Kirkpatrick Advertising sent a large bouquet of flowers to Karen congratulating her on her engagement. I didn’t find out about it until I got home from work.
The girls wanted to have an engagement party but right now Karen and I were too busy with the adoption lawyers, integrating our finances and planning a wedding. All that combined with working and taking care of two teenage girls gave us very little free time.
The lawyers had a complicated plan for the adoption but said it would go easier after we got married. Both Karen and I would apply to adopt Christine as a married couple. As that was going on I would apply to adopt Emily. I thought it would be easy but the process was difficult to understand, even after the lawyers explained it. Finally I told them to take care of it and let us know when and where to show up.
Karen and I had looked at both the girls’ financial situations. Generally we would not have done this but Christine had a trust fund left by her parents and we thought it only fair that Emily get one too. Also both girls had college funds that were disproportionately unequal. We needed some cash to even things out between the girls. I suggested getting a mortgage on my house but Karen shot that down. We finally decided that no mortgage was better than having two. Karen would sell her house, pay off her mortgage and use what was left to balance out the girls’ finances. Any money after that, we would put towards our family and eventually our retirement.
Because we needed to get a lot of these things done before the girls turned eighteen Karen and I decided to have her and Emily move in right away so we could put their house on the market. By Christmas we had our first holiday together as a family in our house.
The wedding was another matter that we had to resolve. Unlike the finances, this one we did with the girls help. Karen had already had a big wedding so she told me she didn’t need another one, but was willing to go either way. The girls thought that because I had not had one, that we should have a big one anyway. I wanted to have a tiny wedding, just me Karen and the girls.
My fiancé and I finally decided what to do about the wedding one Saturday night when we went out on a date to dinner.
“Jake, the girls don’t necessarily want a big wedding. What they want is to help plan the wedding. I know you want something small but you have to give them more information so that they can begin planning. So what are you thinking?”
“I thought we could go somewhere, get married and have our honeymoon all in one. I thought it would be nice if we brought the girls with us. They get a vacation and we get to spend quality time with each other.”
“That sounds nice. Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know. I can’t decide. Someplace warm, for sure.”
“Why don’t you let the girls decide? Then they can plan it and we can take care of the smaller details.”
The girls spend the next week on the internet looking at places to go and resorts. They came up with a long list that they dwindled down little by little. Eventually they came up with two and Karen told them they had to decide on which one. The wedding’s location was their responsibility.
It took them three more days to decide. They finally sat Karen and I at a computer and showed us where we were going and the wedding packages available. We both asked questioned and they knew the answers to all of them. The location was the US Virgin Islands. We would arrive on a Saturday to a resort on St. Croix and get married on Monday afternoon. We would enjoy that resort until Wednesday when we would move to a resort on St. Thomas. We would leave and return home on Sunday.
I was impressed, as was Karen. All we had to do now was get rings, get Karen a dress and get the girls bridesmaid dresses. Karen and the girls would go dress shopping right away. Karen and I would go ring shopping sometime soon. I had to make reservations and pay for the whole deal. In the end I figured it would cost about eight thousand dollars but that wasn’t bad for a vacation for four, a wedding and a honeymoon.
In mid February, about a week and a half before I left for my wedding and honeymoon Marie called me into her office for a conference with Ira and a company lawyer.
“I got a call from Waltman & Goode Worldwide this morning. They want to talk about some similarities between our internet advertising for Horizon Chocolates and some work you were doing for them for the same account,” said Marie.
“And you told them?”
“Nothing. I know they’re making things up to discredit us with our customer. Still they invited me and Ira to go to their offices and talk about it. I would like to know if what we put out was actually work you did for Horizon Chocolates while at WGW?”
“Marie, when I was at WGW they did not have Horizon Chocolates as an account. In fact Horizon has never done any work with Waltman & Goode, as far as I know. Now if WGW has proof that our work is the same as what I was doing over there, fine but I can tell you that when I started working here to get the Horizon account I started from scratch. And as far as our internet presence for Horizon, Christine came up with the ideas for it.”
“Did you coach Christine?” asked the lawyer.
“No, her answer at that meeting was as much a surprise to me as it was to anybody else in that room.”
“We’re going to have to meet with them, Jake. Otherwise they could tie this up in the courts for a long time. We don’t have the financial resources to go against them,” said Ira.
“Unless we fight by their rules. We got to get our hands dirty. I know how they operate. We would have to do something so outrageous that it would make them back off.”
“You have something in mind, what is it?” asked Marie.
“I would rather not discuss it, now or ever. I think everyone in this room needs to be able to say they had no idea what I was doing. It’s not illegal or unethical but it is dirty. I’d rather do it alone so if it all goes wrong you can claim innocence.”
“Can you tell me what it’s about?” asked Marie.
“While they concentrate on taking our biggest client, I’m going to make sure they lose one of their biggest clients. By the time they realize they’re in trouble, it going to be almost too late.”
“You’re right, I don’t want to know. Go ahead and do your project. We’ll keep them busy with Horizon Chocolates.”
This little thing I had just plunged myself into would take some work to coordinate. I worked those hours at home. I had developed this need to be with my family in the evening, even if I was still doing stuff for my employer.
Marie set up the meeting with Waltman & Goode right away for the Friday morning a week before I left on vacation. I spent about two hours late Thursday afternoon coaching Ira and Marie on what to expect at the meeting. They knew a lot of it but what they didn’t know was the dirty tactics they used over there. I knew them all. I had even invented some of them. They caught on quick and we set up a plan for the meeting. Though WGW had not invited me or our lawyer, we would show up with our senior management anyway. I wasn’t really looking forward to going back to my old place of employment but I was prepared for anything that might come up.
Early Friday morning I was picked up in a private car that would take us to the meeting. Ira and the lawyer were already in there. Now we had to go pick up Marie. The ride was quiet. We all knew what we had to do. The lawyer was there more as an intimidation tactic than anything else. Marie and Ira would hear out WGW’s argument but not sign on to any of their solutions. I was there to gather information to use against them.
We were met at the reception area by the president of North American operations, Gavin James. He knew exactly who I was and greeted all of us cordially before leading us to their conference room.
The room was full of vice presidents mostly senior ones but there were a couple of junior ones too. I knew every one of them, which meant they didn’t have a lawyer present. Everyone introduced themselves and we sat down to talk.
Gavin opened up the meeting by letting us know why we were meeting, though I already knew his ulterior motive
s. He wanted the Horizon Chocolates account. After his brief presentation one of the senior VPs got up and told us they had evidence that our current campaign had actually been done in house at Waltman & Goode by me and was therefore intellectual property owned by them.
I asked them if they had proof of such a claim and they replied that it was in the hands of their lawyers who were preparing the case against us. That was a lie and all of us knew it. If they really had a case their lawyers would have never allowed this meeting to happen, much less without their presence.
In the end they wanted a multi million dollar out of court settlement and an immediate removal of the advertising campaign. Marie asked for some time to think about it. Gavin didn’t want to give any.
“Look Gavin, you guys have looked at all your options and discussed them with your attorneys prior to this meeting,” I said. “We are looking for the same consideration. Understand though that removing the advertising campaign will not get you the account. Horizon will just get pissed off at you. Then you’ll never do business with them, ever.”
“No Jake, you’re wrong. All they’ll see will be the ineptitude of Kirkpatrick Advertising. It’s simple you can pass the account to us and we pay you half a million or we sue you for several millions. It’s not like it matters anyway. Planetary Foods is getting ready for a second takeover attempt and when they do acquire Horizon they will put the account in our hands. In fact were already working on their new campaign so that when you guys implode we’ll be ready to take advantage of the situation. You have your lawyer with you and we will need an answer today.”
Marie leaned over and started whispering with the lawyer, Ira and me. After about three minutes when we had reached a conclusion Marie stood up and the room quieted down.
“Gavin, apparently were not going to need any time to think about it. As attractive as your offer sounds, you and your fifty seven vice presidents can go screw yourselves. We’ll see you in court.”
Marie walked out and the rest of us followed. In the car I made a call to Robert Decker of Horizon Chocolates, while my bosses and the lawyer listened.
“Mr. Decker, good afternoon. This is Jake Thayer from Kirkpatrick advertising.”
“Hi Jake, how can I help you today?”
“Mr. Decker we need to talk, in private.”
“Sure, what’s on your mind?”
“Actually I was wondering if we could do this in person, outside of the office. If you’re free tomorrow night maybe you could come to my house for dinner?”
“Well I’m usually at the country club on Saturday nights. Will Christine be there?”
“Yes, as well as my fiancé and her sixteen year old daughter.”
“Jake, three women always beats the country club. Can you email me your address and all the pertinent details?”
“Yes sir. I’ll send them to you in about an hour.”
And with that we both hung up. Marie just stared at me. I gave her a thumbs up. If this worked correctly, and there was no guarantee that it would, we could have this mess going down while I was away. Now all I had to do was make a phenomenal dinner and have my new family schmooze my biggest client.