Turning Point
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2009 by Flavio Olcese
Published by Flavio Olcese at Smashwords
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental
*****
Chapter 1
I had a really nice plan for my life. Unfortunately life had other plans for me. In the last year I had lost my dream job, my prized apartment, my hot girlfriend and had somehow gotten stuck back in my parents old house, living with a fifteen year old girl that I was certain hated me. It was difficult to take it all in stride.
I remembered back in high school living in this house with my parents and my older brother. That was the sweet life. Mom was the stay at home creative type and dad was the enterprising high powered lawyer. Both of them always found time for me and my brother, even if we didn’t always find time for them. Eventually mom organized family night on Wednesday nights. That brought us all closer. I still missed those days.
The Thayer brothers were immensely popular in school and I, for one, usually kept a full academic, sports and social life. My brother was much the same. We both played soccer in the fall and ran track
for the winter and spring. By the time I was a sophomore and Paul was a junior we were both on the varsity teams. We played like we could read each other’s minds. Good didn’t even begin to describe our abilities.
The Thayer brothers though didn’t just excel on the fields. Both of us were also very good students. Paul was more science and math oriented, like our dad. I was better in languages and arts, like our mom. We helped each other whenever we could, and in the end we always kept our grades up in all our classes. Paul had a way of softening up the teachers so that when I got them the next year they almost automatically liked me.
Probably the only place we were different were in our choices of girlfriends. Paul started going out with a friend of mine early in his junior year and stayed with her until the summer before he left for college. He though a steady girlfriend balanced him. I dated half a dozen girls in the same time frame. Some were from our school and some were not. All of them were drop dead gorgeous and all of them were rather lightheaded and ditzy. I wasn’t in search of arm candy. I just saw a girlfriend as a distraction to my academic and athletic endeavors. Therefore I never stuck around for very long nor did I date girls that were seeking a long term thing.
When it was finally time for my brother to decide on which of the colleges he would go to he chose an out of state one instead of the one in the city. He said that it was high time he left the suburbs of New York to go see the world. I didn’t want to crush his dreams so I let him believe that going to Ohio would be equal to seeing the world. His foray lasted less than a year.
The spring of my senior year dad had to go to Japan on business and had set up the trip to take mom with him. Unfortunately he didn’t think ahead. They would both be in Japan for my eighteenth birthday. Mom was a bit disappointed with dad but I told them we would just celebrate when they got back. I knew that mom had always wanted to go to Asia and dad had made a tiny error. I didn’t make a big deal of it.
While in Japan mom had been driving the rental car with dad and had gotten confused at a highway exit. She had thought it was an entrance. The head on collision at high speed killed them both instantly.
Shortly after the accident dad’s firm had sent a lawyer to Ohio to get Paul and had sent two of my dad’s partners to tell me. The firm took care of bringing the bodies back to the States and making the arrangements for my parents. I was in total shock and couldn’t have done any of it anyway. Paul was the one to man up. He dropped out of college temporarily and came home to be with me. It was him that pushed me to return to high school after about a week so that I could finish up and get my diploma.
My father, as a lawyer, had prepared well for any eventuality, just in case. Each of my parents had million dollar insurance policies. Dad’s financial investments, his 401K, the cars, the house plus all of mom’s possessions would all be split evenly by Paul and I. The firm dad had been a partner in took care of the paperwork for free. It was all a small consolation. With no cousins, uncles, aunts or living grandparents, we were now each other’s only family. I knew then that I would never celebrate my birthday the same way again.
Paul and I spent that summer making plans. We both decided to keep the house and go to college locally. Since it was too late to apply to any decent university, Paul decided that I should take my first semester at the community college. I purposely took the same classes he had taken in his first semester in Ohio. He decided to take on a job while we both applied to universities, though financially he didn’t have to. We had a house and cars paid in full, no other debt and a lot of money.
In the spring semester we both became second semester freshmen at a large university in New York City. Whenever we could we took classes together. The rest of the time we concentrated on our majors. That first semester at the university was tough for me and it was nice to have Paul around. Neither of us let up for the summer and we continued taking classes year round. That’s when I finally stared to open up.
Even for the summer semester I didn’t take a full load of classes. That afforded me a lot of time to go out and party in the city. I hit all the hot nightclubs and bars, when I could get in. I dated a couple of women that summer but nothing really lasted, nor did I want it to. I started getting to know the city and all is people. There were days when I wouldn’t show up back home until the morning hours.
Late that summer, during a barbeque in which we had invited several friends, I met Anne. She was a junior and was really pretty but certainly not the type of woman I would ever date. She had piercing steel blue eyes and flowing strawberry blond hair. She wore a light summer dress with a blue bonnet print. The dress wasn’t see through, per say, but it was light enough that when she stood in the sunlight any young man would give a quick check.
When she finally made her way to me, I couldn’t help but to like her immediately. We spoke about majors and school in general. She was studying communications in an effort to enter the advertising field.
“Paul tells me you’re a party animal and a playboy,” Anne teased me.
“I don’t know if I would describe it that way. I like to have fun and I’m opportunistic with my romantic relationships,” I replied.
“Yeah, he also said you were very good in using the English language to your advantage.”
We talked for a little while longer until it was time for me to go tend to the barbeque.
I stood outside with my spatula wearing my “kiss the cook” apron flipping burgers, watching the hot dogs and preparing the chicken. Paul leaned against the railing nursing a beer. The apron had belonged to our dad and was only used for barbeques. After their deaths Paul had taken over the finances and the bills, I did the cooking and we both cleaned.
Anne came over to us as Paul was telling me a joke. She moved up to my brother and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. She wrapped her arm around him and him around her, as the telling of the joke continued.
And so it came to be that as Paul’s relationship with Anne grew I became closer to the both of them. Anne turned out to be what Paul and I really needed, a woman’s perspective.
When Anne graduated she moved on to another university in the city to continue with an advanced degree. By that time Paul was already deep into his pre-law studies and I had decided to follow Anne into communications.
Anne and Paul got married right after my brother finished his undergraduate degree but before he entered law school. They both thought I would have a problem with her moving into the house but I was all for it. Their primary worry was that I would feel like a third wheel. I assured them I was okay with it but the subject resurfaced a year later when I decided to buy a small place in the city. They wanted me to stay but the suburbs felt too much like the country. I needed to be in the heart of the city.
With a master’s degree in hand, I began working at the very bottom of the fourth largest advertising company in the world. I wasn’t paid very much, so for the first couple of years I had to supplement my income with my investments. It took eleven years of seventy five hour work weeks and a move to the second largest advertising agency in the world until I was a vice president and raking in six figures.
In that time my brother and his wife had their first and only child, Christine. The baby was an absolute joy. I wasn’t sure if she knew who exactly I was back then, except that I would visit twice a month and always brought her some sort of gift. In time I saw that Christine was a combination of my mom and Anne. She was a stunningly beautiful child.
My brother never put in the hours I did, at least not on a regular basis. One night when Paul was thirty two he had stayed late in the office preparing for a case. He finally had decided to go home at nine in the evening but he never made it. Paul was robbed and stabbed. He was still alive when he made it to the emergency room. Both Anne and I were called to come see him. Being in the city, I was there within twenty minutes. About half an hour before Anne got to the hospital my bother died in my arms. The last thing he whispered to me was “Christine, as if she were you own.” I knew what he meant.
Losing my brother was gut wrenching for me. I felt so alone, as if suddenly I was now an orphan at age thirty one. Anne took it worse than I did. For the first time in my working career, I took some time off to take care of my brother’s arrangements and to see to the needs of his family.
Anne and I had a long discussion about finances. She wanted to sell the house and give me my half of it. I had finally convinced her to stay. The house was mortgage free, I would pay half the property taxes as I was a half owner and the schools in the area were unbeatable. I don’t know if she finally stayed because of the great deal or because there really was no better place for Christine to grow up.
Because of the lack of mortgage on the house, Anne had never really had to work. Paul’s money had more than met their obligations. Having learned from our parents both my brother and I paid premiums to have large life insurances. Even that money combined with the leftover investments our parents had left Paul would not be enough to carry Anne and Christine through their lifetime. With my connections in the industry I got Anne several good interviews with small and medium size ad agencies in the suburbs. She finally took a part time job as an account executive that would allow her to take and pick up Christine from school. I regularly sent Anne a few hundred dollars every month and I also contributed some money to Christine’s college fund.
****
Chapter 2
It was early Saturday morning when I arrived at Anne’s house with a couple of bags of groceries. I let myself in with my key and made sure I closed the front door loud enough for anyone to know I had arrived.
“Jake, is that you?” called out Anne from upstairs.
“Yes, I’ll be in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Any requests?”
“Oh, french toast,” said Christine as she came bounding down the stairs. I leaned down and she gave me a hug and a kiss. “Mornin’ Uncle Jake. Do you have a new girlfriend?”
“What? No, I don’t have a girlfriend. What kind of question is that?”
“Mom said that you get a new girlfriend every week,” she said as she sat on one of the kitchen stools at the breakfast nook.
“Chrissy, let me tell you something about your mom. She’s just jealous that I can get a date and she can’t.”
“I’m not jealous,” said Anne as she walked into the kitchen. She came over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “How are you, Jake?”
“I’m good. And speaking about girlfriends mine broke up with me because she thought I was cheating on her. She said that it was odd that I went away every other weekend and she finally figured out that there was no way I could have a ten year old niece if I had no brothers and sisters.”
“That’s what you get for dating rocket scientists.”
I spent the next half hour making breakfast while Anne caught me up on what was going on in her life. While we ate Christine had her shot at telling me about school and what she was up to. I just sat and took it all in. There was really not much to tell about me. There was work all week and partying on weekends.
For the last three years since my brother had died I had spent every other weekend with Anne and Christine up in the suburbs. I usually arrived on Saturday morning but would occasionally come on Friday if I could escape from work before seven. I always left on Sunday to go back to my apartment in the city.
Anne and I got along fabulously. Every once in a while we would talk finances but she never asked me for anything. Still every time I came I would fill her refrigerator and cupboard. I knew she could really use the extra money she saved on not having to buy groceries for a week or more.
It was also customary for me to cook dinner on Saturday night. Every once in a while Anne invited one of her friends or neighbors to our Saturday dinners. Cooking for two or six was all the same to me. Anyway most of the people she invited were either single or divorced females so I didn’t mind one bit. This particular Saturday she had invited a couple of her coworkers and her boss, all single females.
“Jake, what are you making tonight? I want to make sure I get the right wine.”
“I have a new recipe I tried out last week and it’s really good. It’s a vegetarian main dish with a whole bunch of great side dishes. Don’t worry about the wine. I’ll get it when we go out to buy the groceries.”
That afternoon Anne drove me and Christine to the supermarket. The trip was very routine. Everybody knew their place. It was one of the few things in my life that was the same way every time I did it. After we got our cart Anne and I would start at the fresh fruit and vegetable section and walk down every isle until we got to the other end of the store. Chrissy was sent on missions to get us specific items, even though we would pass those isles anyway. We usually sent her to the other side of the store. This gave me and Anne some time to talk alone.
“Jake, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful but do you know how much money you gave me and Chrissy last year?”
“I don’t keep track of those things. I have no idea.”
“Well, it was a lot. It really helps and I want to thank you but at the same time I don’t want you to not live your own life. I’m sure I can make it work with my salary and the investments.”
“My life is simple, Anne. I get most of what I need at work. Five days a week I eat all my meals there and the company pays for it. On the weekends I go out and have a couple of drinks. I don’t have cable because I don’t have time to watch TV. My gas, water and electric bills are tiny because I’m never home, and my cell phone is paid by the company. Plus I get paid boatloads, certainly a lot more than I can use. Look, you know what Paul told me before he passed away, that I should take care of Christine like she was my own daughter. I have no idea how to do that, but you do. So I take care of you and you take care of Chrissy. Everyone’s happy.”
She wrapped her arm around mine and leaned on me while I pushed the cart around. I loved when she did that. She was truly one of the finest women I knew, in every respect.
That night Anne sent her daughter to sleep over at one of her friend’s houses. That would leave the adults alone to eat, laugh and stay up late. In the early evening I got changed into my black pants and black shirt, put on my apron and starting getting the food ready for cooking.
At six our three guests had arrived. Anne entertained them in the living room as I brought out some appetizers. Eventually the four women moved into the kitchen and sat at the table as they watched me move through the kitchen. I had some Vivaldi playing on the stereo as I finished putting the main dish in the oven and quickly started on the side dishes.
“So Jake, what is it that you do aside from cooking?” asked Marie, Anne’s boss.
“You mean for work? I’m a senior VP at Waltman & Goode Worldwide.”
“Being a vice president at such a large company at your age is impressive but they have over half a dozen senior VPs don’t they? You know if you ever want to try something a bit more intimate and more focused, give me a call,” said Marie.
She was right. We had five senior vice presidents in our New York office alone, two in Chicago and two in Los Angeles. And then there were the international VPs. The competition was fierce to move ahead. We were all cordial to each other face to face but back stabbing was not uncommon.
“Jake does everything. He cleans, cooks, babysits. You name it he can probably do it,” added Anne.
“Where did you learn to cook?” asked Marie, one of the coworkers.
“My mom taught me the basics. She said that everyone who cooks has a type of food and one or two dishes which they excel at. So she encouraged me to find and try out new dishes. One Wednesdays or Thursdays evenings, depending on my schedule, I try out some new dish. Tonight’s dish I just tried this past week and it turned out pretty good so I thought I would share it.”
“What’s your specialty dish?” asked Marie.
“It’s a secret. I hardly ever make it and only under very special occasions. A guy has to have his secrets.”
The conversation continued through the rest of my cooking until I finally asked the women to go to the dining room table so we could eat. I brought the salad, side dishes and main course out together. I also opened a second bottle of wine and refilled everyone’s glass. It seemed that most of the conversation during dinner was about me. “So you’re the all around guy and you’re still single?” asked Carla.
“I work fifteen hours a day, minimum. That kind of schedule is just not the kind that leads to lasting relationships. I just don’t have the time to offer a woman my whole attention.”
I looked at the women before me, all pretty young women in their late twenties to mid thirties, who knew what they wanted and how to get it. All of them, except Anne, saw me as a conquest. Unfortunately for them none had a chance to get me. I was a career minded individual and I couldn’t really see anything changing that, ever.
****
Chapter 3
I had had a hard week. Everyone could smell a promotion coming for one of the senior VPs and I was considered among the favorites. That meant I had to watch my back. The pressure was so fierce that we had lost one of the VPs this week. Someone else had been given the open senior VP position but that person was inconsequential to the promotion proceedings. He just hadn’t put his time in like the rest of us.
I left work at six on Friday, about two hours before I usually went home. I had called Anne to let her know I would be coming today instead of tomorrow. She had been calling since Wednesday telling me she needed to talk to me right away. It wasn’t one of my planned weekends to visit but any break was welcome at this point.
I took the train to the suburbs and slept for most of the ride. Anne would pick me up at the station. I tried to clear my mind for the last fifteen minutes before I got to the station but I couldn’t. I still had so much work to do and my model girlfriend was unhappy that I was not going to see her two weekends in a row. The train finally pulled into the station and I spotted Christine standing outside the car door as soon as I exited the train. She looked bored.
“Hi Uncle Jake. You look horrible. What did you get me?”
“Well thanks for the complements. Real nice of you. And I didn’t get you anything. Since you turned fifteen you seem to change your mind every twenty minutes,” I responded as I got in the front seat. Anne gave me a kiss hello.
“Well then can I have some cash?”
“Sure. First thing you need to do is get a job—”
“No. Come on, Uncle Jake.”
“Christine, Uncle Jake is tired. Let’s feed him and let him rest. He’ll probably be more responsive after that.”
I smiled at Anne. The woman knew me inside and out. She knew I would cave in to her daughter and give her some money eventually.
The ride home was quiet. Anne was usually chatty so I knew something was on her mind. Christine was in the back seat sulking. I was too exhausted to start a conversation. When we arrived, Anne made me a plate of leftover meatloaf and mashed potatoes and sat with me while the food heated in the microwave.
“You dating anyone?” I asked.
“No. You?”
“JoAnna Quinn.”
“The model? No way. I would have thought she had higher standards,” Anne joked.
“Now I see where Christine gets her sense of decorum. As I see it I’m the standard on which other men are judged.”
“Yes, and you’re so modest too.” Anne was giggling as she stood up to get my dinner from the microwave. She set the plate in front of me and I ate a couple of bites before we continued the conversation.
“So why am I here, Anne?” I asked. Her smile faded from her face and she looked down at the table for a couple of seconds. I waited patiently for her response. She finally looked up at me with a very serious face. I could see her eyes welling up.
“You have to promise me you’ll take care of Christine as if she were your own.”
“Of course I will, always.”
“Jake, I mean it. No matter what, even if something happens to me. You have to promise me.”
“What going to happen to you? What are you talking about Anne?”
“Promise me,” she said as she raised her voice.
“Okay, I promise. I’ll take care of Christine as if she were my own daughter, no matter what happens. So, what is happening?”
“My doctor diagnosed me with pancreatic cancer. She gave me a year to three years, but she said some people go faster. I haven’t told Christine. I thought maybe you could help me.”
Now it was Anne turn to wait for me to respond. I took a deep breath. So many things ran through my mind but I didn’t know what to say first. It took about ten seconds before I finally said something.
“Okay, well I assume you’re going to fight it, right?”
“Yes. The doctor said I can start chemotherapy next week. And then we’ll do some radiation.”
“Alright so if you don’t mind I’ll move in right away. I mean, just until you get better and are on your feet again. I’ll take Monday and Tuesday off and get things packed and moved.”
“I think that’s going to be a good idea. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to take care of anything after my treatment starts.”
It was late and I was tired but we still spent the next hour and a half making plans. We would tell Christine tomorrow morning after breakfast. I went to bed at close to one in the morning but tossed and turned for an hour before I finally fell asleep. I was awake at six.
I read the paper and drank some coffee until about eight thirty when the girls finally woke up. I made scrambled eggs and toast for them and we ate quietly. I smiled weakly at Anne but she didn’t return the favor. I could see the bags under her eyes. I figured I should take charge of this one and so I did.
“Christine, I was talking to your mom last night and we have decided that I am going to move in.”
“Really? When? Why?”
“I’ll probably be in here by this Tuesday. Your mom is sick and it’s going to be easier for her and you to have another adult around.”
“Mom?” said Christine as she turned towards her mother. Anne looked up at her daughter and smiled weakly but offered no explanation.
“Christine, honey?” she turned to look at me. “Your mom has an aggressive form of cancer. Now she going to fight it but it’s going to weaken her a bit so we are going to need you to be helpful, okay?”
She just nodded her head gently at me. A couple of tears were beginning to form in her eyes. This was going to be harder than I anticipated.
“Were also thinking of getting a maid to help around the house. This will take a lot pressure off of all of us. Now your mother’s illness changes very little for you. She is still your mother. The one thing that does change for you is that as an adult in this house you are going to have to listen to me too. Okay?”
She nodded again. Now she was crying. Anne moved over to hug her daughter and that pretty much opened the flood gates. I took the plates into the kitchen and started cleaning up the mess of breakfast.
I spent most of the rest of the day looking for a realtor to sell my apartment and movers to help me move my stuff. I also emptied a part of the garage so I could store some of my stuff there. While I was outside I met the next door neighbor.
“Are you Jake?”
“Yes, that’s me.” I went over to the low fence to shake hands with my neighbor. I couldn’t help to look her over. Brown hair in a bob, a slim face with high cheek bones, a radiant smile and she was fit for a mom, or at least I assumed she was a mom. Most people in this neighborhood were young couples raising kids.
“Hi, I’m Karen. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Really? Anne talks about me?”
“Are you kidding? You’re better than any soap opera. Half the neighbors know about you. All the wives have been dying to meet you. So you’re visiting for the weekend?”
“Actually I’m preparing the house to move in with Anne and Christine. I should be in by the middle of this week. Now you got a bit of gossip to spread around the neighborhood.” She smiled at me as she moved towards her porch door. “Hey Karen, can I ask you two questions?”
“Sure,” she responded from half way inside the door.
“Were you dying to meet me?”
“Yeah.”
“What does your husband think about that?”
“I’m divorced.”
And with a smile she walked into her house and closed the door behind her.
After I finished out back I went back in the house where Anne was sitting on the couch reading a magazine. She looked up at me.
“Christine is up in her room. I think she’ll be okay. What were you doing out back?”
“I met Karen. We were chatting. By now she should be spreading the rumor that I’m moving in.”
“Great. What else did she say?”
“That all the ladies here are dying to meet me. We probably should have a party and invite them all.”
“Calm down, stud. Almost all of them are married and let’s not forget you have a girlfriend.”
I went up to see Christine to see if she was okay. I knocked but she didn’t answer so I peeked in. She had her mp3 player playing and her headphones on. She got startled when I walked in.
“What are you doing tonight?” I asked.
“I had plans but I’m not sure I’m in the mood to go out anymore.”
“You know going out might help you. Staying in will get you more upset. Go do something with your friends. It’ll be good for you.”
“Okay but I need some money.”
I handed her some bills I had folded up in my hand. I smiled at her and winked before moving towards the door.
“Uncle Jake?” She said, as I turned around. “Thank you.”
****
Chapter 4
My employer was pissed not only that I had taken two days off but that now I had curtailed my hours to a maximum of sixty five per week, though I usually put in sixty or less. I obviously couldn’t do as much work as I had been doing and I was passing many of my smaller projects to my staff. Every one of the other senior VPs noticed this. I heard back talk from all of them. I took it in stride. There was nothing I could do about it.
Aside from my work hours, I was putting in two to four hours at home taking care of Anne. She was weak but I still took her out every evening for a short walk. The exercise did her good.
Christine for some reason had become very defiant towards me. Making sure she had done her homework was like pulling teeth. She hardly listened to me and only asked for my help when her mother sent her to me.
The car service that took Anne to the doctor, as well as the maid put a big dent in my bank account. The quick sale of my apartment helped a lot. I used most of that money to pay for the added expenses as well as all the medical costs. That meant I probably wouldn’t be able to afford to buy an apartment after Anne got better. I would worry about that when the time came. Right now it was more important to make sure Anne had no worries about her finances.
Three months after Anne started her fight for survival, my employer had had enough. My boss had pulled me into his office were I met with him and his boss. They asked me what was going on with me and I told them the truth. They offered several solutions that would grant me more time to spend at work and less with Anne and Christine. They told me they were willing to pay half the expenses for a nurse, if I covered the rest and increased my work hours. They told me I should think about the offer and my future at the company. I was given until the next morning to give them an answer.
Two hours later I walked into a meeting of the bosses of the company and the senior vice presidents. In front of everybody I handed them my resignation, effective immediately, and told them to shove their offer. I talked to nobody as I walked out of my office with my box of personal items.
JoAnna Quinn, my girlfriend, called me as I was on the train going home, to break up with me. I was indifferent towards it. Another short term girlfriend was of no consequence to me, as long as I still had Anne to count on.
I looked up a phone number about half way home and called it right away.
“Good afternoon, Could I speak to Marie Kirkpatrick, this is Jake Thayer.”
“She’s in a meeting now. Can I transfer you to her voice mail?”
“Can you please let her know I’m on the phone and that I really need to speak to her? I’m sure she’ll take my call.”
“Please hold.”
This had not been my plan when I quit. In fact I hadn’t really had a plan. I just knew that I could no longer work at Waltman & Goode Worldwide and that I would have to work somewhere else.
“Jake, what wrong? Is Anne okay?” said Marie through the phone.
“Oh yeah, she’s fine. I called you about me. I need to talk to you. Can you get out of the meeting?”
“Not really, I’m running it.”
“Alright then can I come over? I’m on the train about twenty minutes from your station.”
“Sure. Come on in. I’ll be done by then. I got to go and finish the meeting. See you soon.” She didn’t even wait for me to say goodbye before she hung up.
I skipped my station and went directly to see Marie with my box of personal stuff from my previous job. Her office was too far to walk but the cab ride seemed rather short. I paid the guy and went right up to her office.
As soon as I walked in I saw that I was extremely overdressed. The employees here were wearing kakis and button down shirts. I had on a full suit with tie, cufflinks and a tiepin. The outfit alone got the attention of the receptionist. I introduced myself and sat down to wait for Marie. She came out in a flash.
“Look at you, wow. What’s with the box?”
“Can we talk in your office?”
She led and I followed with my box. The whole office looked up at me as we walked to the back. She waited for me to enter before she closed the door and sat behind her desk. I sat down in front of it.
“Marie, do you remember when we first met at Anne’s dinner party a few years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Back then you said that if I ever wanted to do some work that was more intimate and focused I should call you.”
“Yes, I remember that. What’s in the box?”
“My personal effects from Waltman & Goode. I quit about two hours ago.”
I proceeded to tell her the whole story. It was either work or family and it had been about the easiest decision I ever had to make. It had even surprised me. We talked for about an hour about what I could do for her and what I would need. The first thing I needed was a computer so that I could send emails to all my contacts.
“Why do you need to send these emails?”
“I’ve worked with some of these clients for years. These as major players, the big accounts. Anytime they were switched to someone else they always asked to come back to me. I just want to let them know I have moved to a more focused operation here and if they have any questions they can call me.”
“And you think we’ll get these accounts or that we can handle accounts that big?”
“Probably not, but they will be more than willing to give us some of the creative side of the business so they can have access to me. Look Marie, starting tomorrow morning my old company will be contacting all my clients letting them know I’m no longer with them. If I know Waltman & Goode, and I do, I can bet they are having meetings right now about how to split my work. They are going to try to blacklist me. If I send out an email now, then I’ll beat them to the punch.”
“Alright, I’ll give you a cubicle and a computer now. When can you start?”
“Tomorrow morning but I can only put in about thirty hours a week until Anne gets back on her feet. After that I’m full time and then some. By the way what’s my title so I can put it on the email?”
“Vice president of new accounts. You get them and then integrate them into the rest of the company. You set up which teams handle what. You answer to our Senior VP, Ira Cohen. You’ll meet him tomorrow morning and we’ll introduce you to the rest of the company at our 9am meeting. Oh, and dress down a bit tomorrow. We’re not as formal as your old employer.”
Marie let me leave my personal effects at my new cubicle. I hadn’t worked from a cubicle in over ten years but I had to make do with what was available. I sent my emails out and was on my way home in less than an hour.
When I got home Christine was doing homework in the dining room with another girl. She was surprised to see me home so early, though it was after five already. She let me know her mom was upstairs napping. I headed upstairs to wake up Anne.