Page 37 of Knocked Up by my Rival

I wanted to offer to pay for that, too, but it would seem too forward. Before I could say something else, Mackenzie cut me off.

“I appreciate you not just leaving me alone with the kids. You were a lifesaver.”

“I wasn’t going to leave,” I said. “I couldn’t.”

Mackenzie laughed. “Yeah, that’s true. Well, thanks anyway. I’ll see you at Johnson’s office.”

I nodded and left in a cab. Mackenzie stayed behind to get the kids ready for school before she met me at the offices for our review.

My phone rang just as I got home.

“Larson,” Johnson said over the phone. “I’ve been trying to get through all weekend.”

“The phone lines were down with the storm,” I said. “I hope it wasn’t anything urgent.”

“I figured that was what happened. Some service carriers suffered.”

I agreed.

“I’m postponing the meeting to next month. I have to go out of town unexpectedly on a personal matter.”

“Oh,” I said. “I hope it’s nothing serious.”

“It’s not, but it’s family, and that comes above all else.”

“As it should,” I said. I wasn’t just kissing my soon-to-be boss’s ass, I really believed that. Family was everything. “We’ll be ready when you are.” My mind was already spinning around how I could improve what I’d done so far to make a better impression. More time to hit the bullseye was never a bad thing.

“Yeah,” Johnson said. “I want you to revise what you’re planning for the campaign. I spoke to Toussaint, and he wants to go in a different direction.”

“What direction?” I asked with a frown.

“He wants to make the whole thing a lot more personal. He says billboards and TV adverts just don’t bring the emotion of his work across or some such nonsense. I’ll email you the details. Artists are always full of it, and Toussaint… well, he’s French.”

I laughed as if I knew what he was implying by that statement. I wasn’t actually sure.

“Okay,” I said. With the extra time, changes could work just fine.

“Are you in contact with Frye?” Johnson asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“I can’t reach her. Same problem, I assume. Forward the change of plan to her, will you?”

“I’ll take care of it,” I said.

We ended the call, and I plugged in my laptop so it could charge and opened my email. The message from Johnson came through almost right away. I scanned through the changes, and my stomach dropped.

This was right up Mackenzie’s alley. Bringing a personal touch to the project was exactly what was going to let her bring it home, not me. After how she’d explained the approach to me, I knew she had the emotional touch a woman would have, not the straightforward facts the way I usually did it.

Damn it! There was no way I could win this now, but I had to try. It was all about business, right? I’d surprised myself before.

I clicked the forward button and typed Mackenzie’s email address before I hit Send.

A moment later, I got a message in my inbox telling me the email was undeliverable. Something had gone wrong. Stupid service carriers and this damn storm that fucked it all up for me.

I picked up my phone and dialed Mackenzie’s number.

“I didn’t think I’d hear from you before I saw you again,” she said when she answered, and I didn’t miss the smile in her voice. “What’s up?”

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