Page 101 of Meet Me at Midnight

“I don’t know what to do now, Mom. I didn’t mean for it to get so messed up.”

She hums. “Why don’t you start with the important parts?”

“The important parts?”

Her smile is soft but stern. “What is going on with you and June? Is it serious? Because if you willfully got involvedwith her knowing it wasn’t going anywhere, I’m going to be disappointed.”

“It’s not nothing,” I hedge immediately. “It’s something. It’s… Mom, I’m in love with her.”

She smiles gently, a hint of something else settling into her knowledgeable green eyes. “Does she know that?”

I shake my head. “I haven’t told her.”

She sits back in her chair, a distant look of fond memories hazing the intensity of her gaze. “You know, I remember the first time Juniper Perry caught sight of you. Avery had just convinced her to come over after school, and you were on your way in from surfing out back. You smiled at her and said hello, always my polite, charming boy, and her whole world spun upside down.”

“Wait… You knew all this time?” I question. “You knew June was into me?”

“Into you?” My mom laughs. “Oh, honey. She’s been in love with you since that first moment she saw you. The only people who didn’t know June was in love with you were you and Avery.”

Memories of June and being with June and loving June fill my head, and the cold realization that there’s a stark possibility I might never be able to hold her or touch her or kiss her again makes my face break into a clammy sweat.

“I don’t know how to fix any of this,” I say, my voice just barely above a whisper. “How to make any of it right.”

“Is June okay?” my mom asks, and I look down at my hands, worry bowing my shoulders forward.

“I don’t even know where she is.”

“Oh, sweetie,” my mom whispers, rubbing my shoulder. “She just needs time. And so does Avery. It sounds like the two of you love each other, and I can tell you from experience that love is a very powerful thing.”

I glance inside at my dad as she does. “I want what you guys have. I want the family. The love. I want it with her.”

My mom’s gaze is steady and poignant. “Then you need to tell her.”

“How do I tell her if she won’t even talk to me?”

“Oh, Beau,” she says, reaching out to pat my hand. “You’ll find a way. I know you will. You always do.”

Ihaveto find a way. There’s no other option for me but June.

My hands shake as I set a cup of coffee in front of Marcus Hughes at the conference table, the projection screen on the far end of the room lit up and waiting with Seth McKenzie’s presentation.

Today is New Year’s Eve, the day Beau and Seth are due to pitch their Midnight campaigns and showcase all the hard work—or in Seth’s case, hard-scheming—their teams have put in over the past few months.

Honestly, knowing what I know, it feels like I’m waiting on disaster, and my nerves are raw with anticipation.

For the last week, I’ve been hiding out at my dad’s empty house to give Avery some space. Beau tried to reach out to me several times through Midnight, but I just left the conversation because the mess I’ve created, the pain I’ve caused, feels too much to overcome. He then resorted to texts and calls, but I ignored those too. Not because I don’t want to talk to him—of course I do—but because I refuse to be the reason I cause a rift in the best family I’ve ever known.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that Christmas Day was quiet and lonely in my dad’s big, empty house. There was staff, of course, but I spent most of the day locked away in my childhood bedroom, bawling my eyes out.

Thankfully, I’ve cried so much that my tear ducts have gone on strike, and I’ve somehow managed to pull myself together enough to show up at work this morning. Though, I guess that strength stems from the changes I’ve already put into action.

At the start of the year, I’ve agreed to start working for my dad, one simple text to him the other day putting it all into motion.

Of course, I’d never leave Banks & McKenzie hanging, knowing what’s at stake with the Midnight account. So, I made the hard decision to email Mr. Banks my official resignation this morning, with a request for a meeting this afternoon after the Midnight pitch conference is over.

Then, this chapter of my life will officially be done, and I’ll start the new year as the newest employee at Perry Enterprises.Yay.

I take a spot against the back wall as Seth starts his presentation, and Beau takes a seat at the table, his hands steepled in front of him as he looks on.

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