Page 48 of The Executive Assistant

My jaw dropped. I remembered the meeting we had a few weeks ago, when we’d agreed that the first version wasn’t eye-catching enough, despite it being more informational. Where did this 180 come from?

I opened another email at random. It was from Hannah, head of the design team.

Did you see the new email from Henry? He wants us to scrap everything and start again. Are we still on the same timeline? If so, we’ll have to do weeks of work in a few days. I’ll wait to do anything until I hear from you.

My heart pounded with panic. I tried to get a grip. We’d had clients who’d changed their mind before, but I’d always been in the loop, ready to reroute to a new direction immediately. Now, I’d received the news a daylate because I’d made the stupid decision to put my phone on silent. Worse, I wasn’t even in the city — I was hours away, at the beach, on a holiday.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” I repeated to myself under my breath. It wasn’t a matter of money — Henry would pay us for the extra time. But I would have to call up employees, ask them to work overtime, and pay them for it. Everyone had already been through so much stress because of the last campaign, and now we had to do it all again.

While I tried to keep calm, I could feel my face heating up, my breathing becoming more rapid. I scanned through several more emails, but there were way too many to read, and I felt overwhelmed.

Focus, Alison. Focus.

I found Henry’s number and hit the call button, listening to my phone ring over and over until I heard him pick up. “Hi, Henry. This is Alison from Firth Marketing.”

“I’ve been trying to contact you since yesterday,” Henry said, sounding frustrated. His tone made me sick to my stomach, reminding me of the times I got in trouble with my parents for doing something wrong. I hated those moments.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t expect any news on the campaign today, so I wasn’t by my phone,” I explained, needing to figure out how to put this fire out before it burned my whole business.

“I know it’s out of business hours, but I chose yourcompany because you offered assistance at all hours,” Henry replied. “I expect you to uphold your promises.”

I fought the lump in my throat. I had made that promise. If this was any other weekend, I’d have answered his phone calls immediately.

“Of course. I understand,” I told him, trying to keep my voice sounding normal.

“Well, did you read my emails? I need changes made,” he continued.

“I just took a look. So, you’re wanting to return to the first version of the advertisements we spoke about?” I asked, trying to concentrate.

“Yes. After seeing the last draft of this new version, I decided the old version is better. Sure, it doesn’t pop out at you as much, but it gets our point across,” Henry said. “Are you able to do that? Because we still need all the advertising materials by our product launch date.”

He switched everything up and still wanted us to be done by the deadline. Frustration seeped deep into my chest, but I tried to keep it at bay. He was a huge client, and he was paying top dollar.

“Yes, we’ll change over to the old version. I’ll tell my team today, and we’ll get caught up. I’m sure we’ll be able to get everything to you by this Friday.” I already felt dread at the prospect of telling my employees that we had to pull off a miracle.

“Keep me updated,” he said.

I started to make assurances, but realized he’d already hung up. Asshole.

But could I really blame him? He’d been trying to get hold of me since yesterday evening. If I was in his position, I’d be annoyed too.

I tightened my grip on my phone, fighting the urge to throw it across the pool.You can do this. You’ve gotten through work emergencies before.

I cursed under my breath and called the lead of my design team. “Hannah, I’m so sorry to call you on a weekend. I saw you heard from Henry.”

“Yes, I was waiting to hear from you.”

“I’m sorry I took so long to get in touch with you. Henry wants us to return to the original version we talked about. Would it be possible to call everyone to the office?”

“Yes, of course.” Despite the polite words, her voice sounded tight.

“Thank you. I’m out of town right now, but I’ll be back at the office as soon as possible to help get as much done as possible,” I told her. “Just do your best. All of you will be well-compensated for the overtime.”

“We’ll get started,” Hannah replied.

After we ended the call, I lowered my phone, staring at nothing. This felt like a nightmare.

“Can’t let go of work for a minute, huh?” Cameron’s teasing voice sounded behind me.

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