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“Your challenge this week is to create an advertising campaign pitch that will fill seats in this stadium. That’s all the direction I can give you. Take your time, be creative, and have your storyboards ready to go by Friday at noon.” Joanie looks around the circular table as she gives her instructions, her eyes landing on me last.

I’m not sure why that makes me just the tiniest bit uncomfortable. It’s the scrutiny, maybe, or the feel of a motherly-type even though she’s a mere thirteen years older than me according to my calculations. But she’s my dad’s girlfriend, so I guess in a way if she marries him, she’ll be like my stepmom.

This is weird. I went from not having a father at all three years ago to suddenly having an entire family. I went from having a narcissistic mother who taught me that the silent treatment is an effective way to deal with an argument and that being anything less than perfect just isn’t good enough to having people who seem to love and accept me with open arms.

But my mother also taught me that love is equivalent to manipulation, and it’s as that thought occurs to me that I suddenly understand why Mackenzie is such a bitch.

Is Joanie favoring me because I’m Troy’s daughter?

Is Joanie going to give me the job regardless of who wins the most challenges because of my bloodline? Is it her way of manipulating my father—by buying into his good side through me?

I hate that the thought even comes to mind, but my mother left me with plenty of scars I’m still trying to live with.

“Are there any questions?” she asks, her gaze lifting from me and in turn taking with it the extra weight of it.

“Group or individual?” Justin asks.

“Individual this time, though you’re welcome to brainstorm with your peers,” Joanie says.

Justin wiggles his eyebrows at me, and I stifle a laugh.

“You’re free to get to work. I have additional tasks for each of you within various departments this week, so don’t forget to tackle those tasks first before you work on your challenge.” She passes out sheets of paper with everyone’s tasks for the week, and I’m lucky enough to have been assigned to the Marketing and Broadcasting department this week. Just browsing through what goes on in the department might get me some insight into where to go with this project.

Justin and Mackenzie are in Finance and Accounting, and no sooner do we all spot her name on the list than I hear her heavy, frustrated sigh.

“Is something the matter, Mackenzie?” Joanie asks.

She glances up from her paper at Joanie, pressing her lips together as if she’s forcing herself not to say what she wants to say. “No ma’am.”

Joanie studies her for a beat, and then she nods. “All right. Head on out, kids. Have fun!” She wiggles her fingers, and we all head out into the hallway. I’m trailing the group, and I hear Mackenzie complaining to Chloe as I walk out of Joanie’s office.

“Freaking finance ? While the golden child over there gets marketing all by her lonesome this week? I call BS.”

“It’s just the way the chips fell. Nothing to get upset about,” Chloe says to her. I turn toward Justin and roll my eyes as he stifles a laugh.

“Want to brainstorm together?” he asks.

“Like I’m going to give up the goods on the ideas I already have?” I thin my lips and shake my head as I offer a mock glare in his direction. “Not a chance.”

“Me-ow,” he says, holding up a claw to indicate I’m being catty.

I nod over toward Mackenzie’s direction, and he nods with a laugh.

“This is why we’re besties. You just get me,” he says, and he links his arm through mine.

“I need to get back in there and see what Joanie has on tap for me this week, but good luck in freaking finance with Mackity-Mack.” I lower my voice so just he can hear, and he doesn’t bother stifling his laughter this time.

I head back into Joanie’s office. “What do you have for me, Ms. Sapphire?” I ask.

“I have some marketing analysis on the competition I’d like for you to study this week,” she says. She clicks a few buttons on her computer. “I just sent you over a few different links so you can take a look at what different teams in the MLB are doing in their ad campaigns. I’d like you to study them and analyze the similarities and differences of each. Tell me what you think is working and what you think is a miss.”

“Won’t this give me an unfair advantage in this week’s challenge?” I ask.

Joanie’s brows crinkle as if she hadn’t thought of that. She shakes her head. “Everyone on the intern team has the same access to the internet that you have, right?”

I nod.

She shakes her head. “Then no, I don’t believe you’re getting any sort of advantages over anybody else.”

I twist my lips and nod, and then I get to work even though I know if Mackenzie saw what I had to do this week, she’d flip her fucking lid.

I study each of the ads Joanie sent along and make notes summarizing them. Then I draw my comparisons. Some common themes I find among the advertisements are teamwork, fan focus, and family. I start to brainstorm those ideas.

I could start the campaign with a family heading into the ballpark. Maybe a mother is carrying an infant while a dad holds a toddler’s hand and their elderly parents walk in with them, too. Maybe we see the crowded lobby where friends meet and gather before entering the stadium to find their seats. And maybe we follow this family through the crowd, to the concession stand, up through the SFK area, and back down to their seats. Then we can watch as the players warm up on the field, the pillars of teamwork as they throw balls all over the place in an organized, rhythmic pattern. And then Cooper can take off his shirt and…

Oh wait. That’s a different advertisement.

Focus, Gabby.

Cooper slices the bat and sends the ball flying into the outfield. He runs the bases as the three men in front of him score, and he slides into the plate with a grand slam.

He’s the star of my video, obviously, just as he’s the star of my dreams.

And then we pan back to the family sitting in the crowd, popcorn flying everywhere as they all stand up and high-five since their favorite player on their favorite team scored a grand slam. And a possible tagline at the end? Bringing the Heat to Vegas.

I like it as a first idea. It hits on all the major tenets that the successful ads Joanie sent me have. It feels a little predictable, but part of marketing is using what has traditionally worked in an innovative way. So I have a good idea, but I need to figure out how to inject something fresh and new into it.

And that’s what the rest of the week is for. Well that and shenanigans with Cooper. Cooper also closes on his house with a final move-in date scheduled for Saturday with all his furniture scheduled to be delivered before then. I’m thankful he isn’t moving this week because all my free time has been dedicated either to homework or to my ad campaign.

By Friday, I’ve figured it out.

It was a busy week since Kaylee asked if I could meet her on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at Tight Fit to get to know the fitness club a little better as we continue to work on marketing ideas, but the kickboxing class and the circuit training we did together were excellent stress relievers as I worked hard on my storyboards. Not only did I grow closer to Kaylee as we talked about the gym, SFK, my internship, and our boys, but I’m also damn proud of my idea.

It’s an innovative approach on a traditional marketing plan, and it’s almost time for my presentation.

Justin goes first, and his campaign is good. He uses dogs running around the bases in his video since we all know that animals sell products.

Mackenzie focuses on the players as she clearly thinks their level of sexiness will win her the challenge.

Chase, Dylan, and Brian’s campaigns are ordinary, too, and Chloe is my biggest competition with a campaign that shows friends at home watching the game versus friends at the stadium watching the game. Her tagline says, Heating up Vegas in person or at home.

And then there’s mine.

It starts with a video of a mom taking a video of her little boy playing a little league game, and then we pan to the little boy as he grows up into a professional ballplayer. It’s a dual timeline as the family with the little boy goes to the game and runs around the SFK area before he watches eagerly from the stands. He morphs into the player on the field, hitting a grand slam for his team’s win. The tagline at the end says, The Vegas Heat Makes your Family’s Dreams Come True.

Joanie wipes a tear from her eye when I’m finished presenting, and I can’t help but wonder whether she wants kids…maybe even with my father. Isn’t he a little old to be having kids at this point when he has a twenty-one-year-old daughter? What if Joanie and I got pregnant at the same time?

That would be weird.

I push the thought away as everyone in the room claps for my campaign.

“The judges will now vote for their favorite campaign,” she says, and she nods toward the ten judges which include Cooper, Danny, Rush, Nick, Caitlin, Zelda, and four others from Baseball Operations. She doesn’t vote this time, and she has all the judges put their votes into a bowl. She pulls them out one by one and reads the name on the paper.

The votes begin with two votes for Chloe, and then Joanie reads the rest. It’s a clean sweep for Gabby.

Holy shit.

That’s me.

It’s my second winning competition, and neither my father nor Joanie were able to swing the votes this time.

I won fair and square.

But Mackenzie doesn’t seem to think so.

Once the congratulations die down and our guest judges head out, Mackenzie confronts Joanie. “Can we puh- leez have a blind comp next week so the golden child over there doesn’t constantly have an unfair advantage because of her last name?”

“My last name is Grant,” I point out, doing my very best to sound sincere and leave all the smugness out of my tone. I’m sure I fail.

“Whatever,” she practically hisses at me.

“I’m sorry you feel the competitions haven’t been fair,” Joanie says to her. She lifts a shoulder. “But maybe you just need to step up your game.” She says it sweetly even though the words are anything but sweet.

Mackenzie fumes at the words but knows better than to reply. Still, I fear she’ll find some way to cause trouble for me.

“You’re all released to your assignments for the afternoon. Gabby, I won’t be needing anything if you’d like to find Cooper and continue shadowing him.”

I nod. “Thank you.”

The interns all disperse toward their assigned departments, and I head down toward the weight room. I find Nick in there with Rush, but Cooper is missing, and so is Danny.

“Have either of you seen Cooper?” I ask Rush and Nick.

They glance at each other, and my brows dip.

“What?” I ask.

“Is this, uh…is this business or pleasure ?” Rush’s tone reeks of inappropriate suggestion, and I’m sure my cheeks turn bright red.

Does he know about us?

Cooper wouldn’t have told him…would he?

The more people who know, the better the chance there is of my dad finding out before we’re ready to tell him.

“Business!” I practically shout, but it only makes me sound guilty. I draw in a breath and clear my throat. “Joanie told me I’m supposed to be shadowing him to learn more about baseball. Have you seen him?”

“Yeah,” Rush says. “He’s in the cages with Brewer.” He nods toward the door that leads to the batting cages, and I head in that direction. “Have fun, but don’t play with him, okay?”

“Excuse me?” I ask, turning around to face him again.

“He’s a good guy and he’s been burned plenty of times. Just take care of him because he really seems to have a thing for you.”

Whoa. I was wholly unprepared for that conversation, and I have no idea what to say.

“Okay,” I answer a little weakly, and then I head out of the room to find Cooper so I can figure out why the hell he thought telling his friends about us was a good idea.