Page 38 of Mic Drop

Court pipes up. “They’re pretty lifelike. I’ll text you a photo.”

“Got it. Wow. Yeah, I’d say this doesn’t really fit the mold for regular graffiti. They’ re definitely there to taunt you, Jenna. After you repainted, there haven’t been any more?”

“So far, so good,” Court replies. “After Jenna came up with the contest, they stopped.”

“Can you tell me about the contest, Jenna?” I fill her in, and Court gives the stats of the number of entries. “This is a fabulous idea.”

I puff up at her praise.

“I think we can do more with it, though. I know you were trying to take control of the narrative surrounding you and Bennett, but it’s obviously not breaking through. What do you think if we turn it on its head?”

I reply, “That’s what I was trying to do.”

“We need to think bigger. A T-shirt slogan is catchy and fun, but we need to find your business a way to corral word-of-mouth advertising. Tell me, when someone mentions At Your Service PT, what does the general public associate with your clinic?”

“Great physical therapy,” Court responds.

I nod. “Exactly.”

“That’s what’s expected when you go to a clinic. I’m talking bigger, a more generalized idea. I’m sorry to tell you, right now, when your company is mentioned, people probably say, ‘Oh, the place with the Black Widow?’”

Hayden’s a “rip the bandage off” type of gal. While I appreciate how blunt she is, I can’t say it doesn’t sting.

She continues, “I don’t say this to make you upset. I’m stating a fact so we know where we are and how we can return the focus to your excellent therapists.”

“You’re probably not wrong.” Why is everything so hard? “If only the damn spiders had hip and knee replacements and we were making them feel better.”

Next to me, Court sits taller. “You might be on to something here, Jenna.”

“Now I know why you’re the brains behind this operation,” Hayden concurs. “I love it!”

I stare from my phone to Court. “Uh, happy to make your day, but care to clue me in? What exactly do you love?”

“Give me a second.”

Court leans over to me. “We can use your idea to make every spider want to come here. Make it cool.” She pauses. “I think.”

A text comes in and I open it. Hayden sent a very rough mockup of a spider, with its eight legs, all being worked on by therapists. The slogan underneath reads, “If we can fix a black widow, imagine what we can do for you.”

“It’s a rough idea,” Hayden says.

“It’s cute. I love the spider, just not the black widow saying. I hate that term.” Even though she can’t see me, I shudder.

“Give me a little while. I’ll shoot you over some ideas. But do you like the direction this is going?”

I stare at her text once more. “I do. But what if instead of T-shirts, we have bumper stickers printed and give them away everywhere in the Hamptons?”

“Oh, I love that idea,” Court agrees. “We can put them out at our tables when we attend various fairs in town. I guess we could also put them on T-shirts too.”

Hayden says, “Now we’re getting somewhere. If you help an insect with eight legs, imagine what you could do to a person with only four limbs?”

Court joins in, “Exactly!”

Our conversation finishes with Hayden promising to get us something more finished, with a bunch of tag lines, soon. When we disconnect, Court says, “Michelle messed with the wrong clinic.”

She sure did. I stand. “I’m going to let this percolate for now. I better get home to Ma. See you tomorrow.”

After hugging my bestie, I slide into my car for the return trip to Ma’s house. Before I even leave the parking lot, I get another text.Expecting it to be Hayden with a follow-up, I’m more than delighted to see Bennett’s name.

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