Page 80 of Knot Your Sunshine
"Don't be." I reach for his hand, squeezing gently. "It's not your fault."
He squeezes back, relief flickering across his face. But me? I have a hard time shaking the cold dread settling in my chest. What if the numbers stay down? What if they get worse?
The beach suddenly feels less like paradise and more like a beautiful distraction from impending doom. But I paste on a smile, take another sip of my cocktail.
"So." My voice sounds artificially bright even to me. "About that champagne?"
They exchange glances, worried, protective, then Josh nods and returns to his phone.
They're right, it's too early to make conclusions. So we'll celebrate stopping the blockers. We'll toast to us… And I'll pretend I don't feel like I'm bracing for a crash.
Chapter thirty-two
Noa
"What the hell is going on?" My voice cuts through Chadwick's corporate babble. I press the phone harder against my ear, pacing past our office window, past the couch, back to the window.
"As I mentioned, Mr. Hale, we're seeing approximately thirty percent—"
"I know the numbers. I want to know why."
"My team and I are investigating all possible—"
"Yeah, well, I don't have much faith in your investigation." I grip the window frame, knuckles white. "You haven't even been able to track revenues by individual location yet. How is that possible? You're getting total revenue but can't break it down?"
"Our reporting systems work differently than our detailed tracking." Chadwick's voice maintains that infuriating corporate calm. "We get total revenue instantly through our payment processor, but breaking it down by individual franchise locations means pulling from multiple databases. And since our systems have had major delays compiling the raw performance data perfranchise location..." He pauses. "This is all significantly more complex than—"
"Complex?" I spin from the window. "I was told you were the best before I hired you. Now I'm questioning if you're even qualified for this job."
A pause. Then, stiffer: "I can assure you, Mr. Hale, no other firm would be handling this better. My team has decades of combined experience in franchise launches. Please believe me when I say—"
"What I believe is that we're the ones dealing with the emotional fallout while you shuffle spreadsheets."
"I understand your frustration, and I sincerely apologize for—"
"You know what, double the marketing spend." The words shoot out like bullets. "Full push across all platforms. I want visibility tripled by tonight."
"Mr. Hale, I'm not certain that's—"
I end the call. The silence rings.
Keanu and Josh watch me from the couch.
"Thirty percent is huge, Noa." Keanu drags both hands down his face. "Throwing money at this could make things worse."
"He's right." Josh pulls off his glasses and cleans them with shaky hands. "Without knowing the root cause, we could be—"
"Burning cash. I know." I set my phone on my desk, though my fingers twitch with the urge to launch it through the window. "But it could also stabilize things. Buy us time."
"Time for what?" Josh leans forward and puts his glasses back on. "The test launch is called a test for a reason. If something fundamental is wrong—"
"We don't know that anything's wrong." The words come out sharper than intended. "Half a day's data. That's what we have. Half a day. As far as I'm concerned, her model is fundamentally sound, so the marketing push is really just moving up money we would have spent later anyway."
They exchange that look. The one where their eyes meet for exactly two seconds before sliding away.
They think I'm losing it. Fine.
"You saw her face." I stop mid-pace, turning to face them. "Twenty minutes ago on that beach. The second Josh mentioned the dip, she went from glowing to spiraling in three seconds flat."
