Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2) (33 page)

Sean must have known this, because he
immediately put on his poker face and his body went slightly
rigid.

It was more than a few. Mr. Hartling started
hammering Marcus and Judy, bringing up questions they had no idea
even related, let alone knew how to answer. Mr. Hartling was a
numbers guy. Where Krista thought the ideas sounded great, but
didn’t realize all the flaws until she started to get data for
them, Mr. Hartling saw the problem spots right away. He spoke
Krista’s language, not Marcus’, but he didn’t have a decoder ring
named Ben.

So now, they had wicked smart Mr. Hartling,
against wicked smart Ben. And Krista stood between the two. Oh
joy.

Sean was getting ready to step in. His face
said he knew everything was unraveling before his eyes, but he
didn’t know that Krista had all the answers Mr. Hartling sought. He
thought all was a hair’s breadth away from being lost.

Krista almost blew out a breath in
exasperation.

In all their meetings, did
he not realize that her job was to find and plug the holes Mr.
Hartling was pointing out? Did
no
one
know what Research did within the
company?

Krista glanced at Ben. He was already
looking at her. He’d realized the same thing she had. At the
moment, everything was lost in the translation.

Here we go.

“
Mr. Hartling…”

Marcus froze, his mouth open, a confused
scowl on his face, just about to attempt an answer to a question
there was no way he understood. Judy was trying to shrink into the
wall. John was dead still, a very bad sign for him, and Sean had
gone from calmly panicking to extremely protective when he saw
Krista stand.

She wasn’t worried.

“I’m the one with your answers. You are
asking art people about things concerning math. They are just about
to make a run for it. They make the magic happen. I am the boring
fact checker who makes sure the magic isn’t smoke and mirrors.”

Mr. Hartling’s face cleared for a moment,
recognizing her. Then a small crease reformed between his eyebrows.
He doubted.

Silly man. Does he not
realize that he’s in
my
house now?

Confidence surging with the desire to prove
all these self-indulgent suits wrong, Krista waltzed up to the
front of the room, meeting Sean’s eyes as she walked. He was wary.
He worried she was trying to save the day in false bravado. He
didn’t know how to save her.

She winked at him. Mr. Hartling hadn’t
brought up anything she hadn’t already caught, worked on, and
verified. If what he’d thrown up this far was the best he had, it
was a walk in the park. If not, she dared him to come up with
something she hadn’t already looked at, because between her, Kate
and Jasmine, there weren’t many people who could find a hole when
the girls were rising to the challenge.

As Krista walked up, Sean’s face cleared. A
small smile played around his lips. He trusted her.

John, on the other hand, looked like he was
plotting her murder.

“Okay,” Krista glanced at Ray, silently
asking that he set up her computer, thus freeing her to combat Mr.
Hartling head on. Without even furrowing his brow, he launched into
action. She took a step toward the clients, her eyes on Mr.
Hartling. “I had a specific natural progression in mind for the
materials, but if I follow that course, your questions would be
answered haphazardly throughout. Would you like me to get to your
questions first, or note the answers to your questions as I come
upon them?”

“If you wouldn’t mind covering my questions
first, I think we would all rest easier,” he said pleasantly.

In other words, stop wasting his time. She
read that loud and clear. She’d felt that way a million times
throughout school.

“Ready for you,” Ray said quietly as he
walked to his position.

With a smile, Krista touched on each point,
remembering the order by the answer she’d thought of when he was
voicing his questions. Because she’d practiced so thoroughly
throughout the week, she knew the presentation forward and
backward, making slide hunting no problem at all.

When she was done, hitting the last question
she could remember, she smiled. “Did I hit on everything?”

The biggest scowl to date was resting on Mr.
Hartling’s features. Krista silently dared him to try and poke more
holes. He’d get a rude awakening.

“You didn’t, no,” he started slowly, “but
what you did touch on was…extremely thorough. I think it’s fine if
you work through your presentation, beginning to end.”

Krista nodded and glanced at the laptop. Ray
was already there, getting it ready. Another second and she was
off, talking and lecturing and half-laughing, relating the info
that she knew within an inch of her life, all while mentally making
fun of the stuffy yes-men hastily writing things down. They might
get paid more, but factor in those Ivy League school loans, and she
and they were probably coming home with the same pay. Nearly.

When she was done, Sean was looking at her
smugly. Ray was slightly surprised.

“Are there any questions?” she asked her
audience.

More than one executive from her company
were leaning back, obviously daydreaming. Now their attention
snapped back into the room.

Mr. Hartling was looking at her steadily,
“Even more thorough still. I would’ve liked to see that before the
marketing approaches.”

Krista laughed, “You flatter me. Usually I’m
the one people want to hear last so they can daydream about the art
instead of look at my graphs.”

Mr. Hartling smiled, “Yes well, they don’t
have a world economy on their shoulders.”

Everyone looked at him quizzically, but
Krista just laughed, remembering she had said that to him at the
winery dinner.

Mr. Hartling looked to John. “Mr. Susan,
please have your people run through your marketing approach once
more. Now that I have the, what was it Miss Marshall? The decoder
ring?”

She was packing up her information as she
said, “Oh yes, a decoder ring is essential when you are navigating
the art brain.”

“Yes. I would like to see what it is that
pairs with Miss Marshall’s portion. If you would.”

Sean stepped forward and gestured Ben up.
The scowl on Judy’s face was scary.

“Mr. Hartling,” Sean said as Ben set up his
laptop with Ray’s help. “Please meet your decoder ring.”

All eyes turned to Ben.

In a room full of high-powered
professionals, Ben didn’t look like much. He was small and slight,
standing with the laptop remote loosely held in his left hand. He
was a man easily ignored. Even when he spoke, if you weren’t paying
him special attention, chances were you’d miss what he was saying.
What’s more, he didn’t try to overcome this in any way. He didn’t
try to make himself bigger, or louder, or more noticeable. He did
the work, and got out of the way. That was all he really worried
about.

So when he stepped up to the spotlight,
everyone was surprised when Sean didn’t step up with him to give
him more dramatic flair. Especially John, who would have done it
himself, but barely remembered Ben’s name.

“Hello, my name is Ben Simmons,” Ben began,
looking at everyone kindly. “I will be describing the electronic
media approach we will be using on this account.”

Mr. Hartling nodded, his scowl more
pronounced, but different somehow. The man probably had as many
scowls as ties. In his profession, there was probably always
something the matter.

“And how does the electronic media approach
differ from the print?” Mr. Hartling asked.

Ben smiled in a way that said he was
delighted Mr. Hartling had asked. He would then start a long-winded
explanation that no one in their right mind needed to hear.

It was Krista’s turn to panic. She needed to
save Ben and their company at the same time. But how.

As she stood, unclear what she’d say, she
realized she was a step behind. Sean had already started forward,
humor plain on his face.

“Mr. Hartling,” Sean paused with a smile.
“In this instance, it might be best just to see it for yourself.
Ben knows that answer, and would love to speak to you about it,”
Sean let the humor bud, effectively acting like it was an inside
joke that Tory wasn’t privy to, “but in the interest of time, you
might just trust me on it.”

Tory nodded slowly, not at all happy about
being put off.

Ben, seeing the reaction, spoke up. “I think
Sean is correct in this instance. The differences between what the
eye is willing to allow between the two mediums is actually quite
an interesting topic. I had no idea, myself, until I worked in this
team. Jasmine, one of Krista’s close friends, and one of our team
members, has done some extensive research within the statistician
realm, studying how the eye moves digitally versus with print. Also
with painted canvases. One might think they are all the same, and
in most cases—“

Sean silenced Ben with a hand to his
shoulder. “Again, in the interest of time, it’s probably best for a
demonstration first, and the theory later.”

Tory was now privy. He nodded, his face
cleared of all doubt.

The large TV monitor lit up. There was
imagery and graphics and text, all streaming and moving and
coalescing in HD. It was like a playground for the eye. Krista was
sick to death of the idea, the topic, and everything that went with
it, but she couldn’t stop herself from wanting to check prices.

She was proof that her demographic was
affected.

When it was over, the lights came back up
and Ben bowed slightly as he said, “All graphic art you see here is
interpretational. Each image is meant to reach a variety of people.
With the help of our Research team, and most especially the
Research Manager…” Ben turned his body and bowed to Krista before
continuing, “we were able to get statistics regarding the best
images to reach our target demographic. All imagery can be altered
as needed.”

Tory looked directly at Krista, “I saw you
unconsciously reach for your phone. Tell me, what were you
planning?”

John could have chewed rocks he looked so
mad.

Krista could feel her face go a furious
shade of red. “I, uh, have been so worried about the information I
was responsible for, I didn’t get a chance to view Ben’s.”

“And your reaction?” Tory prompted with a
small smile.

“Well, you saw me reach for my phone. I was
about to check prices.”

“How?”

It wasn’t the greatest moment to be
completely lost in the conversation, but her social ineptitude had
her confused. As usual.

“By searching online? On my phone?”

Tory laughed, “No, how did you search for
the prices. Did you use a particular search method?”

“Oh. Well, I didn’t actually get that far
because I caught myself, but I would’ve just Googled it.”

Tory looked down his row of expensive
employees. They all scribbled a note. “Thank you.” He turned back
to Ben, “Your name again, please.”

“Ben Simmons. Did you have any
questions?”

“No, I think we have what we need. Thank
you.”

John and Sean were once again on spot. They
stepped forward like synchronized swimmers. They covered things
Krista didn’t even know they were working on. They answered other
questions, did timelines, and got down to logistics. They were one
hell of a team, their silent partner being Ray.

Whenever Sean groped for an idea or needed a
component of what he was saying, Ray was there with information in
hand. Sean thought and acted big, with Ray to back him up, just as
John thought and acted big with Sean there to back him up. And so
it was, the sales team dancing around the matters and money, the
execs putting in their two cents, and Mr. Hartling and his team
doing battle for the upper hand.

As the presentation wound down, Tory got up
and looked at his crew. Sean was there a second later. They
exchanged an animated handshake.

“Who put that team together?” Krista just
barely heard Tory ask Sean.

Sean stepped so his back was to John and the
other executives. “I did, for the most part.”

“Insightful group of people. You’ve
delivered here, today. Who was primarily in charge of the
day-to-day?”

“Of course I am going to say myself,” Sean
laughed, his voice dipping low. “In all honesty, I was largely
responsible for managing the team, but my work associate, Krista
Marshall, handled the more detailed, operational attributes, which
freed me up for more big ticket items.”

“Yes, Miss Marshall. Hmm. Well, good work
here today. I loved the final product. There is still work to be
done, but you have a good start.”

Sean nodded and, because he couldn’t contain
it, smiled.

The next thing she knew, everyone was on the
move. The executives were leading the clients out, smiles in
plenty.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sean walked toward Krista with barely
contained elation. She was about to comment on how well she thought
it all went when he picked her up and kissed her soundly. Tongue
and everything! She was too surprised to struggle.

When he put her down she stepped away
flustered. “Christ, Sean, I know I look good in pearls, but give a
girl a break!” she said breathily.

“Am I next?” Marcus asked from behind
her.

Sean was looking at her in a way that melted
her heart, turned her to fire, and made her shiver all at the same
time. “Krista, you are a genius. We owe this to you. They will go
with our idea, I’m sure of it.”

“I’m not a genius alone,” she replied,
meaning the whole team.

Marcus hugged her from behind. “You are the
geeky genius that shows my awesome genius to boring people,” he
laughed. “I would kiss you, but I don’t have as much experience as
Sean and I hate being second best.”