Chapter Nineteen: Fast Track Marketing

Angela spent all day fielding calls about her unexpected departure from Wallace & McQuade. She touched base with Rosie, who shared more about what happened while she was on leave. Together, they devised a plan to reach out to contacts at various clients and vendors. By the end of the week, they had pieced together a story of sex discrimination and wrongful termination. Angela's friend Emily referred them to a respected employment attorney who occasionally lectured at NYU's School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance.

Although Angela was willing to take a lower-level position at another advertising firm, no offers were forthcoming. In fact, she couldn't even land an interview. Rosie had similar trouble in the industry and took an administrative assistant role in a commercial real estate office. They came to the conclusion that they had been blacklisted. Charlotte DeWitt, now head copywriter for Sterling and Simkin, confirmed that she had heard a pair of VPs discussing this very fact.

On the last Sunday in April, Emily finished the first Big Sur International Marathon. Phil Baechler was also in town for the race, and he recognized her from Portland the previous Fall. "Hey there," he called. "How is your friend liking the BabyJogger?"

"Omigod, she loves it. And so does her husband. They have the most adorable daughter. I wish I had a picture on me."

"That's great to hear. I've been trying to dial in my marketing strategy. Do you mind telling me how old they are and what they do for work?" he asked.

"They're in their mid-thirties like me. He used be a professional baseball player, but now he's a stay-at-home dad. And she was running a large advertising agency until she went out on maternity leave. It's a whole thing."

"So she's still at home with the baby? Do you think she'd be open to doing some consulting? I really need some help. I just don't have the budget for one of those big fancy firms."

"I can ask," Emily said, taking his business card.

After driving back to Palo Alto and getting a massage, Emily called Angela. "It's not too late, is it?"

"No, I'm still up, but the kids are in bed. Rosemary had a blowout and Tony's giving her a bath now, so it's really the perfect time for me to talk."

"Great. I had the marathon today…."

"Oh, Emily! How did it go?"

"Just under four hours. I'm never going to place, but I'm always happy to finish."

"That's amazing."

"So, I saw the BabyJogger guy again, and we ended up talking. He wants to know if you'd do some consulting. It's not much money…."

"I'll do anything!" Angela cried. "It's been impossible to find work, and I really miss it."

"How are you handling the stress?" Emily asked cautiously. "You're not getting back to your old habits, are you?" The two had been friends through the worst of Angela's eating disorder, and they had a coded way of discussing it.

"No, I'm not doing any of that. Tony takes such good care of me and the kids. It's not like with Michael."

"Good to hear." It sounded like Angela had avoided reliving the bout of postpartum depression she had suffered after her first birth. It was a situation that had scared Emily off of the entire idea of marriage and children, but perhaps she would reconsider. Only with the right person, she told herself.

"Actually, having the BabyJogger really helps, too. I could never really exercise with Jonathan."

Angela agreed to work with Phil for a small retainer. Since there was so little money available for advertising, she devised an earned media strategy. Tony agreed to pose for Mona in a series of pictures with the product that were sent to various publications along with a press release. At first, they didn't get much traction. Then Mona persuaded Tony to take off his shirt. When a sweaty, shirtless Tony appeared with the adorable Rosemary, interest exploded.

Angela started consulting with other sports equipment manufacturers who Phil referred to her. She loved being able to work from home and spend time with all three children, especially once the kids were on summer break. Neither Jonathan nor Sam wanted to go to camp and miss out on their baby sister's rapid development. In truth, the respite was no longer necessary with both parents at home.

In August, Angela got a call from her attorney. "Wallace & McQuade wants to settle. It's very clear that there was a conspiracy to delegitimize your leadership, both at the agency, and in the industry. Their offer is solid, but I think we can get them to go up by 15%. If we push them too far, though, we're going to end up in court putting your personal history in the public record."

"What are you going to do, Ange?" Tony asked. He was feeding Rosemary in her high chair. She was still nursing, but they had been introducing purees.

"The lawyers are still negotiating, but I think I want to take it." She chewed her lip. "What do you think about me starting my own agency?"

"How is that different from what you're doing now?"

"Scale. The settlement could be enough to lease office space and hire a staff without needing to qualify for a business loan."

"You're the expert, honey. If that's what you want to do, and you think it could work, I'll support you."

"I'm going to work on a business plan," she said, kissing her daughter's dark hair.

Mona had dinner with the family that night. She had long since moved on from Evan and was currently seeing a coworker named Leonard. "It's getting serious, and I think I need to find a new job. You know how relationships in the workplace can be," she said, looking directly at her daughter.

"Well, what would you think about working for me?" Angela asked.

"You don't have a job," she stated flatly.

"I've been consulting! And I'm considering starting my own agency with the settlement from Wallace & McQuade."

"Well, that could work. What do you need, a photographer?"

"No offense, Mother, but you're not exactly a professional. I was hoping you could handle the Personnel function. I need to source talent: Creative, Analytics, Account Management, etc."

"Why don't you start with people you know? Shirley Grant would kill for the chance to be your Creative Director."

"That's a great idea. And Rosie has been taking courses in marketing. I would love to get her back."

"Wendy is a genius at administration, Angela. She's been talking about finding a job since Herb moved out last month," Tony chimed in.

None of the adults noticed that Sam and Jonathan had left the table and taken the baby with them. After their conversation, they found the three playing with plastic stacking rings on a blanket in the living room.

Over the next two weeks, Angela spoke with potential employees and clients. There were several companies she had had to refer elsewhere because their needs exceeded her capacity. Rosie helped find a handful of locations that could be suitable for the new agency. She discussed her personal goals with Angela, including earning an MBA in Marketing part time over the next three years. Mona submitted her two-weeks' notice to Hadley.

Shirley Grant relished the idea of being Angela's right hand. They agreed to each work in the office two or three days per week, with the understanding that most of the agency's staff would be able to work from home at least part time. She was an avid runner and saw huge potential in women's fitness products. When Charlotte DeWitt's name came up, Shirley agreed to call and recruit her to the new agency.

The settlement agreement was finalized quickly, and Fast Track Marketing was born, with the assistance of a small business attorney. A lease was signed, and employment agreements were hashed out. It was really happening. Then Heather showed up at the house looking for Tony.

Heather was crying hysterically when Tony opened the front door. He opened his arms and brought her in out of the sweltering heat. Angela brought the baby in from the kitchen and found her husband embracing a slender, tank top-clad blonde. For a moment she felt jealous. Then Heather looked up and walked toward her. She assessed the lanky, fair-skinned baby and said "It's true. That bastard."

"Why don't you sit down and tell us what's going on?" Angela suggested.

"My mom told me not to get pregnant. She said that Michael had abandoned his children. I told her she was crazy. There was no way Rosemary was his baby because we had been together since January of last year. We were only apart when he was traveling for work last March, and even then, we talked almost every day. I even came to New York to visit him."

"That scumbag," Angela muttered. "He was living here. I didn't know he had been seeing anyone when we got back together."

Heather ignored Angela and continued. "I didn't listen, and we started trying after the wedding. I finally got pregnant in June, but I miscarried at eight weeks." Heather took a tissue from Tony.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"Well, he was traveling and he refused to come home, even though I told him I really needed him." She sniffled again and took a moment before continuing. "So I decided to track him down after I recovered. I called the bank and found out he had charges at a hotel in Boston. Last night, I took a red-eye flight and when I got in, I rented a car and followed him from the hotel. He went to a house and was there for hours. I finally knocked on the door and a woman answered. She was wearing his shirt and nothing else. In the middle of the day!"

"Oh, Heather," Angela sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. There's no coming back from this, right?"

Tony spoke up. "Your marriage may be over, but your life isn't. You can still figure out who you want to be, find someone who's going to treat you right, and have a family." He sat down and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Tony's right. You have your whole life ahead of you. Don't let Michael keep you from being happy. I did that for far too long." Angela moved to the couch and rubbed circles on the young woman's back.

Rosemary patted Heather's knee, emulating the comforting gestures of her parents. "Can I hold her?"

"Sure," Angela responded, putting the little girl into the stranger's lap. Rosemary grabbed Heather's hair but didn't pull.

"She's so happy," she marveled. Then she sobbed for a moment, still grieving the loss of her unborn baby. Rosemary snuggled against her and started to doze off.

Sam and Jonathan walked through the front door, still wet from swimming in a friendly neighbor's pool. "Heather!" Jonathan cried, jumping onto Tony's lap and hugging Heather from the side. "What are you doing here?"

"Heather's going to join us for dinner, darling. Isn't that nice?" Angela responded. "Oh, Samantha, come meet Jonathan's step-mother."

"Nice to meet you, Heather," Sam said, reaching over her father and brother to shake the young woman's hand.

"Samantha, I've heard so much about you. You're even more beautiful than I expected," Heather said sincerely.

Sam pushed a strand of wet hair out of her face and gave Angela a look. "I'm gonna go shower."

"Let me pull out the swim shampoo for you," Angela said, following Sam upstairs, despite knowing that Sam's dark virgin hair was resistant to chlorine.

"She's practically my age!" Sam cried once they were upstairs.

"She's twenty-one, Sam."

"Whatever. What is she doing here? I do not want to see Michael."

"You won't. She just caught Michael cheating on her. And I guess he was also cheating on her with me last year. Or cheating on me with her. I don't really know."

"What a piece of shit. Seriously. How could you have married him?"

"Language."

"I don't understand, Angela. I thought you were smarter than that!"

"It was a mistake. No, it wasn't. I mean, Jonathan and Rosemary weren't mistakes." Angela could no longer hold back her tears. She hated disappointing Sam, but she loved her other children dearly.

"I didn't mean it that way. Of course, they weren't."

"You're right about Heather being young. She was way too young for him, too young to get married, too young to start a family…." Angela stopped, having said too much. "She miscarried not long ago, so please, please be gentle with her. She really is a lovely girl."

"Jesus. No wonder she looks like such a wreck. I'll be nice." Sam paused. "I'm sorry for what I said. I just really hate how Michael dumped Jonathan."

Angela went back downstairs. Now Jonathan was on Heather's lap and Rosemary was on Tony's. "I've got to feed her. Jonathan, can you help me in the kitchen?" he asked, leaving the two women alone.

"Do you have a hotel, or would you like to stay here tonight? All I can offer is the couch."

"Oh, could I? You're the best!"

"Have you talked to your parents yet? I'm sure they'd like to know where you are and what's going on."

"No, would it be alright if I called them later?"

"You can use the phone in my office for as long as you need to. It's right around the corner," Angela offered, gesturing to the raised area behind the fireplace.

A cry emanated from the kitchen. "She wants you," Jonathan said as he walked through the living room on his way upstairs. Sam came down wearing a polo shirt and khaki shorts and settled into the chair closest to Heather. "So Heather, what do you do for fun?" she asked.

Angela joined Tony and Rosemary in the kitchen. The crying stopped as soon as the girl saw her mother, and she put her fingers to her mouth, signing "eat" to signal that she wanted to nurse. Angela wiped her hands and face and removed her from the high chair, pulling her shirt up as she sat down. "She's going to sleep on the couch tonight."

"And after that?"

"I don't know, Tony. I told her she could call her parents later. Emily can probably give me the name of a good attorney in California."

"Everything go ok with Sam?" he asked.

"She just needed to give me hell for my mistakes. We're good now. She's actually talking to Heather right now."

"Can I bounce something off you?"

"Sure."

"What if I were to go back to school sooner? I need to take a couple of remedial classes at the community college anyway. I could enroll this fall and start earning credits that would transfer."

"We'd need help around here."

"And Heather could use a change of scenery. Come on, Angela. She's great with kids."

"We don't have anywhere to put her, and we wouldn't be able to give her enough hours to afford a place on her own."

"What about a nanny-share? Wendy has that spare room, and she's going to need help with Jenny once she starts working."

"Let's see how Sam feels about her first," Angela said, moving Rosemary to the other breast. Laughter erupted from the living room.

"It seems to be going well."