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“I guess I do. When did that happen?”

“I don’t know. It just did.”

“I should probably go home at some point.”

“You are home,” he said simply.

She smiled, settling back against him. “I guess I am. But there has to be a more efficient system than me spending half my life on your couch.”

Noah tried not to smile. “I think I may have a solution.”

CHAPTER 36

The Presentation

Claire stared at the presentation glowing on her laptop screen. Then she clicked through it one more time.

“Stop.”

She glanced across the conference room. Avery stood in the doorway holding two coffees and wearing the expression of someone prepared to stage an intervention.

“I’m reviewing.”

“You’ve been reviewing for twenty minutes.”

“It’s an important presentation.”

“And you already reviewed it last night.”

Claire looked back at the opening slide.

COMMON GROUNDS:

A NEIGHBORHOOD WORTH RETURNING TO

The campaign had started as a rebrand for one struggling coffee shop. Now Common Grounds was preparing to open three new locations, and Victoria had trusted Claire to develop the expansion strategy.

It was the largest project Claire had led since joining the company.

She was allowed to review it more than once.

Avery crossed the room and placed one of the coffees beside her laptop. “You know what happens if you keep staring at the slides, right?”

“I catch a typo?”

“You convince yourself there’s a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Claire reached for the cup. “I don’t do that.”

Avery stared at her.

“Frequently,” Claire added.

“That deck has been proofread by you, me, two designers, and Daniel from copywriting, who finds grammatical errors in restaurant menus for fun.”

“He’s very committed to punctuation.”

“He’s terrifying. Your presentation is ready.”