Page 11 of Fall With Me
I glance up at Carter and my stomach drops to the floor. His left eye twitches and he’s rubbing the bridge of his nose.
Dang it. What did I do wrong?
“We can’t complete what Creative Source wants by the end of February. Our workload is too full already.”
Barely a week on the job and I’ve messed up? Will Carter fire me over this? Am I about to lose my income? Dream jobs that allow me to work from home and be around Finn when he’s out of school are scarce. I can’t mess this up.
“I’m sorry, Carter. I figured six months gave us plenty of time. I looked through the scope of the project and figured I could get it done. But I’ll reach out and let them know. What date is reasonable?”
Not now, because Carter obviously isn’t happy with me at the moment, but maybe I should mention that it would be nice if we had a master schedule or a protocol in place where anyone in the company can see where we’re at so mistakes like this don’t happen in the future.
For all I know, there probably is, and no one told me about it.
Carter’s gaze strays to another monitor. He clicks his mouse a few times. “April 15th is the earliest I feel comfortable with, and even that is pushing us. Reach out and let them know May 15th, like we agreed upon in the contract.”
Three months after they want it? Yikes. The client won’t take that big of a delay very well. My stomach twists in knots at the mere thought of the conversation. “Okay.” As muchas I’m dreading the discussion with Creative Source, it’s my fault for promising a date without checking with my boss first. Between the football game and now this, I bet Carter’s regretting hiring me. If I were in his shoes, I certainly would.
“If you need me on the call with you when you deliver the blow, let me know. They’re our biggest client and keeping them happy is important. I’m willing to do what I can to sort this out without compromising what we can reasonably handle.”
I want to say I can do it. That I’ll find a way no matter what to get it done. But I can’t. Finn’s young and needs me in the evenings. Work–home life balance is extremely important to me after what we went through with Willow.
“I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, Dawson. Have a good weekend, all right? We’ll chat on Monday.”
A good weekend? Yeah…not likely.
Creative Source is threatening to cancel their contract with us, and it’s all my fault. Like Superman, I thought I could swoop in and fix the problem on my own. Turns out, I made everything worse. I can’t eat. Sleep’s been all but impossible as my mind whirls and my stomach cramps. I’m going into the office to talk to Carter face-to-face.
I like the guy, but I’m terrified he’ll fire me by the end of the day.
“Bye, bud, have a great day at school!” I say to Finn, forcing cheer I don’t feel as he climbs out of my Subaru in front of his elementary school.
“Bye, Dad!”
Finn slams the car door shut and takes off to the side of the school where his class lines up. I envy his situation, where all he has to worry about is learning his fractions and deciding what he and his friends want to play at recess.
The closer I get to work, the harder my stomach clenches. Breathing through the pain, I park and head straight to Carter’s office. Softly knocking on his door, I stand in the hallway, tapping my thumb against my thigh, waiting for my boss to allow me entrance.
“Come in,” Carter’s voice calls out.
Opening the door, I enter my boss’s office and head straight for the black leather seat in front of his giant wood desk.
“Dawson, hey. I didn’t expect to see you today. What’s up?”
Swiping my hands down my thighs, my voice shakes as I say, “Creative Source is threatening to cancel their contract.”
The color drains from Carter’s face. “What?”
“I talked to them yesterday. They have a conference they’re attending in mid-February where they plan to unveil the concept and give a demonstration. Based on the feedback they receive there, we’ll have two weeks to finalize the project for their launch on March first.”
Carter swears under his breath. “It would have been nice of them to let us know that when we first discussed details oftheir game. The contract they signed gave us until May. It’s insane that they think they can pull the rug out from under us and demand an earlier time frame.”
Yeah, that’s not good business practice. “What do you want me to do? How can I fix this?”
Carter runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t know yet. Let me look at our workload and see what I can switch around. I’ll most likely pull you from this project and give you smaller jobs.”
What? No. When Carter told me he was giving me one of their biggest clients to work with, I was ecstatic that he trusted me, the new guy, to do it. Pulling me not only tells Carter I’m not as good as he thought I was, but it’s a huge letdown for me. I can’t let him take me off this job. Not until I’ve done absolutely everything in my power to resolve this. I’m not sure how I’ll fit more overtime into my schedule, but I’ll figure something out.
