Surrendering to Us (7 page)

The first interviewee was, to put it delicately, a portly fellow who barely fit into the chair provided for him and burped (loudly) several times while answering questions, and never excused himself. The second was better, but he definitely leered at me a few times, and even though he was qualified, he set off my icky vibe. The third was Violet Cooper. She swept into the room with her head held high, and a smile on her face. She shook everyone’s hand, including mine, and she gave me a firm grip. This girl had obviously had handshake lessons.

Violet sat in her chair, crossed her ankles and folded her hands in her lap. I glanced quickly around the room, and most of the men were definitely sitting forward in their chairs and looking much more lively than before. Even Dawn, the head of Human Resources, perked up. This could be interesting. I wanted to give Dad a look, but I resisted.

“So, Miss Cooper, where do you see yourself in five years?” Hal got to ask the lead-off question, and then everyone got to alternate. It was an intense type of interview, but it was designed that way. If you could get through this, then you could probably hack working here. I’d been through it and I still remember how terrified I was beforehand, almost to the point of throwing up.

“I see myself on the other side of this table, sitting with all of you. It’s been my dream to work here, and everything I’ve done in my life has led to this point. It’s not just that I want to make a lot of money, or have a fancy house. I want to work for this company because it’s a fantastic company. You’re doing good things here, important things, and I want to be a part of it. When I was a little girl and we’d come into the city, I’d stand on the sidewalk and look up at this building and swear to myself that I would work in it someday.” Oh, she was good. She’d definitely rehearsed that speech before coming in.

The questions kept firing and she kept nailing her answers. It was almost like she was putting on a performance of the most perfect interview. When she was done, I wanted to stand and give her a round of applause. Instead, she thanked everyone for their time, and hoped they would consider her and swept out of the room. There was silence after her exit.

“Impressive,” Hal said, looking down at his notes. I hadn’t made many on her. There just wasn’t much to say. No wonder she’d made it past the first round.

“She was very impressive,” Dad said, nodding. “Especially for being so young.” He threw a wink in my direction that I hoped no one else saw. There was a brief discussion on her impressiveness and then it was time for more candidates. I wondered if the lack of outstanding (with the exception of Violet) candidates had anything to do with the company’s current negative press. It had to.

Somehow we made it through, and there were only three standouts. Violet, a man who had been working in the industry since its infancy and a woman who had degrees galore and was so self-possessed she could have Hal shaking in his boots with just one look. I liked her, but there was something about Violet Cooper.

We decided that the decision had to be made right away, so we could get the new person in as quickly as possible. The voting was democratic, but Dad could veto if he wanted.

It wasn’t unanimous in Violet’s favor, but she was chosen by a narrow margin. Hal didn’t vote for her (no surprises there), but I did and so did Dad. I had to say, despite any misgivings about how she got here, I was looking forward to having another young female down the hall. This company needed more women. I would never, ever say my dad was sexist, but he did have a tendency to hire other older white men to work for him. That was also part of the nepotism. But those guys wouldn’t be around forever, and plenty of our interns were female and were doing an excellent job.

Once the interviews were done, it was on to the last item.

“Several of us have talked and we think we should push the launch back.” I wanted to ask him to repeat what he’d said, because at the last meeting, they’d been all for it. The fuck?

“What about Mr. Clarke? Shouldn’t he be in on this discussion?” The room went absolutely silent when I said it. Just as I expected. I didn’t talk much in meetings, except to say “yea” or “nay” when we voted on things, and when I had to present something.

“I already signed off on it,” Dad said, not looking at me. Okay, there was a lot more to THAT story than I was getting, but I wasn’t going to start something in front of everyone. The vote was quick and it passed. If pushing the release meant less work for Dad, then I was all for it. I’d been for it in the beginning, but they’d acted like I was the crazy one. Something had caused them to completely flip flop and that something was making me very nervous.

Dad vanished after the meeting, saying he was off to play golf, and getting several slaps on the back from some of the other Board members. I was still trying to figure out what the hell happened as I walked back to my office. I walked right past Lilia’s desk and into my office and shut the door.

I still had a few more hours before I could leave and put this week behind me with my friends and Lucah.

Lucah. I picked up the phone and dialed his extension.

“Lucah Blythe, how can I help you?” I could tell by his formal tone that he had people either near him, or watching him closely. Crap.

“Hello, Mr. Blythe, I just had some things to discuss with you, but that can be done at a later time. Sorry for bothering you.” I hung up quickly so neither of us would say anything incriminating.

I got a text a few seconds later.

What’s wrong? Do you need me to come up?

No, I was just doing my normal thing and freaking out about things that probably didn’t need to be freaked out about.

I’m fine. Just being me. I’ll see you later. xoxo

His response was quick.

Let me know if you’re not fine. Or if you need to do some pacing. See you later, Sunshine.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out what was going on, and what I could do about it, and I finally came up with a solution, but it would require Lucah’s cooperation.

I hoped beyond hope that Dad playing golf was a good sign, and that it had to do with him wanting to push the launch all of a sudden. This was a good thing, so why was I freaking out about it?

“I’ve never met anyone as paranoid as you,” Lucah said as we walked toward the T terminal. We alternated taking cabs and riding the T most days. “You really take it to a whole new level.”

“Shut up,” I said, punching his shoulder.

“Ouch. You know it’s true. It’s crazy to try to coordinate this when we’re still reeling from everything else. And it will be less stress on Walter. So what’s wrong with that?” I glared at him.

“It’s suspicious.” He burst out laughing.

“Of course it’s suspicious. I was just playing Devil’s Advocate. And I’m guessing by the look on your face that you want me to do what I do best and maybe do some detective work.” He looked at me with a self-satisfied smile.

“Bastard. You knew I was going to ask all along.”

“I’ve been waiting and waiting for you to ask. In fact, I’ve been checking into things ever since I changed positions. Do you want to know what I found?”

“I don’t know, do I?”

“I know you, and I know that you would want to know.” He waited for me to get myself together.

“Okay, tell me.” The second the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to reel them back.

Lucah took a deep breath.

“They want to get rid of Walter.”

I probably shouldn’t have screamed, “You can’t be fucking serious!” on the crowded sidewalk, but it wasn’t the worst thing anyone had yelled in Boston, I was sure. I did get a dirty look from a woman who hurried her children along past us.

“This cannot be happening. How can they do that to him?”

“They think his leadership isn’t strong enough. They think that he’s been too lax,” Lucah said calmly as we kept walking. I was still in semi-shock.

“Is that what
you
think?”

“Of course not. But that’s what they think. So they’ve been using the headhunter to find someone new. Someone they can control. They’ve also been meeting with the stockholders and trying to win them over so they have enough votes to do it.”

“And Dad knows nothing about this?”

Lucah shook his head.

“As far as I know.”

“We have to tell him.”

“I know.”

“Sunshine, you have got to calm down. Normally I find your freak outs cute and only somewhat annoying, but you don’t need to do this right now,” Lucah said an hour later after trying to get me to sit down and breathe and do yoga poses or some such shit. I couldn’t sit. My mind was spinning too much and I had to keep moving. Had to. Couldn’t stop.

“I do need to do this. They’re trying to take his company away from him. After he gave them jobs. I just . . . I can’t believe it. What makes them think they have the right?” I threw my hands in the air again and Lucah just nodded and waited for me to wind down. I hadn’t been this wound in a long time, but it was for good reason.

And then something occurred me that I hadn’t thought of.

“If they get rid of him, are they trying to get rid of me?” One look at Lucah’s face was all I needed to confirm it. Then I stopped pacing.

“Oh my God.” Suddenly I felt as if I’d been slammed with a thousand punches at once and almost knocked to the floor. But Lucah moved fast and caught me before that happened.

“They can’t do that. They can’t do that.” If I said it enough times, maybe it would be true.

“It’s going to be okay, Rory. Shhh.” I wasn’t crying, but I felt like I wanted to.

Clarke Enterprises was my life. I’d grown up toddling its hallways, and wearing giant corporate t-shirts to bed, and helping my mother plan the Company Ball and bringing my Dad lunch. It was my second home, and I never even considered working anywhere else. That would be inconceivable.

The idea that it could be taken away from me was too much to take.

“I didn’t want to tell you. I’m so sorry, but I waited until you asked, because I didn’t want to drop it on you. Look, this isn’t final. It’s not a done deal, Rory. Don’t give up yet. We can fix this. I know you, and you’re not the kind of girl who gives up. I don’t think we should tell Walter about it yet until we know more. Okay?”