by Katie Dowe
Nicole waved her hands impatiently.
“That’s different and you know it. I…”
Her mouth fell open. So that was why Max had kept her talking like that, thought Nicole, glumly. He’d been distracting her.
“Ah, come on, my darling. You can hold on to me. I’ll keep you safe.”
Nicole glared at him.
“You could hardly say anything else, could you, but you don’t control the winds or the skies or the tin can!”
Max laughed. Only Nicole would call the state-of-the-art seaplane that was safer than most cars and all yachts a tin can. He found her irreverence almost as attractive as he found her incisive brain.
“If we die, you can kill me,” promised Max.
Despite herself, Nicole chuckled. Only Max would offer her a promise like that, and make her laugh with it. This time, when she stepped inside and let Max help her get strapped in, she felt less nervous than she did the last time.
They had found a new level of intimacy that weekend, realized Nicole, and with it had come a strange kind of trust that she had never felt before.
Amazingly, she didn’t feel frightened of it. She trusted him, and it felt right.
This time, Nicole reached for his hand on her own, and she held on as they took off.
Max turned to her and smiled.
“See? I promised. Now relax. It’s a short flight,” said Max, and Nicole, to her astonishment, did manage to relax.
Max Daniels could accomplish the impossible, thought Nicole, before she let herself doze off.
*****
Nicole was nervous. The last two weeks hadn’t been easy. Sneaking around was, it appeared, distasteful in the extreme to both of them. Max really wanted her to meet his family, and she did, too. She really wanted to go to his pub and be introduced.
But it was time to clear the last hurdle. Max was meeting Derek Anderson that day, and they would know, finally, what lay ahead.
Nicole was surprised at how nervous she was. The odds of Anderson shooting down the campaign were nil, anyway. Their biggest client was the one who had ostensibly come up with it. She knew that it was a sound campaign. There was only one outcome.
But Nicole, who was naturally banished from the meeting by decree of Derek the Dinosaur – that had chafed a bit for her – would have no input during the meeting, and while she trusted Max, she disliked feeling helpless.
As if he knew what she was going through, which he probably did, she got a text from Max.
Relax, will you? I’ll sell our campaign.
That made Nicole smile. It really was their campaign. Even if Anderson vetoed it, Max liked it. Max was the client.
Max, however, wasn’t nervous – he was furious. He hadn’t known how badly Anderson treated Nicole. For the first twenty minutes of their meeting, Anderson had told Max, very eloquently, that the bombing of the last campaign had been Nicole’s fault. Max, who’d been angrier than he had ever been before, had kept quiet. If he hadn’t, he would’ve said things that could never be unsaid.
Max had set the meeting on his turf, deliberately, and he had treated Anderson very formally throughout the meeting. He knew that the man was probably sweating a bit – he might be losing the contract, after all.
Finally, Max cut in.
“Derek, I’m sure your time is as valuable as mine. Since that campaign bombed so spectacularly, I have come up with an alternate one. I have the details right here. Of course, I would like your company to execute this, but I do realize that you’re the expert. There’s no point hiring experts if you don’t listen to them. I would like you to go through the campaign now, and tell me what you think.”
There was silence as Max pushed the folder across to Anderson.
There was more silence as Anderson looked through the perfectly plotted campaign. Finally, he raised his eyes to Max.
“I can see that you’re a man who knows what he’s about. It’s no wonder that you’ve made such a success of yourself. Of course, this would work admirably. There might be a few details to iron out, but this is close to perfect. This is,” he added for good measure, “what I would’ve come up with all along if I hadn’t made the mistake of loosening the reins and letting that silly girl do what she thought was best.”
Max looked at him steadily, fighting the urge to knock his teeth loose.
“Now, Derek, please listen to me carefully. This campaign was put together by a young woman named Nicole Richards. You should know her. She’s the one you’ve been blaming for all your miscalculations so far. Since you have given the campaign such a hearty endorsement, I would like to make it very clear that I expect her to run this campaign, and my account. I expect her to be the lead, and I expect her to bring her ideas directly to me, or if I’m unavailable, to Noel. Nothing she has for us will ever go through you. Do you understand me?”
The blood drained from the portly man’s face. He looked ashen.
He didn’t say a word. He just nodded. Max was disappointed. He’d been ready with a lot more.
“Now, I want to make something else perfectly clear. If you ever disparage her name to another client the way you have to me, I will make sure that the client in question finds another agency. If you try to ruin her, I will ruin you. You will give her the promotion necessary to qualify her to run the lead on your biggest account, and you will utilize her remarkable prowess with tact and to full effect. Now, are we clear about this?”
The silly man looked as if he was about to faint, thought Max, disgusted. It was forever that way with bullies. The moment somebody bigger stood up to them, they shriveled into nothing.
Of course, he did know that if Nicole got wind of what he had done, she would be quite angry with him. He couldn’t have that.
“I trust that this conversation will remain confidential, for your own sake?”
Anderson nodded again. Max was getting quite sick of watching him nod.
“Thank you for your time, Derek. I expect we won’t see each other so often anymore, so I wish you well.”
Max effectively dismissed him, leaving him to find his own way out. Noel took pity on him and escorted him from the building, making polite conversation.
But it was difficult to bit back a grin. Apparently, Max had done a real number on him. Noel couldn’t find much sympathy for the man, though – he had quite obviously deserved it.
Now, he would probably have to work well with Jeff on the account, since Nicole would insist that the ideal target market be on the team. Noel’s grin widened. He would just have to deal with that.
*****
Nicole didn’t get called into Anderson’s office as she had expected. All she got was an email, telling her that the project had been approved, and that she would be directly liaising with the client on the matter. She was also free to pick a team for herself.
There was a terse warning that she was expected to devote adequate time and energy to all other projects she was assigned, as well, but that little bit of passive aggression was all Anderson had been able to muster. Gleefully, she grabbed her phone to call Max, but before she could dial, he called.
“Max!”
Max heard the excitement in her voice and chuckled. Obviously, she’d heard. He had hoped to be the one to tell her the good news, but it didn’t matter.
“So, as you might imagine, it all went well. I don’t think you’ll get much trouble from Anderson. You’ll find that things change a bit, since I had to insist that a person of proper authority be put in charge of the account, and I also insisted that you be in charge of it.”
Nicole put it together and couldn’t find a way to scold him for it.
“I suppose that makes sense. In a way,” she admitted.
Max grinned. He’d known that she would let it go if he’d put it like that.
“Now, Ms. Richards, I have a few details to discuss with you. Regarding the campaign, of course. I would like to meet you for lunch. To talk business, of course.”
Nicole
laughed.
“Of course. If it’s to talk business, I’ll need you to bring Noel. I’m sure you won’t mind that,” said Nicole, wickedly.
“Nicole, come on, my darling, don’t be like that,” said Max.
Nicole laughed.
“Oh, don’t worry. I can pick my team and bring somebody along. I thought I’d bring Jeff,” said Nicole.
Max cottoned on.
“I suppose we could do that.”
Nicole’s smile became smug.
“Next time. We can do that next time. Today, I want you to myself, my Nicole. And I am the client. You know what they say about clients being right.”
Nicole shook her head bemusedly, even if he couldn’t see it.
“I suspect what we say about clients being right isn’t what clients say,” she pointed out.
Max laughed again, delighted with his witty woman.
“We can argue over it when I pick you up in fifteen minutes. See you then, my love,” said Max, and cut the call before she could argue any further.
Nicole couldn’t help but smile. After everything, it looked like everything in her life was finally on track. She was with somebody she trusted and – she was beginning to get used to thinking this – loved. And she was fine with that.
Her career was finally beginning to look like it was headed somewhere, though she had a feeling that Max had had something to do with it.
She was happy, realized Nicole. She was happy, and she was about to have lunch with her man – her Max. Who would’ve ever imagined it, she thought, as she grabbed her stuff together.
“Off somewhere?” asked Jeff.
Nicole grinned.
“I’ve got news. I’m the new lead on the Max Daniels account, and you’re on my team.”
Jeff gaped.
“I… Well, I suppose you’ll have to take me along on meetings, then. And that Noel handles most of his business, doesn’t he?”
Nicole laughed.
“I suppose so. But for now… Well, I’m off to meet Max.”
Nicole went down just as the car was driving up. Max got out, and Nicole didn’t wait. They didn’t have to hide anything anymore. She didn’t care what anybody thought.
She ran to him and leapt right into his arms.
“Ah, that’s better, my Nicole,” murmured Max, and hugged her tight enough that Nicole felt safer than she had ever felt before.
“It is. It’s all better,” agreed Nicole.
And it was – better than she had ever dared hope.
The end.
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