“No?” Dee made it sound like a question and lifted one corner of her mouth up into a crooked smile.
Austen suppressed a chuckle and nudged her with her elbow.
“No,” Dee repeated more firmly. She looked into Austen’s eyes. “I especially don’t want you to be scared of me or of disagreeing with me. I’m sorry if I got a little…intense earlier. I don’t want to do that with you. I guess I’m used to being in attack mode while at work because it worked for me at Kudos. Talking nicely to people,” she shuddered and made a face, but there was a playful twinkle in her eyes that lightened the mood, “is a big adjustment. But I’ll try to stop the shouting, okay? I just ask that you consider that sometimes, clear words are needed in business, even in a small company.”
“Deal,” Austen said.
Dee blinked. “Wow. That was easy.”
Austen grinned at her stunned expression. “See? Sometimes, you get better results when you’re not trying to intimidate people.”
“Never worked with you anyway,” Dee said. “Not even on the very first day, when you dropped that tree topper on me.”
“Hey, stop telling it like that! I didn’t drop it on you; you were rearranging the lights on the tree because you’re a control freak, and it fell.” The familiar teasing soothed Austen’s rattled nerves.
Dee shrugged. “Tomato, tomato. So, that’s settled, then.” She reached for the apple fritter in the box and took a big bite, a clear signal that she was all talked out.
A goose waddled over and tried to snatch the fritter from her hand.
“Mine!” With a possessive snarl that made Austen grin, Dee shooed the goose away.
Austen picked up her donut again, but before she could enjoy it, she needed to know. “What are we going to do about the Kickstarter?”
Sighing, Dee lowered her apple fritter. “Not much we can do about it. I’ll call them as soon as we get back to the office and explain that it was all an accident, but I’m not sure that’ll make any difference. Worst-case scenario, we’ll either have to postpone the parrot-friendly Christmas tree project or find funding for it elsewhere.”
“Even if we can’t launch it this year, it won’t be the end of the world,” Austen said, trying to sound upbeat but not sure if she managed it.
“No, guess not.”
Austen slid closer on the bench, and they rested against each other in silent comfort while they finally ate their treats. They shared the second chocolate donut. When Austen reached for the last donut—one with pink frosting and colorful sprinkles on top—Dee stopped her.
“That one’s for Courtney.” Dee looked away under the pretense of wiping her sticky fingers on a tissue. “I guess I, um, owe her an apology.”
Austen couldn’t help grinning. “Aww. I knew it. Deep down, you’re just this big old softie.”
“Am not.” Dee used her Attila glare on her, which was rendered less intimidating because a bit of chocolate marred the corner of her mouth. “I still think we should fire her. Maybe you could ask your friend Sally if she wants to come work for us.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” Dee asked. “You liked working with her at Kudos, didn’t you?”
“Yes, very much so, but I want you to be able to start over with a clean slate, and Sally just knows your…um…”
“My charming Attila side,” Dee supplied.
“Yeah. Plus your family still isn’t talking to you, and stealing one of their employees won’t help improve your relationship with them.”
Dee waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “I don’t care.”
Austen tilted her head and studied her. Someone else might have missed it and seen only the unyielding stare of her gray eyes, but Austen saw the hint of vulnerability around her mouth that Dee hid from the rest of the world. “I think you do.” She tenderly wiped that bit of chocolate from Dee’s face. “For now, let’s give Courtney one more chance. And should it really become necessary to fire her, let me be the one to do it.”
Dee arched her brows, making the thin scar from the tree topper incident rise up on her forehead. “Are you sure?”
Austen wasn’t, but she still nodded. “I thought about what you said earlier…”
“Forget what I said.” Dee brushed apple fritter crumbs off her lap. “I was angry with Courtney, and I took it out on you. That wasn’t fair.”
“No, it was me who wasn’t fair. You were right about that.” Austen lowered her gaze.