Page 23 of Gray Hair Don't Care
“I thought we were off to a great start with the Lela B campaign, but we’re suddenly getting complaints. Some of the retailers are saying they don’t want the displays up in their stores, and some religious group started picketing a cosmetics store in Dallas. They said the photos are lewd and inappropriate for a woman Lela’s age. What is wrong with people? How could anyone get so triggered by a fifty year-old woman?”
Normally, Donovan liked being right. But this was not what he’d wanted to happen. And after encountering those two assholes down on the street, he knew exactly how pig-headed and narrow-minded his original appraisals of the campaign had been. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. It’s going to kill me to tell Lela. I had to talk her into doing this in the first place. And this isn’t like a rejection of her products. People are complaining abouther. They’re criticizing the way she looks. It’s awful.”
Donovan agreed. Itwasawful. “Have you looked at the sales numbers?”
Echo blinked back at Donovan. “Actually, no. I haven’t.”
“Let’s do that before you make a decision about anything.”
“Smart. That’s so smart.” She turned to her computer and hit a few keys on the keyboard.
Donovan fished his reading glasses out of his laptop bag and rounded behind her desk, planting one hand on the back of her chair so he could look over her shoulder. “Well?”
“It’s not a big wave across the board, but there are hot spots.”
He moved in closer to see better. “Chicago looks pretty good. So does Seattle.”
Echo nodded slowly. “And look at Dallas. Those look solid, and that’s where they’re picketing.”
Donovan removed his glasses and tucked them into the pocket of his suit jacket. “Do you want my opinion?”
She turned in her chair and looked up at him. “I not only want it, I want you to tell me what to do. We leave for the wedding in two days and I literally cannot make one more decision. My brain has no more room for choices.”
“Do nothing. Stay the course.”
“No tweaks?”
“If anything, I might move into a few more secondary markets. Talk to the sales team and see if they have any ideas.”
“You want to double-down?”
“Maybe not double, exactly, but a hell of a lot of resources have already gone into this campaign, and I don’t think it’s wise to scrap the whole thing and start over. I would wait it out.”
Echo kneaded her forehead. “No one has ever protested one of our products before. The whole thing is weird.”
“It’s impossible to predict how everything will land, honey. This is just part of the game. But I say we wait it out.”
She sighed. “Okay. You’re right.”
“The good news is you’re about to get married and go on your honeymoon. If things blow up, it’ll be my job to deal with it.”
She laughed, her eyes flashing brightly from what seemed to be relief. “True. You can take the heat.”
Donovan couldn’t contain his smile. It felt good to help her through this, but more than anything, it was one of the rare times he felt as though he could protect her, or at the very least insulate her. After a lifetime of falling short, he was making up for some of it. “Does Lela know?”
Echo shook her head. “I don’t think so. She had to take her cat to the vet this morning, so she’s coming in at ten.”
“Oh, no. Is something wrong with Rio?”
“Is that her cat?”
Donovan realized he’d just tipped his hand. He didn’t want to share the specifics of the one time he and Rio had met. “Yeah. She’s always talking about him.”
“Ah. Gotcha.”
“I think we should plan to tell Lela as soon as she gets here. A few steps into reception or down the hall and she’s going to know something is up. It’s nuts out there.”
