Camera Shy (Lessons in Love, #1)(88)

“A man can change,” he says through a chuckle.

Or stay exactly the same.

He takes a sip of my drink and sighs with pleasure. “I do like my Johnnie, neat.”

Wedging my arm between the small of Avery’s back and the cushioned back of the booth, I squeeze her hip. “Can I try the light green one?” I ask before planting a kiss on her temple. I like playing house. I like touching her like this. It’s how it should be. She’s mine.

She takes a little sip of her drink in the martini glass first and puckers her lips like it’s sour. “Oof, tangy, but really good. I think you’ll like it.” She slides the glass across the table toward me, careful not to spill a drop on the clean white linen tablecloth.

“Aren’t you two cute? How’d you meet?”

“I’m Finn’s neighbor for the summer. I’m house-sitting. We ran into each other and I offered to help him with his photography business.”

“How so?” Dad asks.

“I’m a brand strategist. I’m helping to develop some growth plans for Finn’s studio.”

“Growth? So, like marketing?”

Avery teeters her head. “There’s a little crossover in services when I work with smaller businesses. With any company with annual revenue in the six figures, I’ll do it all. I’ll help establish a brand image, provide insight into growth tactics, and even help implement marketing strategies. But mainly, when I work with larger companies, I create a vision for the company, and usually the established marketing team of said company executes that vision. For example, Finn said you’re a commercial pilot?”

“I am.”

“Who do you fly for?”

“Royalty Airlines.”

“Ah, see, I’m familiar with that brand and it’s an interesting story—” Avery stops abruptly and looks up to meet my eyes as if to ask if she’s talking too much. I squeeze her hip under the table tenderly.

“What’s interesting, baby?” I’m not sure if I particularly care about the story behind Royalty Airlines. I’m just liking how she’s letting me call her baby all over the place, especially in front of my dad.

“So Royalty Airlines’ logo is purple, as are their seats and uniforms.”

My dad nods along. “Everything is purple. Thank God I look good in it.”

Her light laugh is forced. The way you’d laugh in obligation at your boss’s joke. “Well, a lot of people assume purple means royalty and the color choice is obvious, but that wasn’t the company’s intention—a happy accident maybe. About forty years ago, Royalty Airlines had a blue logo, but what they discovered at the turn of the century was that it was the matriarch of the household that was the one researching options and making the final decision on flights and travel. So, if the flight price points were competitive and a woman had to choose between very similar airline companies with masculine logos and colors, there was a slight advantage to appealing toward a more feminine style.”

“Interesting…” Dad says. The way his brows are furrowed, and Avery has his full attention, I know he means it.

“So Royalty did a complete branding overhaul. And the more feedback they got from their new consumer base, the more they changed about the airline policies. Families boarding with children of age five and under would be seated first versus the other airlines at the time that was only offering early boarding for families with children two and under. They made their snacks more kid-friendly and offered organic juice boxes and were one of the first companies to offer free in-flight Disney movies. The lavatories are a little bigger to accommodate changing tables. The planes are stocked with sanitary cover-ups for breastfeeding. Royalty went a step even further than appealing to women. They became the airline for—”

“Mothers,” Dad finishes for her.

“Exactly. After the rebrand, they went from the fifteenth most lucrative carrier in the United States to the second…because no one can compete with the American Airlines loyalty program.” Avery shrugs. “Glass ceilings, you know?”

“All that because of a little color switch?”

Avery shrugs with a sweet smile on her face. “It’s a little more complex than that, but yes. Pretty much. That’s the power of brand identity.”

I fight the urge to kiss her right now, in front of this entire restaurant. I like every shade of Avery, but this might be my favorite. She’s so intelligent and confident when she talks business and it’s so refreshing to see a woman so powerful in what I lack.

“So how did you become a brand strategist?” Dad asks, looking as impressed as I am. “Is that a degree?”

Avery takes a small sip through a cocktail straw from the reddish-purple-colored drink in front of her. “Ooh, try that one,” she says, sliding it my way. “Delicious.” She clears her throat and continues. “I actually started my degree in nursing, but I had trouble with science. My grades were lackluster and one day, late in my junior year when I was forcing myself to study in the library, I stumbled upon a seminar. One of the tenured professors from the business school was talking about jobs that would be exploding in the next decade. Her name was Dr. Ruth Donovon. I just loved the way she spoke, with such confidence. She became my mentor and convinced me to switch my degree to business. She taught me everything I know.”