The Other Side of Us - By Sarah Mayberry Page 0,10

of it, but she had and it was where she wanted to be.

Once she was on her feet again.

“I’ll be back soon, Gordon. I’ve had some great ideas for the show, too. Something to really kick us into the new ratings period.”

“You don’t need to pitch yourself to me. I’m going to offer him a month-by-month contract. I’m not expecting him to be happy about it, and I know for a fact there are other production companies sniffing around. I’ll do my best, but you need to understand that, at the end of the day, we have to do what’s best for the show.”

Even if that meant giving away her position while she was on sick leave for injuries acquired while on the job. If she hadn’t been driving to that location shoot, she wouldn’t have had the accident. It was that simple.

She opened her mouth to remind Gordon that he was legally obliged to keep her job open for her, then closed it again without saying a word. Nobody ever got ahead at Eureka Productions by resorting to lawyers at ten paces. No one who worked behind the camera, anyway.

“Don’t worry, Mackenzie. You’ll be looked after. You’re still our little pocket rocket.”

Mackenzie bared her teeth. How she hated that offensive, patronizing nickname.

“Will you keep me in the loop?” It was a testament to her strong will that she managed to keep her voice even and her tone pleasant. No way would she give Gordon the leverage of an emotional outburst. If he recognized a weakness, he wouldn’t hesitate to use it against her. “Let me know how things go with Philip?”

“You’ll be the first to know.”

“Network negotiations must be coming up soon, too. Any indication they might go for the Christmas special again this year?”

“They like to play their cards close. Listen, Mackenzie, I’d love to chat but I’ve got a meeting in ten.”

“Sure. Thanks for the call, Gordon.”

“Look after yourself, sweetheart.”

Mackenzie dropped the phone onto the coffee table and sank onto the arm of the sofa.

Shit.

If Philip played hardball and pushed to have her job permanently, there was a very real chance that she would be out in the cold.

The thought was accompanied by a flurry of panic and a stab of pain behind her right eyeball. She pressed her fingers to her temple, squeezing her eyes shut briefly before searching for painkillers. Normally she tried to get by without medication. At the worst of her recovery she’d been on so many tablets she’d had a special dispenser to keep them all straight. She’d been fuzzy headed and a step removed from the world most of the time, and she’d fought with her doctors to reduce her daily intake to the bare minimum. These days, she avoided anything that came in a foil sleeve, even a humble aspirin. But she could feel the headache building behind her eyes and knew from experience that it would snowball into something ferocious if she didn’t nip it in the bud now.

Mr. Smith pattered after her as she made her way to the bathroom. Seeing him reminded her of her new neighbor and his concerns about the hole-riddled fence. She supposed she should be more worried, but Mr. Smith was ridiculously attached to her and he’d never run away before. She figured he was simply excited about having a little buddy next door. Once the novelty had worn off he’d settle down.

Still, she should probably look into having the fence repaired, as Oliver Golden-Stubble had suggested. Not that she wanted to pour her precious, limited energy into anything unrelated to her recovery, but if it had to be done, it had to be done.

She swallowed two painkillers. A noise started up outside as she chased them with a glass of water. Someone hammering—in what sounded like her backyard. She made her way to the picture window in the living room. The noise wasn’t coming from her backyard, but the neighbor’s. Oliver was out there, working away with hammer and handsaw. Repairing their shared fence, apparently. Obviously he hadn’t been prepared to wait until they could hire a professional.

She watched him work, arms crossed over her chest. She’d never been attracted to redheaded men, but there was no denying this man’s appeal. His hair was a deep chestnut, more of a reddish-brown than a true red. As for his body... She would have cast him as a love interest on Time and Again in a heartbeat if his audition had come across her