“But for reals, we need everyone to stay at full capacity.”
Now that she’d gotten a moment alone with Franco, she hesitated to ruin it by talking shop. She worried that the longer they went without addressing last night, though, the bigger a deal it would seem. Given that Franco was the one she’d leaned on at the office post-Mark-breakup, it made it harder to balance being in a management position and maintaining their office friendship. “As you know, I’m new to leading meetings. What I should’ve started with last night was what I liked about the website—the color scheme and the photos, for instance.”
Franco rolled his eyes. “That’s what the web designer picked out.”
“Oh. So you’re saying my pep talk is already severely lacking.”
That earned her half a smile. “It’s okay, Danae. Do you think that’s the first time I’ve shown off a beta version of a website only to hear everything wrong with it? In the moment, it’s always hard not to be upset if people aren’t declaring it sheer genius, but after some time to process and brainstorm, I’m sure I can build a stronger site that appeals to everyone. Most everyone, anyway, because you can’t please ’em all.”
How ironic, because pleasing everyone was more or less Mr. Barton’s challenge to her in order to keep her promotion. The pressure that had gripped her yesterday returned, quickening her pulse until her temples throbbed with it. Since right now wasn’t about her, she’d have to pencil in her panic attack for later. “Wait. That means the font probably wasn’t your pick, either.”
“Nope. I also thought the words were hard to read, which is why I didn’t put much copy on the homepage. But I often get so focused on functionality that I’m not always the best judge of those types of artistic touches. I figured the web designer had a reason for going that way.”
“Why didn’t you say anything when Paige mentioned it?”
Franco shrugged. “Didn’t see the point. It’s on me to fix it anyway. I did send the designer an email asking for some tweaks this morning, though.”
“But you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. If anything, the fact that people didn’t like the animated ships made me realize why I’m on the tech end and not the design end. I also got too caught up in trying to show off all the cool things I could make our website do, instead of keeping our key demographic in mind.”
Danae tucked a leg underneath her and propped an elbow on the back of the bench seat. “As Mark pointed out at the meeting, I also struggle with that. Sometimes who we cater to gets in the way of the big ideas I have for other target markets.”
“I hear you,” Franco said, granting her one of his signature toothy smiles, and relief tumbled through her, allowing for easier breaths and looser posture. The fun moments with Josh had helped distract her, but accidentally offending Franco had loomed in the back of her mind. She’d worried that she might return home to lose not only the promotion she’d worked months to attain, but a good friendship, too.
She tugged the sides of Josh’s army jacket tighter, crossing one over the other. Hopefully Josh wouldn’t mind her keeping the borrowed jacket a tad longer, since he was in the kitchen and it got super toasty between the oven and the extra bodies.
“You like wearing that jacket, don’t you?” Franco asked. The knowing gleam in his eyes caught her off guard.
“Well, sure. It’s chilly out here.” But her cheeks suddenly felt warm.
Franco lowered his voice. “Right. And it has nothing to do with the handsome sea captain it belongs to.”
“I don’t know what you’re insinuating.”
“All right.” Franco shrugged, clearly not in the least convinced.
A loud throat-clearing made both her and Franco glance up. Mark strolled over. Had he overheard that last bit of conversation? If so, he gave no indication of it as he took a seat across from them
“I’ve been thinking, and I…” He raked his fingers through his sandy-colored hair. “I owe both of you an apology.”
Cold air filtered in through Danae’s open mouth, enough to give her momentary brain freeze. Everything freeze, really.
“In my attempt to make my point about our target demographic, I’m afraid I implied that your opinion isn’t valid, Franco. And it is. You’ve helped me with coding glitches and computer crashes—not to mention how every time I’ve needed a form for our newsletter or a marketing poll created, you come up