Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(80)

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.