Unfortunately, Chloe had described Larry Clarke’s dishonest sales tactics to Grandmillie while she was temping there. At least she hadn’t mentioned his disgusting proposition. As Nathan had observed, Chloe was a terrible liar, so she told a general truth, saying breezily, “Brandt Tech. They loved me there.”
“Where you worked for the lying dirtbag of a sales manager?” Grandmillie gave her the gimlet eye and thumped the floor with her cane. “No. You will not compromise your integrity for an old woman.”
Chloe knew how to fix this. She pushed up from the floor and stood. “It’s not just about you. I’m tired of not being able to eat out or buy a nice pair of shoes when I want to. This job would give me extra money to spend on myself too.”
“I wasn’t born yesterday.” Grandmillie’s voice was kind. “Sit down, child, and listen to me.”
Chloe sank down onto the sofa with relief, since her knees felt shaky.
“I know you adored your father, especially after your mother died and he was the only parent you had. But my son foisted his adult bitterness on your young soul, and that wasn’t right. If I’d known what he was telling you during those evenings you two spent in his workshop, I would have given him a piece of my mind.”
“What do you mean?”
“All that talk about how terrible big corporations are. How they stole his marvelous inventions and never paid him a penny.” Grandmillie shook her head. “When your father went to work for Lindell, he signed a contract stipulating that they owned anything he developed. He knew exactly what that signified.”
“Yes, but other—”
“Let me finish. Furthermore, he worked with a team. Those inventions weren’t just his; they were the result of lots of brains put together. Not to mention that without the equipment and the laboratory and the marketing support, your father couldn’t have turned his ideas into salable products. Kevin was a dreamer, a brilliant one in certain ways, but not a practical man. Lindell gave him a real-world structure to work in.”
Chloe sat back against the cushions as she tried to absorb this new perspective on her father. In all the hours she’d spent sitting on her favorite high stool, watching him tinker at his worktable, she’d never questioned his claim that Lindell had exploited his genius without proper compensation. Grandmillie was right about the bitterness; she’d drunk it in along with her father’s stories about the drama and excitement of creating a new product that sent the company’s profits soaring but didn’t budge his paycheck.
“But what about paying him a bonus when his idea made them money? Lots of companies do that,” Chloe said.
“He got bonuses, but he thought he deserved more.” Grandmillie fidgeted with her cane. “I wouldn’t say these things about my own son if I didn’t think you needed to hear them. Just because a corporation is large doesn’t make it evil. You shouldn’t limit your job hunt to those fly-by-night start-ups you always choose. Or work for some dishonest salesman. You’re better than that.”
But they needed the money now, and her other applications for permanent employment hadn’t borne fruit yet. As far as she could see, there was nothing wrong with Brandt Tech’s product; it was just Larry’s lies about its capabilities that were the problem.
She rubbed her fingers against her temples, trying to massage away the headache that had begun to hammer at her skull. She would make a few phone calls tomorrow to see if she could goose along the other prospective employers. Maybe Judith had some leads on permanent spots.
“Don’t look so upset, Chloe. Nothing I said takes away from what your father accomplished or how much he loved you.”
“No, of course not. It’s just . . . not the way I thought of him.”
“He was your hero, but he had his human frailties, like us all. He was still a good man.”
It rang true from her adult perspective, but Chloe wanted to cling to her old view of the world and her father. She’d believed in her father with a child’s wholehearted acceptance. After her mother’s death, he was everything to Chloe and his view of the world became hers. Now Grandmillie had pushed her axis off center, leaving her wobbly and uncertain.
Grandmillie’s gaze was concerned. “You’ve got enough to think about for one day. And I still haven’t heard about your date last night.”
Chloe was grateful for the change of subject. “Nathan wanted lobster, so we flew to Maine.” She was curious as to whether Grandmillie would be shocked.
Her grandmother thumped her cane on the floor again. “Ha! Now that’s the proper way to court my granddaughter.”
Chloe was putting the dinner dishes in the dishwasher when her cell phone rang, showing Judith’s number. Not a good sign.
“It’s Judith, my dear. You have a new assignment for tomorrow. Tallman and Hicks Accounting in Midtown. You’ll be helping with a major audit they’re doing. They need papers organized, copied, and filed.”