Page 121 of Never To Be Mine

Hollis laughed and slid his hand into mine, giving it a squeeze. Out of habit, I glanced around to see who might be watching before remembering I didn’t have to do that anymore. We’d stopped hiding after the deal closed. Life was too short, and honestly, too good.

“Nervous?” I asked.

“Terrified. This is everything. If these people take one bite and make the face, we’re done.”

“They’re not going to make the face. I’ve eaten the burger. I’ve watched my father eat the burger, and that man has been a meat-and-potatoes guy since birth.” I turned him to face me. “The product is good, Hollis. Trust it. Trust yourself.”

He looked down at me for a long moment, some of the tension finally leaking out of his shoulders. “Have I mentioned I love you today?”

“You have.”

I went up on my toes and kissed him, right there in front of the Curly’s executive team, the news cameras, and God himself. Let them film it. I was done caring.

A hand clapped down on Hollis’s shoulder. “Places, people. Showtime in ten.”

Toby and Micah looked like two peas in a pod, both wearing headsets around their necks.

“We ready?” Toby asked.

I looked at Hollis. “We are,” I answered.

At eleven o’clock sharp, the doors opened.

The first wave of customers surged in. The energy in the restaurant shifted from anticipation to chaos in about four seconds. Curly’s staff moved like a well-oiled machine, handing out sample baskets of the B Well Prime Burger cut into neat quarters, along with curly fries.

Micah and Toby circled the crowd, getting video footage for future commercials. A crew member brought Hollis and me our burgers. The last thing I wanted to do was eat a burger on camera, but Micah promised me I could keep it dainty.

Toby gave the signal and Hollis and I both took our bites to prove we stood behind the product.

The crowd cheered.

I moved through the restaurant, watching faces. I stopped near a group of college-aged guys who looked like they’d been dragged there by their girlfriends. One of them took a bite. Chewed. His eyebrows did something complicated.

“Okay, wait,” he said, mouth still half full. “Hold on.”

His friend took a bite. “There’s no way that’s not beef.”

I kept walking, collecting moments. Two older women at a corner table debated whether their husbands would notice if they swapped it in at home.

And then there was the food blogger.

She sat alone with a quarter of a burger, her phone propped up, filming her own reaction like a one-woman tribunal. I lingered close enough to watch. Did these influencers know how irritating they were?

She took a bite. Her eyes widened slightly. “Okay. Okay, wow. That’s genuinely good. The char on this? I need to know how they did that. Consider me converted. Hashtag, I was wrong.”

I could have kissed her.

By one o’clock, #BWellPrime was trending. Clips of people eating the burger were going viral.

It was exactly what we’d hoped for.

I found my father in deep conversation with Curly’s VP of Operations. He caught my eye across the room and held up his phone. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so excited. He and Hollis were already talking about the next thing.

“Juno.” He waved me over, shaking the VP’s hand one last time before she moved off. “You seeing this?”

“I’m seeing it. The whole internet is seeing it.”

He slipped his phone into his pocket. “Can I borrow you and Hollis for a few minutes? Let’s find somewhere quiet.”