Page 177 of Beau and the Beast

“You’re going to be great,” she reassured him. “You’ve done this enough by now—I don’t even know why you’re still nervous.”

“It’sliveTV,” Beau protested. “What if I curse or fuck up and—“

“You’renotgoing to fuck up,” she said. “And don’t curse. You’ll be fine.”

The production manager sidled up to them.

“You’re on in ten,” she said, pointing to the monitor where a commercial break was wrapping up. “Go ahead and step up to the curtain.”

There was an assistant waiting just past the green room to cue Beau on his entrance. Violet gave his shoulders one last squeeze and he turned to face her, looking like he was about to walk up the gallows and not onto the set of a morning show.

“You’ll be perfect. Trust me.”

He took a deep breath and left the green room. Violet kept her eyes on the TV screen.

“Welcome back to Mornings with Marco and Daphne!”

The two hosts were sitting behind a high table with an empty seat between them. They were both perfectly coiffed and entirely too perky for eight a.m.

“Ok, Iknowyou’ve been dying to meet our first guest of the morning,” Marco said, leaning in and speaking to the audience. “This kid has changed the shape of the global landscape—“

“You can’t just call him akid, Marco,” Daphne cut in.

“He’s like 20!”

“He’s 28.”

“Then I need to know more about his skincare routine becausewow.”

“Are you done? Are you going to introduce our guest?”

“Please help me welcome Beau Blake!”

Both hosts stood up and the studio audience clapped and hollered. The camera cut to Beau who slouched onto stage, ducking as if he could make himself invisible if he tried hard enough. To his credit, he hadn’t started sweating in the end and he looked perfect as he took a seat between the two guests, dressed in one of his favorite shirts and a red bowtie.

“How are you this morning?” Daphne asked.

“Great—wonderful,” Beau said, smiling. Violet didn’t know what he was so worried about. He wasgreaton camera, and even when he was nervous, his smile would win over any crowd. “Really happy to be here.”

“We aresoexcited to have you here,” Marco said. The man propped up two hardbound books on the table in front of them and the camera cut to a close shot of the covers.

“As you all already know, Beau’s the author ofWolf & I,the book that singlehandedly brought thousands of non-human people out of hiding around the world,” Marco said. “He’s here today to tell us about his new book,My Year with Remarkable People.”

The camera cut back to a wide shot of all three of them.

“Ok, ok,” Daphne said smiling. “Listen, Iknowwe have to promote the new book but can wepleasetalk aboutWolf & Ifor a minute?”

Beau laughed and nodded. “Of course.”

“I’ve read this book ten times,” Marco said. “No joke.”

“Youread?” Daphne teased. “Since when?”

“It is truly one of the best books of the 21stCentury,” Marco gushed.

“Thank you so much for saying so,” Beau said, blushing.

“I still remember the week it went viral—“

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