Page 66 of Shine For Me

“But you ordered scallops.”

She shrugged. “I don’t mind shrimp.”

So I told her this was the perfect opportunity to practice standing up for herself in a low-pressure situation. I hadn’t expected her face to turn red the second the waiter returned. And when he looked completely horrified at messing up her order, I thought she might cry. She ended up tipping the guy a hundred dollars.

Juniper Cain really doesn’t like disappointing people. And I know that’s only making the situation with her grandfather even worse.

“I promise I won’t force you to make any waiters cry tonight,” I tell her now.

“Oh my God, you don’t think that guy cried, do you?” she gasps.

I roll my eyes. “Maybe happy tears when he saw his tip.” I pull out my phone. “I’m serious about this. There have to be tips online for building up your confidence. Let’s try some of them.”

She covers her face with both hands. “This is so embarrassing. I’m twenty-four years old, I shouldn’t need the internet to teach me how to stand up to my grandfather.”

“And I shouldn’t need to have my girlfriend read me my lines,” I tell her.

“That’s different.”

“How? We both have challenges we’re working on.”

She chews on her bottom lip. “I guess…”

“Let’s just try it.” I do a quick search on my phone and open one promising looking site before handing the phone to her. “This will go faster if you read it.”

She scans the page. “This says I should clearly articulate my goal out loud.” She holds my gaze. “My goal is to stop being a punk ass bitch.”

I choke on the sip of water I just took. “Jesus, June,” I manage, laughing and coughing at the same time. “Warn me before you say stuff like that.”

She shrugs and goes back to the screen. “Apparently body language is very important. I don’t know if that applies to me, though, since I’ll be talking to him on the phone.”

“Maybe it’s a dress for the job you want type of situation,” I muse. “If you have confident body language you’ll feel more confident, even if he can’t see you.”

She looks back to the screen and laughs. “This says I should practice making my body look big and powerful. What does that even mean?”

“Uh…I don’t know. Let’s try it.” I stand and come to her side of the table before reaching down to hoist her to her feet. “Put your shoulders back. Good. Now, um, go up on your tiptoes.” I bite back a laugh at the incredulous look on her face. “Try lifting your arms over your head.”

“This is stupid!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be good at taking directions?” I ask her. “Maybe you need to return that Golden Globe of yours.”

She scowls at me but lifts her arms.

“Now growl.”

“I’m not growling!”

“Come on, do it. Growl.”

“Fox.”

“This is important, June. How are you going to be confident enough to stand up to Jimmy if you can’t even growl when it’s just the two of us?”

She shoots me a death glare then sighs, lifts her arms a little higher, and lets out the most minuscule grunt.

“That waspathetic.”

“Then you do it, if you’re such an expert.”