The Six O'clock News Slot

"Are you firing me?" I asked him bluntly. I was getting irate and I didn't want to listen to fifteen minutes of beating around the bush.

"Absolutely not," he declared emphatically. "But I've talked with some of the other executives, and we feel it would be best for you and for the agency if you were to decide to find a job somewhere else."

"How long do I have?" I snapped.

"There's no timeline," he assured me, "take as long as you need. And listen, Tom, I'll be glad to give you a glowing letter of recommendation. Hopefully, that will make it easier for you to find something quickly."

I didn't like it; it wasn't fair. But I knew there was no sense in burning any bridges behind me, so I shook his hand, assured him that I understood and would start my search immediately, and thanked him for the offer of the endorsement. Then I went back to my office.

On the way, I stepped into Lou's office and closed the door. "What's up, buddy?" he asked.

"I just got canned," I told him. "Seems like all the heat we brought down made it a little too hot for the higher ups around here." Then I went on to tell him about my conversation with the head man.

"This is bullshit!" he barked. "I'm going in there and give him a piece of my mind. They can't do this to you, especially after all you've been though!"

I grabbed him by the shoulders and steered him back to his swivel chair. "You're not going to do anything but keep quiet. I don't like being thrown overboard, but I knew there were risks to all this when I started. I am not going to let you get hurt; you've already done way too much for me as it is."

I could tell he wasn't happy, but he began to calm down and let me talk him out of any confrontations. We wound up the conversation with my promising him I would come for dinner on Saturday. I told him I would come if I could bring a date, and he looked shocked until I explained that she was four years old.

Then I went back to my office and began updating my resume. As I worked, I shook my head ruefully -- it looked like Missy wasn't the only collateral damage.

I had made a number of contacts at other agencies in the Birmingham area, and I began calling them right away. After conversations with several, however, I realized that, as a result of the fallout from Carol and Ted's affair, I was spoiled goods in the area. Everybody liked me personally, but no one would touch me with a ten-foot pole. It was time to broaden my search.

Eventually, I wound up back with my old agency in Mobile. It was far enough away that the taint of scandal didn't cling to me down there, and the agency was delighted to get a proven commodity with big-city experience.

Of course I had to sell my home back in Birmingham, and even though the market there had fared better than many, I came away with very little to show for my investment. And, of course, what I did get had to be split with Carol.

Carol, of course, had not disappeared from our lives. She started phoning Susan every week, and quickly switched to Skype so they could see each other. Neither of them was satisfied with being limited to electronic contact, but face-to-face meetings were out of the question because Carol was now living in Santa Ana, California.

Apparently, our video attack on Carol had a greater impact than even we had imagined. She found herself being asked questions about the debacle in job interviews even outside the Southeast. She kept moving her search westward, but was still unable to escape her reputation. Finally she concluded that it was time to put her dreams of a career in broadcasting on hold. She managed to land a job teaching broadcast journalism at Santa Ana College in California. The job offered neither the pay nor the excitement of her anchorwoman role, but she was grateful to be in a related area.

When I finally re-connected with my old agency in Mobile, the next chore facing me was to find a place to live. My new employer put me in touch with a real estate agency, and they assigned a new agent, Marilyn Elliot, to show me some properties. I was to meet her at the first house on the list, and when I pulled up to the address, she had beaten there because she came to the front door as I was parking.

Something about her looked strangely familiar, although the name Marilyn Elliot meant nothing to me. When I got close enough to be sure, I cried out in surprise "Missy Stevenson!"

She smiled and came to greet me. "What a pleasant surprise, Tom! When I saw your name, I wondered if that could be you, but I figured it was just a coincidence. Oh, and Marilyn Elliot is my maiden name, but everyone who knows me still calls me Missy."

Missy had a list of half-a-dozen homes to show me, and as we went from place to place, we used the time to catch up on all that had happened over the last few months. I hadn't known that Missy's family lived in Mobile; she had moved down shortly after Ted departed. Obviously, the new career she'd started was in residential real estate.

I, in turn, caught her up on my story, ending with my "resignation" from the Birmingham agency and my subsequent relocation to Mobile. When I mentioned Susan and the need to find pre-school for her, Missy was excited. "I know some places that I bet would be perfect for her," she told me. "I also know about some great children's activities in the area I bet she'd enjoy. You'll have to introduce her to me." Then she blushed, perhaps feeling that she was being too forward. I was glad to have any assistance that would help Susan make the transition to a new home and neighborhood.

I found myself enjoying our conversation a great deal, and as the afternoon and our day's search was ending, I found myself asking Missy if she could join me for dinner, "just to talk about the houses we've seen," of course. She quickly agreed.

I'd never paid much attention to Missy before. She'd been two years behind Carol and me, which meant I'd had only limited contact with her. And when Carol had joined WXYY, Missy had been married to Ted. But now, as I listened to her over dinner, I found myself getting interested. She'd always been pretty, but in the girl-next-door way, not glamorous like Carol. Now I found her not only attractive but intelligent and easy to talk with. She was not affected; she spoke her mind simply and earnestly. After being around so many tv personalities for so long, I found Missy's simplicity and naturalness very endearing.

Our conversation came back to real estate, and she asked me which of the houses we'd seen today I had liked. I told her there were several that appealed to me; then I asked her which one she would suggest. I expected her to recommend the most expensive house we'd seen – after all, she was a salesperson on commission – but she surprised me when she pointed to the sheet for a more modestly priced home.

"Why that one?" I asked.

"Oh," she said guilelessly, "that's where I'd want to live." Then she realized what she had said and was flustered. A thought, unbidden, went through my mind: "That might be nice."

I won't draw this out: Missy and I wound up getting married, and, yes, we did live in the house she liked. I had been apprehensive about how Susan and Missy would get along, but my fears were baseless. Missy, I learned, had been wanting to start a family ever since she and Ted had married, but Ted had refused, feeling a child would slow him down. So when she met Susan, it was love at first sight.

As for Susan, it was obvious that she had been missing having a female influence in her life. When Missy began to appear at our house, Susan took to her like a duck to water. Before we were even married, Susan was calling her Mommy Missy, and the "Missy" was soon dropped.

The summer after we were married, I did something I had felt I should do for a long time. The three of us flew out to Los Angeles so Susan could see Carol again. My plan was simple: Susan would spend the week with Carol, while Missy and I would go sightseeing in Los Angeles. Neither of us had been there before, and we were looking forward to being typical tourists. At the end of the week, the three of us would reunite and fly home to Mobile.

I had been apprehensive about broaching the topic with Missy -- no second wife can be all that happy about her husband seeing his first wife again. Besides, Missy had good reason to detest Carol, given all that had happened. But when I hesitatingly brought up the subject, Missy simply said, "I think that's a wonderful idea." I guess she was more secure in our marriage than I realized, and perhaps a little more mature about what had happened than I was.

In any case, we flew into John Wayne airport, and Carol was there to meet us. Even though I had seen her face on Skype many times, I almost didn't recognize her standing there in the terminal. She had cut her hair short and was dressed in what I would call business casual clothes. It appeared that a lot had changed.

Susan was suddenly very shy, clinging to Missy's waist and hiding her face. But Missy gently pushed her toward her mother and whispered encouraging words in her ear. Finally Susan let go and started hesitatingly toward Carol, picking up speed as she neared her and finally flinging her arms around her.

Carol was weeping copiously, and Susan was confused and concerned at first. "I'm just so happy to see you," her mother reassured her, and the two clung tightly to each other. Carol looked up at Missy and me and mouthed "Thank you" to each of us. I couldn't help but remember the parting scene when Carol had left Birmingham for the last time.

This time, the four of us headed down to the baggage claim area together. As Susan stopped to admire some gewgaws in one of the airport store windows, Carol turned to the two of us. "I know we don't have much time, but I want to apologize to both of you. I've done a lot of thinking over the last couple of years; I even went to a therapist. She helped me understand what I turned into when I was chasing stardom, and how badly I hurt others around me in the process, especially the two of you. You probably can't forgive me, but I hope you won't hate me."

Missy and I looked at each other, and then moved in unison to give Carol a hug. It felt good to let a lot of things go.

After our return from vacation, I made a phone call to Birmingham one evening. When Edy answered, I chatted with her for a while about our lives and then asked to speak to Lou. When he came on, we exchanged pleasantries and then I told him why I was calling. "Once you were ready to take a big chance with me. Are you willing to do it again?"

"What in hell are you talking about, Tom?"

"I'm talking about you quitting your job, moving down here and forming Bailey and Farraday Advertising Agency. What do you say?"

"There's only one way I'd ever consider something as crazy as that," my old friend replied.

"What's that?"

"We'd have to change the name to Farraday and Bailey!"

We both laughed and began making plans. After the way I had been treated at the old agency, Lou hadn't been happy there. He was eager for something new, and my call came at just the right time.

We got them both down to Mobile, and Missy helped them find a lovely house near us. The fact that she refused to take her commission made it a little easier for them to swing the price.

Soon after Lou and I had opened shop, we were making a pitch for our services to a prospective client. The guy really seemed to resonate with our approach. "Yeah," he said, "I've been wanting to try a different approach, something to make us stand out from the crowd. Maybe some sort of viral campaign. Could you guys handle something like that?"

Lou and I just smiled at each other. "Yes," I said, "we could handle that."