Page 56 of Sweet Home Louisiana

Bennett chuckled.“I’ve seen comments on all three, but You Travel is the one with the star rating for each guy.”

Maddie rubbed a hand over the middle of her forehead.“There’s no typhoid fever, of course,” she said.“I can’t believe someone put that in a review.”

“Yes, imagine my concern, and probably that of the Louisiana Department of Health, when I read that,” Bennett said dryly.

Maddie dropped her hand.“The Louisiana Department of Health?”Crap, she hadn’t thought about that.Of course she hadn’t.She hadn’t thought for even one second that the girls from yesterday would write a review, not to mention one that includedthat.

“Don’t worry,” Bennett said.“I’ve contacted the woman and asked her to take the review down.”

“Oh good.”Then Maddie paused.“Wait, you did what?”

“I put a call into the woman and asked her to take it down.She did last night.So we’re fine.”

“You…how did you get a hold of her?”Maddie asked.

“I have ways,” Bennett said.“But in this case it wasn’t hard.People have to register with You Travel in order to post.”

“And that information is public?”

“No.”

“So you got it from You Travel?”

“I did.Well, my lawyer did.”

Maddie knew her eyes were wide.She was used to working with guys like Bennett.Guys who had the money and resources to do almost anything they wanted.But they were usually customers buying art from her.She’d never had one that was a…partner.Or an ally.Or whatever Bennett was.In other words, she’d never had someone who used that money and those resourcesforher.Her grandparents had had money.But they were more in the “we’re very wealthy for Northern California” income bracket than the Bennett Baxter income bracket.Because of their money, Maddie had been given a number of opportunities—the best education, credit cards, the ability to choose a profession based on her passions rather than what her paychecks would be—but she’d never had the ability to track down a virtual stranger and get them to do whatever she wanted.

“And she just agreed to take it down.No questions asked?”Maddie wanted to know.

“Yes.And no.She took it down, but there were questions.About typhoid.Which we, of course, explained was a joke—one made in poor taste—and that there was absolutely no risk of the disease in Autre.We convinced her to take it down because it was untrue and she realized it would make her foolish to have posted it.But,” he went on, his tone firmer, “I’m not going to convince people to take downtruebad reviews.Like the one about Sawyer yelling at someone about a life jacket.”

Maddie knew that hecouldget rid of all the bad reviews.He was just more ethical than that.Maddie grimaced.It was harder to pin down which group might have posted that review about Sawyer and the life jacket.Sawyer was in general grumpy and not uncommonly stern with his tour groups.“I appreciate that.”

“I’m also not going to address the one about the blonde who runs the company lying about a woman’s shorts getting dirty,” Bennett said.

Good lord, didallof their customers post reviews?Maddie needed to keep that in mind.Generally, that was a good thing for businesses, and if this percent was any indication of how many usually left reviews, that was impressive.Unless the reviews were less than stellar, of course.

“Was it a bad review?”Maddie asked.

“It was strange.She said the tour itself was five stars.The woman lying about her shorts was a one star.”

“So an average of three then?”Maddie quipped.

“Maddie,” Bennett said firmly, in a very I’m-usually-in-charge tone.“Is everything okay down there?”

“It is,” she assured him.“It’s been…an adjustment.But things are fine.We’ll keep the reviews in mind.”She shook her head.That wasn’t fair to the guys.Clearlytheywere aware of the review sites and somehow had set up a system that encouraged reviews.Shewas actually the problem.Well, her and Sawyer.“I meanIwill,” she corrected.“I’m the one who didn’t think that all through.”

“Online reviews are really important.We’re in a competitive business.Tourism is something people definitely research online.”

She didn’t miss that he’d used “we” in his comment.She smiled.Bennett was already mentally invested even if he hadn’t signed any documents yet.He was already using his influence to help them.

But she didn’t want to have to keep asking people to remove bad reviews.They’d—she’d—probably deserved those.She needed to use her head and not just react.

Wasn’t that supposed to be kind of her mantra down here?

She sighed.“You’re right,” she told Bennett.“And I’m sorry those happened.Thanks for your help.”

“Of course,” he said easily.“And I’m here if there are any issues you need more help with.”

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