Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(6)

Sean led the show. If Krista’s side had the Circus, Sean’s was the side show act. Like the first presentation they did together those many years ago, Sean was the mediator. He talked to Krista’s team while Larry set up. He then helped Larry relay his information. He did the same with Phyllis. He teamed up with John for some other ideas, and talked about how hard they would work for the account. He didn’t meet Krista’s eyes, not once, throughout the whole of the presentation.

Inside, she was being torn apart. Her world was being ripped to shreds, and the memories were bleeding down her core. She wanted to crawl into a corner and cry herself hoarse.

Outside, she was a cool breeze. A little ruffled maybe, but not a big deal. She had mastered professionalism to hide her bitch persona until question time, so she was an old pro at hiding all her inner feelings from her audience.

When the presentation was done, they opened it up for questions. Krista’s team, unlike Sean’s, was a well-oiled machine. The Ivy Leaguers asked their questions, which were generally easy to answer in Krista’s opinion. The amount of people that struggled with the answers, though, made their questions essential. Krista gave them a hard time as a rule, just because they were ridiculous boys, one and all, but they did do their job well.

Unlike some companies, Sean seemed ready for, and expecting, every one.

Marcus asked his questions, which were preceded by a “ridiculous” ping message. Ben didn’t have any questions, which was unusual, and probably meant this company’s ideas weren’t good enough to get his creative juices flowing, and Krista’s turn was last.

When she had the floor, Sean slowly inched his eyes up until they met hers. His face was guarded. It was unreal how bad that hurt. Absolutely indescribable the pain that surfaced with the ripping and tearing going on in her guts from seeing that cautious look on his face, after so long, after all they had. After what they’d been to each other. After what they’d endured as a team.

Intense hurt turned to anger. Thankfully, anger turned to cold determination.

Tory was about to step in when Krista said, “I have a couple questions.”

Sean nodded slowly. Deliberately. But he didn’t say anything.

John said, “Great! Fire away.” Krista didn’t miss his nervousness.

“Mr. Smith.” Larry looked at her, sweat beaded on his forehead. She smiled at him. He smiled back. Fool. “I noticed your standard deviation chart was built using data pulled from a different product. Can you talk about that, please? I am interested to see how it relates.”

Sean immediately stepped forward to do damage control. Krista held up a hand. “Sorry, Mr. McAdams. If you don’t mind, I would like to hear from your Researcher.”

Sean looked at her levelly. Then, slowly, he smiled.

It was on like Donkey Kong.

Krista wasn’t so naïve anymore. Tory was right. He could wring the crap out of people, then fill the void with excellence. She wasn’t nearly done learning, but she had been an apt pupil so far. She could play the game. Where once she couldn’t keep up in the ring with Sean McAdams, now she was more than comfortable going tȇte-a-tȇte. What’s more, she was confident she would come out the winner if a victor needed to be chosen.

Larry got red in the face and started pawing through his notes. He sputtered out a load of irrelevant information until he sort of fizzled out and extinguished. Krista didn’t know what she’d expected, but she didn’t expect that. She very nearly laughed. Instead, she hid her mouth behind busy fingers, pretending to think.

When she was under control again, she said, “Thank you, Mr. Smith. Okay, Mr. McAdams, you’re up. Same question.”

Sean smiled again, and answered flawlessly. It didn’t meet her standards, though.

Which he expected.

They took off. It was a duel between Sean and Krista, occasionally interrupted by one of the Circus or one of Sean’s incompetent team members. To every hole she found, Sean was there with dirt and mortar to plug it up. For every fact that didn’t check out, Sean had a viable explanation and steered them away expertly. He was the yin to her yang. He was the swim-up bar to her pool party. She got hit with pangs of loss each time she recognized it.

When she had exhausted the great many holes and problems, there was a collective sigh. Krista’s team were all sitting back, watching the show, and now they straightened themselves up again, feeling a little sorry for the presenters. It had been a long time since she’d dealt with a company so ill prepared. Sean did exceptionally, considering what he had to work with. Better than exceptional, actually. He didn’t belong there. He was too good by half, and it was glaringly obvious.

Tory summed everything up, asked a couple of questions of his own, and the meeting concluded. Krista desperately wanted Sean to come by and say something, anything, but he didn’t. He talked and shook hands with all of the decision makers and followed them out. Krista was left with Marcus and Ben again.

“Well, you earned your dollars today,” Marcus reflected.

“And a raise,” Ben said. “You were really laying into them. They don’t stand a chance of getting our business.”

“My job isn’t to chase anybody away, it’s to pop balloons,” she retorted, waiting for the elevator.

“Well, there isn’t a balloon left in San Francisco, honey,” Marcus said with a chuckle.