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Booboo leaned onto the table. “Any news?”

Cam glanced at Ryan. “Numbers from the week after that ad came out are finalized. They…aren’t great.”

“I emailed the stats out this morning, if you’d like to take a look,” Ryan said. “Sales are down fourteen percent from this same time last year.”

“Can we reconsider the apology ad?” I threw out before anyone could put in their two cents.

Ryan nodded. “I agree⁠—”

“No,” Booboo said with a flash of a glare in my direction. “The whiskey expo is next week. Xavier, you want to explain your plans for it?”

Xavier darted an awkward glance at me, then faced Cam. “I thought it would be best to have only women at our booth. Maybe wearing matching shirts with the WomenOfHenley tag?”

I perked up. My concept could fit in with this. We could put my phrase on the shirts.

Speak up, Shay!

But did I want it tied to Xavier’s idea? I wanted to stand on my own…

Booboo nudged Edmond before I’d decided. “Why don’t you show them what we’ve been working on?”

With a nod, Edmond pulled a laptop from the messenger bag he brought with him and set it on the table for us all to see. The screen was frozen on a paused black screen.

“Booboo and I had an idea, but instead of telling you the concept, we thought it would be better to show you.”

Edmond hit play. The video came to life, displaying a series of female faces, all different ages and ethnicities. They each took turns speaking a sentence of speech that had my stomach tightening with each word.

“At Henley Bourbon Company, tradition is important. Since 1897, we’ve made our bourbon with the care and quality you deserve, the old-fashioned way. While that care and quality will never change, the women of Henley would like to invite you to come with us as we step into the future.”

Each woman held up a cocktail in a toast.

“An Old Fashioned for a new age,” one said.

“A new woman,” another said.

“The Henley woman,” said a third.

The screen flashed to another, younger woman, her sassy brown eyes glinting at the camera. “Because I’d rather be a shot of whiskey than your cup of tea.”

The screen went black, and script white letters appeared.

Henley Bourbon

Since 1897

My mouth had fallen open, and I snapped it shut. Did they snoop through my desk? That phrase was my idea. That video was my idea. That entire concept was my idea. It was my apology ad without the apology.

Edmond snapped the laptop closed and turned expectantly to Cam. “So?”

I expected Cam to reject it just like he had mine, but instead, he tilted his head, and without acknowledging the similarities, without even looking at me, he said, “Shep will love that.”

Incensed, the shrillness burst from me. “What?”

All eyes turned to me, but the only ones I cared about were the pretty winter blue ones that immediately dropped to contemplate the intricate woodgrain of the table between us.

An indignant squeak caught in my throat. “I mean⁠—”

Ryan laid a hand on my arm. I looked at him, and he shook his head. Defeated, I sat back in my chair.