Page 76 of Tilly in Technicolor
Mona sucks in a breath. “Wait. Say that again.” I smile as my sister picks up the thread.
“Beauty should never be toxic. Not the way it’s made. Not the way it’s sold. Not the way it’s advertised. That’s what you lean into. That’s why people my age will buy it. Because you two care. And so do we.”
There’s another heavy moment of silence.
“Tilly!” Mona slams her hands down on the table, making me and Ollie jump. “That’s fucking brilliant.”
My jaw plummets to the floor. “Did you just sayfucking?”
Mona waves her hands in front of her face. “No. Yes. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that’s absolutely genius.”
“This beautiful brain,” Amina says, leaning toward me and taking my face between her hands before landing a big kiss to the crown of my head. “How I love it.”
“You… you like the idea?”
“Like it?” Mona says, standing and pacing around the room. “It’s perfect.”
“We could do so much with that,” Amina adds, following Mona’s path. “That could be influential enough of a niche that we could generate greater e-sales and focus on that instead of getting into stores.”
“Oh, I absolutely love this,” Mona says with (mildly terrifying) ferocity. She whips out her computer and props it on the bed, kneeling while typing with so much gusto it’s amazing the keys don’t crack. “Amina, do we have a competitor analysis on eco products?”
“No, but we need it now,” Amina says, similarly booting up her laptop.
The two start talking a mile a minute, leaving Ollie and me as the blinkers.
“Uh… anything you need us to do?” I ask.
Mona shoos me with her hand. “Sorry. Sorry, but I’m way lost in a thought. Take the rest of the afternoon off, you two.”
“Seriously?” I say, perking up. I had no idea coming up with a good idea would mean I got to spend less time actually working.
“Yes. Yes. Have fun,” she says.
Ollie and I grin at each other, then bolt for the door.
“Did you see that?” I say in the hall, bouncing up and down as we move through the hotel. “They liked my idea!”
“Of course they liked your idea,” Ollie says, grabbing myhand and spinning me to him. I land with a sturdy thump against his chest, arms wrapping around his waist. “It’s phenomenal.”
“I feel like I really added something of value,” I say. My heart is a bubble that will soon float away.
Ollie pulls back, eyes serious as he looks down at me. “Tilly.” He says my name softly. Reverently. “A hundred good ideas or absolutely none, you add value just by being you.”
A surge of emotions twists me inside out. I shake my head, letting out a tiny scoff.
“I’m serious,” Ollie says, blinking up to the ceiling, dragging a hand through his hair. “How do I explain this…”
I watch the steady thump of his pulse in his throat.
His hand drops to his side, fingers tapping away. “Value in reference to color is the lightness or darkness of a hue, right? The less lightness a hue has, the lower its value. So, for example, something like a deep purple plum has a lower value than, er, a white peach, follow?”
“Uh… sure.”
“Well, Tilly, you’re as luminous as they come. Your value doesn’t change based on an idea you have or what you offer people. It just is. And it’s wonderful.”
If I thought I was having a lot of feelings before, it’s nothing compared to every delicious wonderful emotion that cracks me open now.
I push up onto my tiptoes, placing a soft kiss to Oliver’s lips. He kisses me back, pulling a smile from me.
