She walked with June to the windows, where they stood looking out at the ocean for a while. Annika took a deep, calming breath. “This is pretty cool, getting to meet the young techie minds of the future. How many girls do you think will be in the group?” When she got down about not making progress as quickly as she’d like with Make Up, Annika liked to focus on the fact that she was showing other young women entrepreneurs out there that they could do it, too. The glass ceiling might still be there, but it was smashed and splintered almost beyond recognition.

“I’m hoping for half this time,” said June, ever the optimist, turning to Annika with a brilliant, fuchsia-lipsticked smile.

“Annika Dev? Hudson Craft?”

Annika and Hudson both turned toward the voice to see a Black woman in her midthirties striding toward them. She was dressed in a white sheath dress and espadrilles, and held out her hand to each of them, a winning smile on her face. “I’m Rita Davenport. We’ve been speaking via email. Thank you so much for agreeing to present to our teens. You don’t know how much it means to them, and to our organization.”

Hudson took her hand and gave it a firm shake. Annika made sure her handshake was even firmer. “It’s our pleasure, Rita,” Hudson said, smiling in his annoyingly charming way. Ugh. Annika could see Rita being dazzled in real time. “Break Up is all about giving back.”

“Ha.”

Rita, Hudson, and June all turned to look at her, Hudson’s eyes flashing in annoyance. Oops. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Looking pointedly at Rita, Annika said, “Sorry, tickle in my throat. Anyway, it’s the same for Make Up. We’re all about giving back—only we give back to both the community and the people who use our service. We want to make the world a better place all around.” She tossed a glance at Hudson, whose eyes were narrowed, as if he was calculating his next move.

“Wonderful,” Rita said, looking a little taken aback. Rallying, she added, “Well, I have heard that you’re both going to be participating in EPIC in June. I can see there’s already some friendly rivalry here.” She laughed throatily and Annika forced herself to chuckle right along with her, though she made sure her eyes narrated a very different story to Hudson. You’re going down, Craft. May the best me win. He didn’t seem too intimidated, but that meant nothing. Wait till she outshone him in every way in front of Rita.

“Anyway,” Rita continued, oblivious, “the other entrepreneurs should be arriving any moment, and we’ll have the students file in when everyone’s here. Would you like some tea or coffee?”