Stuff we love!

   By drodriguez  Sep 14, 2008
29

Wife in the Fast Lane won't be in stores until April but, you can get a sneak peek at an exclusive excerpt from the book.

...We're In for a Rough Ride

"Look for Highway 380. That's our exit," Katherine said.

"I'm looking. I'm looking. According to this map, we have a ways to go." Christy checked her watch again. It would be close. If they could keep up this speed and not get lost, they should make it with just enough time to change their clothes. "There it is! There it is! Get in the right lane."

"Jesus, you said we had a ways to go. " Katherine swerved, careening across three lanes, practically mowing down six cars and inspiring a cacophony of horn honking. "Oh my God," Christy said as covered her eyes and ducked. Katherine was silent, intent on getting them to their destination before two. They'd called the Kleiner Perkins office when the plane landed, more than an hour late. The meeting couldn't be postponed. Mr. Roche was booked solid, then leaving for Europe on Monday.

"Good thing it stopped raining." Christy had the habit of pointing out the positive any time things got tense.Katherine preferred working up a good head of steam.
"Oh no, no, NO," Katherine said, spying the traffic ahead. In seconds, they slowed, then came to a complete stop. "How much time do we have?" she asked.

Christy checked her watch. "Thirty minutes," she reported, biting her lip.

"You know, Chris, maybe Baby G Sports wasn't meant to be. It could be a sign," Katherine said.

"It's not a sign. There's an accident ahead. See those flashing lights?" Christy climbed into the back seat and unzipped her suit-bag. "I'm getting dressed. So when we make it, I can run in. How much farther?"

"I don't know," Katherine said checking the map. "Only a few miles, but with this traffic, it could take half an hour, maybe more."

Christy shook her head as she unbuttoned the Chanel jacket. "I still can't believe you made me spend $5,000 for this suit." She was sick at the thought of wasting so much money on one outfit.

Fortunately, the cars started moving again. "Trust me Chris. You have to dress like you don't need the money or you won't get any. Kleiner wants to turn us down, just like the other venture capital firms," Katherine said, sounding like she knew what she was talking about.

"Do you really believe they're gonna decide based on our outfits? What if they think we're wasting money?"
Katherine locked eyes with Christy in the rear view mirror as she spoke. "Chris, very few women ever get in front of these guys. Our performance has to be perfect or it's over. Could you have won the Olympics without your New Balance five-thirty-threes? No. This is the same thing."
" Watch out," Christy shouted as Katherine barreled into a Cadillac changing lanes in front of them.

"Shit!" Katherine yelled. "Did you see the way that asshole cut me off? He never signaled." She pulled over to the side of the road, behind the Cadillac, and stopped. A red-faced man shot out of the luxury sedan and inspected the damage, then began screaming and raging, waving his hands wildly in the air. He ranted at Katherine, "Why didn't you slow down? For Christ's sake, couldn't you see I was pulling over?"

Christy was overtaken by a sudden and overwhelming sadness. Is this it? Is this how the story ends? In her mind, she saw her fledgling company's life flash before her eyes: the first meeting around the dining room table; the moment Sasha, queen of hip-hop, bounded on stage in a pair of Baby G's; the next day when she and Katherine collapsed in laughter, overwhelmed by the orders pouring in; and then her hopes for the future.

"I did signal, damn it," Katherine was saying. "Look! My light's still blinking."

As they argued, Christy came to a decision. She stuffed the laptop into her backpack, along with a pair of heels. She put on her running shoes and slipped out of the backseat of the Taurus.

"I'm outta here," she shouted.
Katherine checked her watch. "You have fifteen minutes."

Back on Track

Five minutes later, the heavens opened up. Torrential rain smashed against the asphalt highway. It lightened up. Then it poured again. Christy kept moving. A little water can't slow me down, she thought, imagining herself at the Olympic trials, her father cheering her. Christy threw her whole body into the run, head high, chest out, legs burning, lungs tight, heart pounding. She accelerated her pace, charging over wet gravel, glass and litter. Finally, she put on her finishing kick, sprinting like a contender down the last hundred meters of Sandhill Road to Kleiner Perkins Headquarters. Soaked to the bone, she stopped to catch her breath under their arched entry. Her legs were cramping, not used to running this hard anymore. She couldn't believe how winded she was and vowed to add interval work to her training regime. Okay, you look like hell. You feel like hell. But you're on time, she thought.

Walking inside, with less than a minute to spare, Christy caught the eye of the receptionist. She was pretty, perky, and athletic, which seemed to be the prereq in these west coast firms. She gave Christy a look of confused recognition.

"Hi, I'm Christy Hayes."
"Oh my goodness. What happened to you?" The receptionist asked.
Embarrassed, Christy said nothing.
"The bathroom's in there," she pointed toward a door, her tone softening. "In case you want to freshen up."

"Thanks."

"Bill's running about ten minutes late," she said. "So take your time."

Christy went into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She pulled a brush out of her dripping bag. Doing what she could with her hair, she left it wet and loose. Using Kleenex, she wiped the mascara stains off her face. She blotted her suit with paper towels and changed into heels.
Christy took a deep breath, and walked back to the reception area. She looked around for the first time. The place felt like a modern cathedral, all glass and soft cream carpets. Unlike companies housed in New York skyscrapers, this was all on one floor. In California, power could spread out instead of stacking up in spires.

Two-dozen trim men dressed in office-casual took note of her arrival. As Katherine said, not many women made the grade to get a meeting with this legend of venture capital. And Christy was a girl you couldn't help but notice, even soaked to the bone- a lean brunette, shoulder length hair, long, defined legs. So far, she hadn't met a man who could quite deal with her her looks, her obsession with work and her athletic notoriety. Everyone assumed that men were falling all over her, but in fact, the only ones she ever saw were her employees and accountants. A few weeks shy of her thirtieth birthday, though, she remained hopeful.

Christy was sure that her future husband wasn't among these timid gatekeepers. She had imagined venture capitalists as adventurers, but from what she had seen, they were sheep. Nobody wanted to say "yes" until the guy down the block did, and then they got into a competitive feeding frenzy. So far, no one was willing take a chance on Baby G and now it all came down to this last hour to make Kleiner Perkins believe in them. Her. She realized she would be alone today. No Katherine with her brilliant mind and intimate understanding of the numbers.

"Bill will be ready in five. Would you like something to drink?" The receptionist walked Christy over to an open kitchen full of yogurt, bottled iced teas with Zen-looking labels, fruit, and candy bars. Christy grabbed two bags of peanut M&Ms - when nervous, she was helpless in the face of sugar. She hoped Bill would be delayed long enough for her to scarf down both bags.

A tall, lanky guy in khakis walked up and introduced himself, though he needed no introduction - Bill Roche, venture capitalist par excellence, one of the few who had achieved name-recognition status in the wider business world. He was thin and wiry in that healthy California way. He looked like someone she would actually like to get to know, not like the other bean counters she had met this week.

"Christy Hayes?" He said, shaking her hand. "Did you fall in the lake?"
Christy laughed, relieved that Bill had a sense of humor. "No, we were delayed flying in. Then I ended up running here when our car got stuck in traffic. Sorry I'm such a mess," she said, looking down, suddenly mortified.

"Not at all. I'm impressed that you ran to make it. Lucky for you we don't make investment decisions based on appearance," he laughed.

"Of course you don't," Christy said. "That would be nuts." She wished Katherine had heard him say that.
"I've been looking forward to meeting you, Christy. What you've accomplished is really something. Hopefully, we can help you take it further. Let's go to my office and talk."

Christy had the strongest surge of hope since leaving New York a week ago. She floated down the wide, cushiony breezeway to a large, open room, all tropical greenery outside the glass. Bill motioned for her to sit at his small conference table made of beautiful inlaid walnut. She switched on the waterlogged laptop, which remained absolutely mute. Her panic rose as she tapped the keys. Nothing. She tapped harder. A black screen stared back at her. Usually she did the vision thing while Katherine presented the numbers and fielded those questions. Today she was on her own. No numbers. No Katherine. No safety-net.

Slowly, Christy closed the laptop. Her panic was giving way to the same adrenaline she used to feel at the starting block of a race. Just as her body prepared to take off, Bill said, "Stop! Let me get an associate to join us. Then I want to hear your story, start to finish."

In walked a familiar face, and sad to say, a familiar body, David Baum. He had been with an investment group Christy met with three years ago, just as Baby G was getting off the ground. Like the others they approached then, no one would back a girl Olympian trying to break into the competitive world of athletic footwear and Christy was treated dismissively at each meeting. But she and David had connected. A hot romance ensued. She had fallen hard for him, and it seemed mutual. They alternated between New York and San Francisco on weekends and became familiar faces on the red-eye. But in the end, Christy couldn't build a company and keep a bi-coastal relationship going. She ended it badly, as she did many personal things in those early days of struggle, just for lack of the energy and time to do it right. David and Christy looked at each other. She blushed, and he, smooth as all bankers, moved to cover his emotions. Dammit, of all the pitch meetings in all the towns in the world, he has to walk into mine,Christy thought miserably.

But she composed herself quickly, telling Bill and David her story. How they had gotten started using Christy's commercial endorsement money to stake the company, their market victories, the opportunities for growth. Bill asked completely different kinds of questions than the other bankers they met had. He wanted to know how Christy handled disappointments, to hear about the mistakes they had made, things they usually kept under wraps in these gigs. He asked about the toughest decision she had had to make, and she told them about the time their fall line came in from the manufacturer with a small defect in the architecture of the sole. They decided to pull the shoes, even though it almost put them out of business. Christy felt Bill understood what it was like to be an entrepreneur, to be lost much of the time, but to have the kind of grit that keeps you going anyway. Christy could feel she was in her zone. She was known for her power of persuasion - part passion, part looks, part vision. She hadn't felt it with the other venture sheep this week, but with Bill, this High Priest, she was soaring.

Just before the meeting ended, David pulled his lanky, athletic frame up and excused himself for another presentation, suggesting to Bill that they talk later. Christy shot him a pleading look as he stood to leave. She could read nothing in his eyes, even though he was looking right at her.

Bill spent twenty more minutes with Christy, and she could tell he was going to say "yes."
"Christy, it was great to meet you," he said. "I was really impressed with your presentation. I just want to get David's take. It's good that you two know each other. Personal references are everything with us."

Christy smiled weakly and swore herself to chastity for life, or at least to gorgeous waiter-actors unlikely to show up when her entire future was on the line. She hoped with all her heart that David would act in the best interest of the firm or at least stay silent for his own self-interest.

Christy shook Bill's hand and headed for the exit, grabbing a few more bags of M&Ms as they passed the kitchen. She had kept Bill interested for over an hour. He was known for his short attention span. Anything over thirty minutes was considered a done deal.

When Christy finally emerged, Katherine was waiting outside the office in their rented Taurus, with the crushed left hood. As she got in, Katherine gave her the look, which Christy instinctively understood. "Yeah, I think we have a real shot. I do." She gave Kath the blow-by-blow as they drove back to San Francisco. "Bill was great; he was so excited about our business."

"Christy, what is it?"
"There was one thing..."
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Like what you've read so far? Look out for the book's release in April. In the meantime,
please click here to learn about the Wife in the Fast Lane contest.

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frankandkatie by frankandkatie | Ruther Glen, VA
Dec 20, 2009

Looks like a fun and inspriing read. I'll have to go ahead and request it at the library!

momagarry by momagarry | MILWAUKEE, WI
Oct 10, 2009

WOw! this is powerful. I am going to get this one.

KsFoodie by KsFoodie | Wichita, KS
Jan 19, 2009

Breezy, light-weight quick read. Bubble gum for the mind.

mommyof3ree by mommyof3ree | Las Vegas, NV
Nov 18, 2008

It seems sort of interesting, but not very well written. I like more articulate writing, even if it is a romance comedy novel.

beccarae1 by beccarae1 | Faribault, MN
Nov 12, 2008

I am confused, from the post it looks as if this book won't be available to order until Spring 2009, but when I went to add it to my wishlist, it appears it is already available. Has the book been edited for a rerelease?

lilmama29 by lilmama29 | WESTERLY, RI
Oct 24, 2008

This is a great book! I bought this when it came out. I definitely recommend it.

fairygodmother11 by fairygodmother11 | shelbyville, IN
Sep 28, 2008

Great! I gotta get this book and see how it comes out!!

MyEmptyCanvas by MyEmptyCanvas | KOSCIUSKO, MS
Sep 26, 2008

I have not read this book yet, but am definitely interested!

itty_bitty_80 by itty_bitty_80 | East Stroudsburg, PA
Sep 16, 2008

It certainly kept my interest. If the whole book was available, I'd curl up on the couch and read it with some warm tea. ;-)

ohjoli by ohjoli | Hideaway, TX
Aug 07, 2008

This is a must READ for the book club!

jennicks by jennicks | Wichita, KS
May 02, 2008

I can not wait to read this book. It sounds good.

jonibean by jonibean | Doylestown, PA
Apr 27, 2008

Sounds like an easy read - and funny too. Will definitely put it on my "beach reading" list.

barb222 by barb222 | Rochester Hills, MI
Sep 14, 2007

pretty much interested

twinmamma by twinmamma | Downingtown, PA
Jun 20, 2007

This sounds like a great by the beach summer read. I am def. going to get it. Has anyone read it yet?

amerksfan1 by amerksfan1 | Rochester, NY
Jun 06, 2007

this doesn't appeal to me either, let me know when you suggest a good murder/mystery