Page 34 of No Good Deed

She laughed. “Someone had these printed by mistake. I was in the right place at the right time, so I got a box of them.”

He chuckled and then picked up the tin again. “I’d love to see this in real life. Maybe we can go on a trip someday, and you can show me.”

Her heart leaped at that. Maybe she wasn’t the only one thinking long term. “I like the sound of that.”

Troy kissed her and then motioned with a slice of bacon. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Piper pressed play on her laptop. She’d made dozens of presentations over the years. To her professors. To her bosses. To business directors and community groups. They all made her nervous, but this one meant more than any of the ones before.

She clicked open the first screen where she’d mocked up a website for the town. She’d incorporated the Phail family crest and the blue and green of the tartan to create a circular logo.

Welcome to was written in the top arc of the circle with Phail in a banner across the lower part. “When I researched the Phail clan, some crests showed ravens. Others had a deer and a lion or griffin head. We’ll discuss mascot ideas in a bit, but if the town chooses something, we could incorporate it into the logo.”

Along the top of the mock website, she’d included the tabs. Phood. Phun. Relax. And Phun Phail Phacts. All the F sounds had been changed, so they were spelled with a Ph like Phail.

Then she clicked on the second screen, which showed the same website with the incorrect Ph spellings changed back to regular spellings. “I can’t decide if the overuse of Ph instead of F is fun or obnoxious. Might be better to do it sparingly, especially when it comes to search engines. People won’t know to search for phood with a ph. I prefer the second screen myself.”

She blew out a breath. She hadn’t braved a look at Troy’s face and he hadn’t said a word while she’d shown the two slides, but she needed to know. “I have more, but what do you think so far?”

* * *

Troy heard the shaking in Piper’s voice and turned to her in surprise. “Are you nervous?”

Her face flushed and he decided the next time they made love, he’d want a light on. He wanted to see how far that flush reached and follow it with his mouth.

Instead, he yanked his attention back to her face. She gnawed on that lower lip again and shrugged. He leaned forward to kiss her and ran his tongue over the spot she’d bit to soothe it.

Then he leaned back. “Nothing to be worried about. This is great so far. I love using the blues and greens of the tartan as the main colors. I agree with you about the overuse of the Ph joke. It’s a little overwhelming when you use it on all the words. Kind of waters down the fun of spotting it in the wild, so to speak.”

Her eyes cleared up. “Okay. Good. I didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot.” She turned back to the laptop and deleted the first screen.

With the new Home Screen up, she hovered over the tabs. “Having a website would be a big boost to the town. There aren’t many tourist-type things yet, but you can add those as the town grows. If you use a drag-and-drop website, the pattern would be easy to follow.”

She clicked on the next screen which had various examples of menu buttons. “Because the town isn’t formal, I thought more casual labels would work, but I’ve created options for each menu tab.”

He looked over the options, and together, they decided that Food, Stay, Explore, and Fun Facts would do for a start. With a few clicks of the mouse, she returned to the Home Screen and updated it with their choices.

The next screens showed what would appear when someone clicked on the menu. Food brought them to a photo of the No Fail Diner. Piper had included a picture of the outside and a description alongside it. Another box held information about hours of operation and a button that led to a menu with mentions that choices changed regularly. “It would be easy to snap a picture of the chalkboard and update the site whenever the menu changes.”

Beneath it, she had done the same with the B&B showcasing Jim and Carl’s new occasional dinner service.

Another showcased Phail Phoods, mentioning Fiona’s homemade items along with regular groceries.

The other tabs followed the same pattern but weren’t as filled out. Because there wasn’t yet a lot to explore. But she’d included Phail General, Doc’s, Yoganna Love It, and Phail FireHall, complete with a picture of the I-Phail Tower.

“Each place in town can have its own page with more information and pictures. Images draw people in and keep them clicking.”

Troy shook his head. “I can’t believe you’ve put this together so quickly. These pages show you know so much about us already.” And that pleased him enormously. The energy from the website showed someone who liked his town. Enough to stay?

Piper clicked on a new screen, and he laughed. Animals covered it. A pheasant, fox, and firefly in the top row. A whale, a snail, and a quail on another. On the third was an empty box with a question mark inside.

“After looking at Bloo Moose like you recommended, I wondered if Phail should have a mascot animal or fantasy creature. The top row has the only animals I could come up with that start with an F sound and live in Vermont. The others rhyme. I’m hoping someone with more creativity than me can create a fantasy creature to give everyone another choice.”

“This is great. We could run a contest or a poll, something to see what everyone likes.”

Her smile widened. “You’re reading my mind.” She clicked again, and under Fun Facts on the main page, she clicked on Polls. Sure enough, there was one for Mascots.

Another for slogans. He tapped the screen. “What’s under that one?”

---