Josh, most of them were over fifty. People like Tinsley were the exception, and her boat was a rental—and hardly a yacht. Although he wasn’t sure what Google calendar had to do with anything.
In this instance, he hadn’t been asked a direct question and was going to keep silent. He and Danae had just formed a sort of truce among the vines and tasting barrels, and he didn’t want to undo it, because it would make sailing easier.
Yeah. That was the sole reason. Not because he’d enjoyed those few minutes when it had been just the two of them, or how her laugh had made his pulse quicken.
A muscle ticked in Danae’s cheek. “I see your point. We’ll come up with more images that’ll appeal to primitive men who think the only things that matter are money and impressing the ladies.”
Josh bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing at the jab. Most everyone else in the group studied the spot in front of them like they’d never seen a table before.
“Mark, I’d appreciate it if you could write up a list of at least ten images or video ideas to incorporate and share with Vanessa.”
“Gladly.”
“I guess that’s the end of my presentation, then.” Vanessa slumped lower in her chair and crossed her arms. She fired a tight smile across the table at Mark. “I do hope you won’t be offended when I point out minor oversights on your end as well.”
“I expect you to,” Mark said. “Pushing each other is how we’ll make the entire team better.”
Danae scribbled notes, and then their food arrived.
After they’d eaten and their waiter had cleared their plates, Danae turned to Franco. “Let’s talk website. We want to portray elegance and the luxurious lifestyle while keeping it simple. You said you have a beta version for us to look at?”
“Yep, which is why I brought my laptop, as requested.” Franco smiled at Danae, who returned his smile and thanked him. Then he opened his computer, clicked a few buttons, and swiveled the screen toward everyone.
The excitement in Danae’s features faded a touch, and a contemplative crinkle creased her forehead. She tilted her head one way and then the other.
Franco raised his eyebrows and scanned the faces of everyone seated around the table. “Well?”
A couple of beats of silence ticked through the air, each one adding a layer of tension, and then Danae tapped the end of her pen to her lips. “Why is there an anchor in the middle of the menu bar?”
“That’s actually the main menu button.” Franco maneuvered the cursor over it and clicked. “I thought the anchor would be a fun change from the norm.”
“Super cool idea,” Danae said. “But I don’t think I’d realize that I could click on it if you didn’t tell me. You know?”
Franco tightened his lips until they nearly disappeared and nodded. “Okay, I guess I can understand how that might be confusing.”
“Are those graphics moving around like that all the time?” Vanessa asked, indicating the swipe of blue that came from the right and then the left, like two ships crossing in the night. “It’s a bit…dizzying. My eye’s working so hard to follow them that it’s all I can focus on.”
“If you hover over one”—Franco moved the cursor to one of the sailboat graphics—“it stops so you can click it. Then you get the information on the different types of boats we sell.”
Vanessa wrinkled her nose, which made it pretty clear she wasn’t a fan, and Josh eyed one of the empty tables, wondering if it was too late to make a break for it.
“There’s hardly any copy.” Mark pointed at the screen. “And what is there is far too tiny for our older demographic to read.”
“I think that’s partially because of the simplicity and color of the font.” Chair legs scraped the floor as Paige scooted closer and squinted at the screen. “What are the other options?”
“Do you really want me to start rattling off every possible font and color combination?” Franco asked.
Now Paige was stung, her face crumpling, and Josh recalled enough from his time in a conference room to raise his shoulders in preparation for the moment this went south. “All I’m saying is that the font and background need to be more distinct from each other so people can read what little information is on the homepage.”
“I can tell you’ve done a ton of work, and I like where you’re going with it,” Danae said. “But as