Chapter 17
By Friday the girls were back in Karen’s good graces but they weren’t letting up any. As far as they were concerned they still had a whole weekend to make their mom’s honeymoon one to remember.
As for me I was tired of running around. I wanted to rest. So when my daughters told me to put my bathing suit on and go out to the pool and rest, I obliged willingly. They said Karen would join me shortly.
I found a couple of lounge chairs near the pool but closer to the beach than the hotel. I put on some suntan lotion, slipped on my sunglasses and lay down on my back to rest. After about ten minutes the heat of the sun was lulling me to sleep. That’s when I heard some hooting. Some guys were making cat calls at some woman. It was rather rude to do and if it was my wife I would have intervened but I didn’t bother to even look up. Truthfully I didn’t want to look at another woman, no matter how pretty she looked.
A minute later something hit me in the stomach and I looked up to see a bottle of suntan lotion and some real gorgeous legs. I picked up the lotion, held it up and laid my head back down on the lounge chair.
“Sorry ma’am, my heart belongs to another woman. I’m married.”
“If you’re serious that has got to be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard you say,” replied Karen.
I took my sunglasses off and sat up. My wife was the one all the guys had been making cat calls at, and now I understood why.
“Oh wow. You look hot. Did you have…where did you get―”
“Your daughters convinced me to buy a bikini yesterday and then told me to put it on and come out here to see you. I’m not sure if this is a present to me or if I’m your present to you.”
“I’m speechless. You look gorgeous.”
“Thank you. Put some lotion on me, will you?”
Karen lay down on the chaise next to me and I rubbed her shoulders and back while I put the lotion on her. When I was done rubbing her back, arms, shoulders and legs, I asked to turn over. I rubbed more lotion on her tummy, shoulders and legs. I could see she was just bucking with anticipation, hoping that my hand would slip, even a tiny bit.
“You hot now?” I whispered to her.
“Uh huh.”
“Want to take a dip in the pool with me?”
We swam and played together for about half an hour and then went back to sun ourselves. After a couple hours of sun we retreated back to the room. There we found a note from the girls saying they had gone to see the Johnsons to apologize for their behavior and they would be back late in the afternoon. My wife and I spent the time alone exploring each other.
I didn’t know if the girls were planning things as they went along or if they had everything pre arranged but the weekend was phenomenal. There was a family sailing trip, catching sun together at the beach and the four of us even went to the nightclub together, though once there we didn’t stay together.
Come Sunday our entire luggage was overflowing with goodies. We were thankful we would not have to go through customs as repacking this would take an hour.
We got back to New York on a very cold February afternoon. The girls suggested moving to the Virgin Islands. Karen said she would think about. As cold as it was I was just glad to finally be home.
I ordered a couple of pizzas after we got home. I was too tired to cook and we all agreed pizza was good enough. Most of the evening we spent putting things away and starting the loads of laundry we had to do. When I found the wedding pictures I asked my wife for frames and she only had a couple but said she would buy more. A couple was all I needed. I put one picture of my wife and me in one frame and another one of my daughters in the other. Those two pictures I would take to work.
I prepared my work clothes for the next day and my briefcase before I went to bed. I was reading a book to help me unwind when my wife came in and sat on the bed. She waited until she had my attention before speaking.
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“The wedding, the honeymoon, I just couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect way to spend time with you and the girls. I know you spent a small fortune and a lot of time preparing the trip but even while we were there you never once closed your heart or wallet to me or the girls. You were respectful and kind and loving every second we were there. You made it perfect.”
“Don’t forget Emily and Christine. They spent a lot of time making sure we had a good time.”
“I know and I’ll thank them too, but I know you must have talked to them at some point. I don’t know what you said, but whatever it was, you turned both of them on a dime. From one second to the other they went from acting like children to being the beautiful young ladies that they truly are. Jake, you are a wonderful parent. Truly, I see you as the perfect father to our daughters.”
“Thanks, that really means a lot to me.”
I had woken up at six in the morning or earlier for most of my adult life. One week of vacation had changed all that. I was suddenly used to staying up late and sleeping late. This was why on my first day back at work I didn’t arrive at my usual eight in the morning, but instead made it in at nine fifteen, just as the staff meeting was starting.
“Sorry, I’m late. I overslept and stopped for donuts,” I offered, putting down the two boxes worth of sugary pastries.
“Welcome back, Jake,” said Marie, as I made my way to my seat. “For those of you that haven’t met him, this is Jake Thayer, our vice president of new accounts. Now while Jake was away getting married and enjoying his honeymoon, you have him to thank for all the new account inquiries we’ve been getting this week. Jake, as you can see we’ve hired a new account executive and two assistant account executives to replace the two we promoted. I’ll update you in my office after this meeting.”
The meeting went on as it usually did. I tried to chime in where I could but apparently I had missed a lot in the week I was out and would need a couple of days to catch up.
As the meeting was ending but before it broke up I called an after lunch meeting with a couple of my lead AEs. They would be able to update me on any pertinent details on any of our new accounts. I also called a late afternoon meeting with the pitch team top see which companies they had in their sights.
I opened my email program and saw I had eighty six emails to respond to. I would get to that later. I checked to see how many phone messages I had and that number was also high at twenty one. I let them go until after my meeting with my bosses.
I walked into Marie’s office where she and Ira were waiting for me. Marie wanted to know all about my honeymoon. I gave her the very short version. I pulled out the two framed pictures for them to see. They both gushed over how pretty my wife and my girls looked.
“I hope you had a relaxing week Jake because you’re in for a lot of work for the next few weeks. First, did you keep up with the news on our industry?”
“No, not at all. The last newspaper I read was on the flight down there,” I answered.
“Then you’re in for a treat. Waltman & Goode went from the offensive to the defensive. They dominated the business news early last week. Planetary Foods already made a public announcement that they fired WGW as their advertising agency and they are looking for a new one. Another one of their large accounts, National Motor Works, said they are considering a move also. They even lost some of their smaller accounts. The SEC has confirmed they are investigating several individuals there for insider trading. The State Attorney is investigating them for unethical business practices, though they didn’t elaborate what exactly those were. A few of the members of senior management have already lost their jobs. It’s a mess over there from what I hear and every ad agency within three hundred miles is moving in to steal accounts.”
“Where does that leave us?” I asked.
“Planetary contacted me late last week and said they would like to see us bid for their business. Ira and I pretty much decided that they are too big for us. We don’t want half of our money coming from one account and we are
pretty comfortable with the size of this agency now. I would like you to call them and thank them for the opportunity and explain why we won’t be bidding.”
I nodded my head. That was an easy call. I could even direct them to a couple of friends of mine in larger agencies that would be perfect for them. It would help Kirkpatrick Advertising to make as many friends in the industry as possible, specially now.
“For most of the week Mr. Robert Decker has been talking to any publication that would listen to him. He has repeatedly said that Kirkpatrick Advertising is the best ad agency Horizon Chocolates has ever worked with. He has praised our originality in our work and the adoption by us of his marketing team’s ideas into the most successful advertising campaign Horizon has ever had.”
“So now we can’t be sued. He basically said we adopted the advertising ideas from his guys,” added Ira.
“He also said something else that has everyone buzzing. According to Mr. Decker he is in preliminary negotiations to employ a two woman team that he believes is the strongest force in marketing today. Nobody can seem to figure out who he’s talking about, though everyone is looking for them. Several companies have already said they will offer the team double of whatever Mr. Decker is offering. You wouldn’t happen to know who he’s talking about, would you?”
“Yes, I know. They both kissed me and their mom goodnight yesterday. Don’t worry though; we’re still in preliminary negotiations,” I joked. “I’m happy this worked out okay. I’m sure Ira told you this was a one time deal for me. I’m not that person anymore and I don’t want to go back to it. I have a family to take care of now. I can’t be like that anymore.”
“Glad to have you back, Jake. Me, Ira and the whole team missed you. Now go get me some more new accounts.”
***The End***
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