrible ideas for damage control. My coffee had gone cold an hour ago, but I kept sipping it anyway.
“We could say he has a food addiction,” Robert from PR suggested. “Emphasize that it’s an illness, like alcoholism. We could send him to rehab.”
“We’re not sending Hollis to rehab,” my father said, rubbing his temples. “I need better ideas than this.”
I wanted to defend Hollis. He’d been doing legitimate product research. His intentions had been good even if his execution was terrible. But I’d spent the last twenty-four hours trying to separate my personal feelings from professional judgment.
As much as I cared about him, my focus needed to be on the company right now.
“What if we just wait it out?” Kari suggested. “The internet has a short attention span. Something else will trend in a few days.”
“We can’t afford to wait,” I said. “Every day we stay silent, retailers are questioning whether they want to stock our products. We need to act. Sales are already noticeably down on other products.”
My father nodded. “Juno’s right. We need a statement today.”
The conference room door burst open. Hollis walked in, slightly out of breath. The expression on his face surprised me. Excitement? Desperation? Both?
“I need to talk to you,” he said, looking directly at me.
My heart jumped at the sight of him, even though I’d spent the last day trying to convince myself I’d done the right thing by pushing him away.
God, he was gorgeous. My eyes missed looking at him. He was wearing jeans and one of his B Well polo shirts.
“Hollis, not now,” I said, keeping my voice professional. I was dying to go to him. I wanted to hold him. Apologize. But I couldn’t. “We’re in the middle of something.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here.” He stepped fully into the room, and I noticed Toby behind him with a camera. “Trust me. Please.”
I looked at my father, who frowned but hadn’t told Hollis to leave. That had to count for something.
“You have five minutes, son,” Dad said.
Hollis pulled out a chair and sat down. “I met with the people from Curly’s earlier.”
The room went silent.
“You did what?” I finally managed.
“They reached out this morning. Wanted me to do a commercial for them, capitalize on all the publicity.” He leaned forward, his hands flat on the table. “I had a different idea.”
My father crossed his arms. “Let’s hear it.”
“I brought them samples of our burger. Had them do a blind taste test against their own product.” Hollis’s grin widened. “They loved it. Like, genuinely loved it. Said it was better than what they’re currently serving.”
“Hollis, where is this going?” I asked, afraid to hope.
“They want to sell it as a healthy alternative to their standard Curly burger. Think of it. Our plant-based burger in every Curly’s location nationwide.
” He pulled out his phone and slid it across the table.
“I have an email from their VP of Operations. It’s all right there.
They’re ready to negotiate terms as soon as you and Dan agree to the deal. ”
I stared at the phone, then at Hollis, then back at the phone. “You got Curly’s to agree to sell our burgers?”
“Not just sell them. Feature them. They want to make it a permanent menu item, not some limited-time thing they can quietly drop when the publicity dies down.” He talked faster now, the words tumbling out.
“They’ve already got their marketing team working on a campaign.
They want to lean into the whole thing—the controversy, the publicity, all of it.
Turn it into a story about innovation and giving customers what they actually want. ”
My father picked up the phone and started scrolling through the email. I watched his expression shift from skepticism to surprise to something that might have been approval.
“This is a real offer,” Dad said quietly. “They’re serious about this.”
“They are.” Hollis looked at me. “I know I screwed up. I know the timing was terrible and I should have thought things through. But this could be the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.
Not just for B Well, but for Young at Heart.
A nationwide chain. Millions of customers.
The kind of exposure that takes most brands years to build. ”
Kari leaned over to read the email over my father’s shoulder. “Holy shit,” she breathed. “The numbers they’re talking about are crazy.”
“I know,” Hollis said. “It’s a lot. And it’s all contingent on you two agreeing to the partnership. But if you do, if we can make this work, it puts all the bad press to rest. Better than any statement or apology could. We turn the whole thing around.”
I sat back in my chair, my mind racing. This was insane.
Twenty-four hours ago, I’d been convinced our burger launch was dead in the water.
I’d been trying to save our company and thinking about how I could help Hollis with his.
Now Hollis was sitting here telling me we had a deal with one of the biggest fast food chains in the country.
“Why did they agree to this?” I asked. “What’s in it for them?”
“Good publicity for one thing. They get to be the first major chain to offer a plant-based option that doesn’t suck.
They’re betting that it’ll bring in customers who normally wouldn’t eat there.
They’re going to market to vegetarians and people that want to go a healthier route without being the odd guy out.
It’s the demographic they’ve been trying to reach.
” He leaned back. “Plus, I might have mentioned that if they didn’t want to work with us, I’d take the burger to their biggest competitor. ”
My father actually laughed. “You played hardball with Curly’s?”
“I had nothing to lose at that point.” Hollis shrugged. “Figured I might as well shoot my shot.”
“This would require significant production scaling,” Dad said, still reading the email. “We’d need to ramp up manufacturing, quality control, distribution logistics.”
“I know. That’s why I need Young at Heart. I can’t do this alone.” Hollis looked between us. “But together? We could actually pull this off.”
I watched my father’s face as he processed everything. I could practically see him running calculations, weighing risks, considering logistics. This was who he was at his core, a businessman who could spot an opportunity even in the middle of a crisis.
I held my breath. I knew what I thought we should do, but I held back. I wanted my dad to make the decision.
“This could work,” Dad said. “But we’d need to move fast. If we’re going to do this, we need contracts signed, production scheduled, marketing coordinated. No room for error.”
“I agree,” I said.
Dad tapped his finger on the table. He looked at Hollis like he was trying to see the truth.
“And you’re sure about this? You’re ready to commit to this level of partnership?
Because once we’re in, there’s no backing out.
We’ll be locked into supply agreements, exclusivity clauses, the whole thing. ”
Hollis didn’t hesitate. “I’m sure.”
My father nodded, then turned to me. “Juno? What do you think?”
I looked at Hollis. He’d spent the last day figuring out how to fix the mess he’d made.
Not just for himself, but for all of us.
He’d taken a disaster and turned it into a potential gold mine.
That took creativity. It took the kind of entrepreneurial instinct that couldn’t be taught. He was committed to his business.
“I think we’d be idiots not to take this deal,” I said.
Dad smiled. “Then let’s make it happen.” He stood and extended his hand to Hollis. “Welcome back to the team, partner.”
Hollis shook his hand, then looked at me. “Can we talk? Privately?”
I nodded, my heart suddenly pounding. “Yeah. Let’s go to my office.”
We left my father and Kari to start making calls, and I led Hollis down the hallway. Neither of us spoke until we were behind closed doors. The moment the door clicked shut, he turned to me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “For all of it. For not thinking things through and putting you in an impossible position.”
I wanted to talk to him and really hash things out, but we were in the office and his little bombshell meant we had a lot of work to do.
A lot.
“I understand,” I said. “I’d like to talk more, but can we do it later?”
“My place?” he asked hopefully, a smile on his face.
I grinned. “I’d like that.”
“One more question?”
“Yes?”
“Does your dad know about us?”
“I don’t know. Yes. Maybe. Not officially.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Yes?”
Kari popped her head in. “I’m sorry, but your dad wants you both back in there. He’s very excited. You know how he gets.”
“Of course,” I said.
“Oh, and he wants me to get the champagne ordered,” Kari added with a big grin.
I laughed. “Of course.”
“Got a craving for anything special?” Kari asked. “Bossman wants a real party.”
“Not burgers,” Hollis blurted out. “Healthy. Veggie platters.”
Kari and I both laughed.
“I’ll figure it out,” Kari said. “And I’ll ban all cameras.”
“Except mine,” Toby said quickly.
Hollis, Toby, and I followed Kari back to the conference room, my mind already shifting into work mode. The personal stuff would have to wait. Right now, we had a deal to finalize.
My father was already on his laptop when we walked in, his fingers flying across the keyboard. “I’ve got our legal team drafting the partnership agreement,” he said without looking up. “They’ll have something ready for review within the hour.”
“That fast?” Hollis asked.
“When opportunity knocks, you don’t make it wait.” Dad finally looked up, his eyes bright with the kind of energy I hadn’t seen in months. “Kari, get me the production team on the phone. We need to start running numbers on scaling capacity.”
Kari nodded and disappeared, already pulling out her phone.
The next two hours were a blur of phone calls, emails, and spreadsheets.
Our production manager joined us via video call to discuss manufacturing timelines.
The legal team sent over draft contracts that my father and Hollis pored over, marking changes and negotiating terms. I coordinated with our marketing department, already thinking about how we’d position this launch.
Toby set up in the corner, filming everything. For once, I didn’t mind the camera. This was the kind of content that would show people what really happened. Not the controversy but the solution.
Kari returned with enough food to feed an army. Veggie platters, hummus, fresh fruit, grain bowls, and yes, even some of Hollis’s smoothies. Champagne was served as well. She’d outdone herself.
“Figured we’d be here a while,” she said, setting everything out on the side table. “Might as well not starve.”
I grabbed a plate and loaded it up, realizing I hadn’t eaten anything substantial all day. Hollis appeared at my elbow, reaching for the same serving spoon.
“Sorry,” he murmured, pulling back.
“It’s fine.” I handed him the spoon, our fingers brushing. The contact sent a jolt through me that I tried to ignore. “Get some food. You look like you haven’t eaten either.”
We ate standing up, plates balanced in one hand while we continued to work. My father was on his third call with Curly’s corporate team, hammering out distribution logistics. I could hear the enthusiasm in his voice, the way he always sounded when a deal was coming together.
“This is really happening,” I said to Hollis, keeping my voice low.
“Yeah,” he said with a bright smile.
My father’s laptop chimed with an incoming notification. We all froze.
Dad clicked on his email, and his face broke into the biggest smile I’d seen in years. “It’s signed. Curly’s just signed the contract.”
The room erupted. My father stood up and hugged me, something he rarely did at the office. Hollis grinned so wide I thought his face might split in half.
“We did it,” I breathed, still not quite believing it.
“You and your dad. This wouldn’t have happened without Young at Heart.”
Kari passed around glasses of champagne.
“And it wouldn’t have happened without you bringing them the burger in the first place.” I raised my glass. “To Hollis freaking Blackwell. You always know how to surprise me.”