Jack, Carol, and Samuel drove out to Wisconsin the week of July 12th for the closing of their new home in Cedarburg. They brought along most of Samuel's clothes and needed items, as well as whatever Carol would need for the two weeks until Jack permanently joined them. Their closing was on Thursday, and Jack was flying back to New York on Saturday. Their new home had four bedrooms, so they would be making one of the spare rooms into a home office for the two of them, and the other would be a guest room. Carol's parents, Patrick and Brenda, were coming down from Sheboygan on Sunday, and would be assisting Carol in getting some things organized. The furniture from their East Coast home was being delivered to Cedarburg on Tuesday, so Patrick enlisted Carol's brother Wayne to help him get it put where it needs to go. Angela had hired a moving truck to deliver some furniture from New York to the Wisconsin office, and offered Jack and Carol some space on the truck for their larger furniture to be delivered to Wisconsin as well. She had also put them up in a hotel until their furniture was all situated, and paid for any additional moving expenses that they incurred, along with Tony and Jonathan helping Jack move the remainder of their belongings when Jack returned back to Cedarburg.
After the moving truck left on Tuesday, Carol, Brenda, and Carol's sister-in-law Tina went shopping for bedding, towels, and other household items, and picked up lunch for everyone. "Thank you all for coming to help me get things situated," Carol began. "I know that this has been a crazy summer, and lots of changes for our little family. But once Jack returns, we will be primarily focused on the needs of the Waukesha office. And I'm really excited since I'll be working there too!"
"Oh, that's right!" Tina exclaimed. "You'll be working in the daycare. I think that's such an innovative idea, having childcare for the employees right there."
"Yes, it is. But I won't be just working in the daycare. I will be the director of it. Officially I won't have that title until I get my certification, but Angela assured me that will in fact be my position."
"That's Mrs. Bower, correct?" Brenda asked.
"It's actually Mrs. Micelli now, Mom. She was married again last winter. Her husband is such a great guy too. He and their son will be helping Jack bring out the rest of our stuff next week."
"Oh? But it's still The Bower Agency?" Tina inquired.
"Yes, it is," Carol replied.
"What will Jack's position be?" Patrick asked.
"Well, he'll be the Managing Director of the Midwest office. But his title within the company as a whole is now the Chief Operation Officer, or COO."
"Wow! That's great!" Wayne exclaimed.
"Angela had said that she was looking at offering that to him anyway, with all he's doing to get the Waukesha office going, plus all he's helped with over the past year I think she felt the time was right. Plus he'll also have a 10% stake in the company, so it's more than just a title. He'll have real decision making power and input on what happens companywide."
"Oh my! That's a big jump from where he had been," Patrick said. "I can now brag that my son-in-law is the COO of the 10th largest advertising agency in the country!"
"Yeah, Dad. I have a pretty important brother-in-law," Wayne added.
"So what made her decide to open a branch here in the Midwest?" Brenda asked.
"Well, she and Tony, that's her husband, were living in Iowa for a job he had, and the idea started spurning." She then filled them in on all that had transpired between Tony and Angela's time in Iowa to how it ended up being she and Jack moving to open the branch.
"Yikes! They certainly had their fair share of changes and struggles then too!" Patrick interjected. "It sounds like everything is working out though which is great."
With his move to Wisconsin coming up, Jack rented two U-Hail trailers, one of which would get attached to Tony's Jeep, and the other to his own Chevy Blazer. With all of the larger furniture already moved, that left mostly boxes and a few odds and ends they'd need to take, which would easily fit into into the trailers and trucks, "Okay, is everyone all set?" Tony asked the morning of July 26th. "Jonathan and I will be leaving shortly to head to Jack's and get moving."
"I'm good, honey," Angela spoke. "Please let Jack know that I'll give him a call next week to discuss the progress of the Midwest office. Also let him know to take some much needed rest, especially before the big push this next month will bring."
"Will do. The plan is to travel straight through today, making any needed stops along the way. Then unloading the trailers and trucks tomorrow, and then returning the trailers to the U-Haul dealer in Cedarburg. Then Wednesday we'll head over to the Waukesha office so that Jack, Jonathan, and I can situate the furniture there that we're able to. So I'd expect Jonathan and I to be back sometime Thursday afternoon or early evening."
Since Mona was still in Scotland with Nana, Sam and Marie came to stay with Angela and the twins as Hank had some interviews he was doing for some positions within the Disney company he was applying for with his internship ending. "Dad, you be careful on the roads! And Jonathan, you take it easy on him too!"
"Of course I will, Sam!" Jonathan retorted. "And don't mess up my room either! You watch your mama, okay Marie?" he said to his niece as he put her back into Sam's arms.
"Very funny, bro! Seriously though, be safe on the roads."
"We will, honey," Tony said. "I love you all so much," he said as he leaned over to give Angela a kiss, then patted Matty on the head.
"Call when you get there, okay?" Angela said.
"We will."
Since things ran smoother than they had planned, Jonathan and Tony arrived back home on Wednesday instead of Thursday. As they walked into the front door, this is what they saw: Matty, Bella, and Marie in the playpen, Angela sitting in one chair going through some paperwork, Mona in the other chair going through magazines, and Nana laying on the sofa watching a rerun of last weekend's Masterpiece Theatre. "Hello ladies and Matty," Tony said.
"You're home early! Why didn't you tell me?" Angela exclaimed.
"Well, we wanted to surprise you," Jonathan stated. "Welcome home Grandma! And welcome back, Nana."
"Thank you, Jonathan," Nana replied.
"How was your flight, ladies?" Tony inquired.
"It was good, Tony. Mummy slept most of the flight back," Mona responded.
"Yes, and I need reacclimate my body to New York time." Nana stated. "And I want to thank you for all that you've done to accommodate me. Making the office into a bedroom for me so that I don't have to keep going up and down the stairs, and working on making a shower downstairs, plus the orthopedic bed. That's so much expense for you to do for me."
"Ay oh, oh ay, you're family and we will do whatever we need to for family. That's one thing that's never a discussion in this house - we all chip in and do what we need to for our family." Tony replied.
"Well, I really do appreciate it."
"So are Hank and Sam here?" Jonathan asked.
"No, they are out with friends tonight, so we will have Marie overnight," Angela said. "Are you guys hungry? We have leftover lasagna and leftover Chinese food in the fridge, otherwise you can order a pizza."
"Dad, if you want the lasagna I'll take the Chinese food!" Jonathan exclaimed.
"That's fine, son," Tony answered. They ate their meals, and then cleaned up their dishes and the table. "Hey baby girl," he said cooing to Bella as he picked her up, "did you miss me? Because I sure missed you, sweetie pie."
"Gaaaa, gaaaa..." was Bella's reply. Tony smiled.
"It's crazy to think that as little as they are, I missed them so much just being gone a few days," Jonathan said as he picked up his brother. "As much as I've wanted to attend Harvard straight out of high school, I'm thinking that I'll get in my core classes at Ridgemont then look to transfer to Harvard afterwards for all my tech courses. I want to be here to see them grow from infants to toddlers at the very least."
"Are you sure, Jonathan? Harvard right out of high school is all you'd talked about last year," Angela said.
"Yeah, I know. But in talking with Dad on the ride back, I realized that I want to see my brother and sister every day, at least for the first couple of years. Plus this way I'll be 19 when I move to Boston rather than 17. And Dad and I can commute to and from Ridgemont together so that we can have more time to talk and bond. I really enjoyed our time talking to and from Wisconsin. It's a really neat state,"
"We will support you in whatever you decide, honey. And I think it's great that you are planning things out for how you want to proceed after high school."
"Thanks, Mom, I love you!" he said as he leaned over to give her a hug.
"I love you too, sweetheart."
