Chapter 45

It was only a few minutes later that Phil found himself re-entering the Barton Building. Hailey’s arrival brought a summons from his mother. He was still dazed from his conversation with Sam Waterford and he breezed right past the security desk without signing in. Technically, that was OK because he and Nikki hadn’t signed out earlier.

The guard would have to account for the temporary keycard in Phil’s pocket but the man decided that was a conversation best saved for later.

Bonnie ushered him right in to his mother’s office and closed the door behind him.

“Well, that was certainly an interesting afternoon,” Beth said with a wry smile, gesturing Phil to the side of her office where they could sit without the desk between them.

“Master of the understatement,” Phil remarked, shaking his head.

“Let’s get a couple of preliminaries out of the way,” Beth said. “I had no idea that Sam had gone off the reservation and I had no idea of the situation at Waterford when I recommended you. I always thought him to be a better businessman than that – but I also recognize that his wife’s health takes precedence. Still, it seems he completely removed himself from his own company. I can’t offer you an internship here. I’ve already had to turn down other employees’ children because we’re out of positions.”

“No, I understand,” Phil said. “That wouldn’t be fair.”

“I am not interested in fairness,” Beth admitted. “If you had wanted to work for me this summer you would have – regardless of whether you were the best candidate or not. But it would send the wrong message to the rest of the company if I create a position for you at this point. I will, however, find you a job in one of the divisions and square any issues that result from you leaving Waterford. I believe the Dean of Students at Heilman would allow you to withdraw without it reflecting on your transcript.”

She held up her hand to forestall Phil’s answer.

“Let me finish so you know your options as I see them,” Beth continued. “I do not get involved in your academic career lightly but I feel responsible for sending you into that morass that it appears Waterford has become. I will understand if you simply want to take the summer off and enjoy yourself. Your father and I have always felt it important to instill a work ethic in you – and we have succeeded. There is no reason you can’t spend a summer relaxing. I wanted you to know that you will face no reprisals from walking away from Waterford.”

“That really isn’t an option at this point,” Phil said.

“I think it is a viable option,” Beth countered.

“Well, it would appear unseemly for the majority stockholder to walk away twice in a year,” Phil answered. It was rare that he caught his mother completely wrong-footed. He reveled in the experience. She started to reply and stopped. She made two more stumbling efforts before sitting back in the chair and staring at him.

She looked at him for a long moment before getting and walking across the room to a hidden alcove next to the bookshelf. She opened it and extracted two bottles of water. Phil recognized it as a stalling effort so he tilted his head inquisitively when she offered him a bottle and resumed her seat.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” she began. “You have taken money from your trust and purchased a company that will be bankrupt in six weeks. You have squandered the money that was meant to support you and your children for the duration of your life if Barton falters by, essentially, flushing it down the toilet. What did you think you would accomplish?”

“You’re wrong,” Phil said. “And nothing.”

Beth continued to stare at her son as she ran his answers through her mind.

“OK, what am I wrong about?” she asked.

“I didn’t spend anything,” Phil told her. “And I’m not sure I’ll be able to accomplish anything.”

He saw his mother was getting perturbed at him so he gave her a saucy smile and a wink.

“You have no idea how gratifying it is to confound you,” he said. “For the majority of my life I have thought that you and Dad had some crystal ball that showed the future since you always seemed to know what I planned to do before I did it. If I didn’t think you’d disinherit me, I’d have pulled out my phone and captured a video of the moment for posterity. You should know it was worth the price of admission.”

Beth relaxed and smiled back at her grinning son.

“OK, just tell me what’s going on,” she said, dropping her stiff office demeanor. “You’ve got something up your sleeve and I can tell you’re about to burst. I’d hate to have to explain the mess to the cleaning crew – not to mention your absence to your father. So out with it!”

Phil gave her the particulars of his conversation with Sam Waterford. If anything she was more astounded when he finished than when he’d begun.

“The man is either a genius or a fruitcake,” Beth said.

“I’d lean toward fruitcake,” Phil admitted. “He planned for me to be his eyes and ears at the company this summer. He wanted someone without an agenda to keep him apprised because he knew something was amiss. I’m not sure if he trusted Bradshaw or thought he was too smart to ruin a good thing but either way he was way off.

“I gave him some particulars about what I’d discovered from researching Waterford and their financial situation. Uh, I called in a favor from my bank and got a pretty fair indication of what was going on. They’ve borrowed heavily against future earnings over the past few months and that never bodes well. No bank will touch them at this point, hence our foray into your inner sanctum.

“Sam said today’s meeting with you was to explain what he wanted from me and to get your approval for me to do it. He had no intention of looking for capital because he didn’t think he needed it. Bradshaw saw the meeting on the calendar and saw an opportunity to grab some more cash, I suppose. As you can tell, the proposal was hastily done.”

“And poorly done,” Beth added. “Sending a bimbo in the company of my son didn’t win him any points either.”

“She’s out of her depth,” Phil said, frowning. Once she’d let down her guard, Nikki hadn’t been too bad. “Her father had her convinced that she was ready. He’s filled her head with delusions of grandeur – the same that reside in his brain, I think – and gave her the impression that business was mostly smoke and mirrors – moving money from one account to another by a series of keystrokes. She got a crash course in reality and that course started in this office. I’m going to keep her on at Waterford.”

“Philip, you cannot rescue every stray kitten!” Beth said.

“You didn’t mind me bringing home a stray when she reminded you of yourself,” he pointed out bluntly. “Three months ago, Hailey and Nikki were the exact same person – minus the belly button piercing and the tramp stamp. Now she’s your little shadow.”

Beth pursed her lips but couldn’t come up with a viable counter-argument.

“She is also going to be the last link to Sam Waterford,” Phil continued, ignoring his mother’s look. “She is a member of the family and it is a family business. I’ll keep her there and let him make the final decision when he returns.”

“I can see the logic,” Beth agreed. “I do want to caution you about a couple of things. Sam has proven craftier than I expected. I want you to be warned that Barton will not bail you out if your plan falters. We are not in the charity business.”

“I never expected that and I don’t think Sam Waterford did either,” Phil replied.

“I also do not want you investing your own funds to keep the company afloat,” Beth said.

“That is not your decision to make,” Phil answered firmly. “At this point, I do not see it as a worthwhile investment. If we reach a point where we need an infusion of cash to see the plan to fruition, I will make that decision. There is a chance that I might discuss it with you beforehand to gauge your position at that time but I doubt it.”

“Very well,” Beth said. “Now I’d like to discuss the real reason I asked Hailey to send you over. I wanted to give you an out at Waterford but I also wanted to discuss a personal matter with you.”

“What did Hailey do now?” Phil asked.

“Nothing,” Beth cut in. “I spoke to her about the things she said in the outer office but she understood and apologized. This isn’t to do with Hailey – or the other members of your tribe across the street. I wanted to talk to you about your car.”

“My car?” Phil asked. “Do you want to borrow it or something? You’ve got a set of keys, you know, and you never bothered to ask before.”

“No, Philip,” Beth said, laughing at her son. “I know you’ve been thinking about moving to something nicer. It’s served its purpose, I think, and I wanted you to know your father and I located something appropriate recently. We purchased it for you to consider.”

“You bought me a car?” Phil asked dubiously.

“Not exactly,” Beth admitted. “We purchased a vehicle because it was in wonderful shape and we thought it would be better suited for you. We would expect you to purchase it from us if you want it.”

“That sounds more like it,” Phil agreed. “OK, what did you get? I was thinking of something that could seat five comfortably, perhaps a small SUV.”

“This will not seat five comfortably,” Beth admitted. “It won’t seat four comfortably unless you have two really small people for the back. Philip, your father and I purchased Hailey’s car to give her access to cash.”

Phil’s look darkened as he peered across at his mother.

“I distinctly remember you telling me five minutes ago that we don’t do charity,” he said. “I can’t think of any other word to use here.”

“That was business, Philip,” he mother said sharply. “This was personal. At the time we weren’t positive she was going to have a penny to her name when she returned to school. We knew you wouldn’t assist her at the time so we did what was necessary. We expected to get a full return on our investment.”