Chapter 4

Hailey Warren stood alone at the annual Barton Holdings Group awards dinner, watching as her mother worked the room. The dinner was in the ballroom at one of the nicest hotels in the city and she was enjoying the opulence of the room.

Her mother was a vice president for one of the many companies in the conglomerate, Eisler and Associates, an architectural firm. The president of Eisler planned to retire in June and Hailey’s mother had her eyes set on the top spot.

“Hailey?” a familiar voice asked from beside her.

The young woman looked around to see Beth Warner standing beside her husband.

“Beth!” Hailey said. “What are you doing here?”

Beth considered lying but knew there was little to be gained from that. Hailey would know the truth soon enough.

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Beth said, smiling at the young woman.

“My mom works for Eisler and Associates,” Hailey said proudly. “She’s a vice president there.”

Beth nodded but didn’t speak.

“She’s pretty sure she’s going to be promoted this evening,” Hailey continued. “Her boss is retiring and she is pretty sure she’s going to be named president. That’s why I had to come here.”

Beth’s frown matched the one that David Warner wore. Beth turned to face her husband, who was standing behind her with his arms crossed. Everything his son had told him earlier made perfect sense. This girl’s mother had sent her to ensure a promotion.

“What?” Beth asked.

“I’ll tell you in a few minutes,” Dave replied.

“Is Phil here?” Hailey asked. “He said he had to come in this week for a party. I didn’t realize it was this one.”

“Here’s around here somewhere,” Beth said, smiling at the young woman. “If I see him I’ll point him in your direction.”

“Uh, thanks, I really need to talk to him,” Hailey said. “I need to explain something to him.”

“I’m sure Phil would be happy to see you,” Beth replied. “If you will excuse us, we have to talk to a few other people before things begin.”

Beth and Dave had walked away and were chatting with another group when Hailey’s mother, Hannah Kramer, walked swiftly up.

“What did you say to her?” Hannah demanded.

“Who?” Hailey asked. The only person she’d spoken to was Beth Warner.

“Elizabeth Barton!” Hannah said urgently. “What did she want with you? Did she say anything about my promotion?”

It took Hailey a moment to understand who her mother was talking about.

“Beth?” Hailey asked. “Is that who you’re talking about?”

“Beth!” Hannah said, appalled at the familiarity.

“That’s what she told me to call her,” Hailey told her. “That’s who I spent the night with last night. That’s Beth and David Warner. I rode home with their son.”

“You did?” Hannah inquired.

“He’s the one I told you about this morning,” Hailey continued, not that she suspected her mother had been listening. “The guy I treated just the way you told me I should. I found the most popular guy in the freshman class and shot him down. From then on, only upperclassmen would talk to me.”

“Oh, God!” Hannah said, her face ashen. “I told you Elizabeth Barton’s son was coming to Heilman. I told you to look for him and to make friends. Instead you find him and then embarrass him. How could you do this to me?”

“To you?” Hailey asked, her voice rising. “You told me to treat him that way. His name isn’t Barton. It’s Philip Warner. How in the hell was I supposed to know? I’ve come to understand that everything you’ve told me is a load of shit, mother.”

“Don’t talk to me that way!” Hannah yelled.

As Hailey and her mother were conducting a private argument in public, Beth found herself standing in front of her son.

“I think you should go and pull Hailey away from that,” she said.

“Not a prayer,” Phil responded.

“Philip,” his mother said with a raised eyebrow.

“I tell you what,” Phil told her, “I’ll go and pull Hailey away if you agree that this is the last time you expect me to attend any of these functions. I am talking about the annual dinners, the family picnics and the holiday parties. This is the last time you ask me or guilt me or beseech me to attend. You tell me when they are and I will tell you if I am going. Do you agree?”

Beth’s mouth tightened.

“We can discuss it,” she said.

Phil shook his head.

“I want your word or she and her mother can have a knock-down, dress-ripping fight right here in front of everyone,” Phil said.

“Philip,” Beth began.

“No,” David cut in. “You don’t know what you’re asking. I do. I think Phil is under-valuing his negotiating position. He’s not asking for anything unreasonable given what you expect him to do.”

Beth looked questioningly at her husband.

“This is not the time,” Dave said. “Just assure me that Hailey’s mother is not the pick to take over Eisler.”

“No, of course not,” Beth said. “I’m not really sure of what her mother’s name is but the blonde woman who’s arguing with Hailey is not the new president.”

She turned back to Phil.

“I agree to your deal if you’ll help me out,” Beth said. “I’m not sure what’s going on but I have told you that I trust your judgment.”

Phil let out a sigh and headed over to where the two women were in a heated discussion.

“Uh, excuse me,” Phil said as he stood next to Hailey. “Hi, Hailey, I didn’t realize you were going to be here.”

Hailey’s face was red when she turned to Phil.

“Hi, Phil,” Hailey said, her voice a little strained.

“I thought maybe you’d like to sit with my parents and me,” Phil said, thinking quickly.

“We’d love to!” Hannah cut in.

“Oh, sorry,” Phil said. “There is only one seat because I came without a date. Mom suggested we even things out by inviting Hailey to sit with us. I’m sure she expected that you would prefer to sit with your coworkers.”

Hannah’s face dropped slightly but she couldn’t very well go against the woman who held her future in her hands.

“Oh, of course,” Hannah said absently.

“I’d like that, Phil,” Hailey said. “The time I spent with your family was a lot of fun. I’d like to have dinner with them again.”

She walked off with Phil, leaving her mother red-faced and angry behind her.

“Thanks for the invitation, Phil,” Hailey said, gripping his elbow as they crossed the room. “That was nice of your mother.”

There were a few other older teens there but Hailey didn’t need to know any of them. Phil spoke and nodded to most of them as they crossed the room.

“My mother had nothing to do with it,” Phil said in a harsh voice. “I had to get you two idiots separated before you ruined the whole evening.”

“Oh!” Hailey said sadly.

“Is she going to create a scene when she doesn’t get the promotion?” Phil asked, barely glancing at Hailey.

“She didn’t get it?” Hailey asked.

“That’s what I understand,” Phil replied.

“I didn’t mean to be such a bitch!” Hailey said. “Your mom shouldn’t take it out on mine.”

“My mom didn’t do anything,” Phil spat. “She had no idea who your mother even was. She was never considered – probably because Mom knows what sort of person your mother is even without a name to the face. Mom puts a high value on family and she expects the executives in her companies to do the same.”

Hailey gulped.

“I didn’t know who you were,” Hailey said, pulling Phil to a stop. “I swear I didn’t.”

“No shit,” Phil replied. “If you’d have realized who my mother was you’d have spent all year with your lips attached to my ass.”

Hailey blinked at Phil’s harsh retort – but she had nothing to refute it.

“Just sit down with my parents, enjoy your meal and that’s it,” Phil continued. “We’ll drive back to college tomorrow and neither of us has to ever speak to the other again.”

“Hello, Hailey,” Beth said. There was very little warmth in her voice.

“Hello, Mrs. Warner,” Hailey said.

“It’s still Beth,” Beth said with a slight smile. “At least for now. Philip, thank you for averting that scene. I do appreciate it.”

“Sure, Mom,” Phil said, holding out a chair for Hailey to sit. Hailey wore a red cocktail dress that accentuated her breasts and hung tightly to her rear end. Her mother had told her that she looked very pretty but she felt like a peacock sitting beside the upper executives from Barton Holdings. Beth wore a dark blue dress that was far more suited to a woman her age than the skin-tight black sequined gown that Hailey’s mother had selected.

The group was the first table served and Hailey luxuriated in the taste of the prime rib that was served. It was nothing like the dry chicken and instant mashed potatoes that she’d eaten at the Beta Club gathering a month earlier.

The discussion at the table didn’t revolve around the varying businesses. Instead everyone was talking about their children or their spouses’ jobs. David kept everyone in stitches with his tales of miscues in the chemistry lab.

It took Hailey a few minutes to understand that Beth and Phil were making sure she was included in the conversation. Her mother had uniformly expected her to remain quiet during dinners – unless there was some guy who she was expected to flirt with. Now she was smiling and laughing along with everyone else. They were treating her as an adult, laughing at her jokes and listening to her stories. She didn’t feel the need to brag about her accomplishments or to highlight how important her mother was or how popular she was at college.

She found she was enjoying herself – and gave Phil a thankful glance. He was ignoring her; instead he was talking to his mother.

When dinner was finished Beth stood and walked to the lectern at the top of the dais. A few people applauded when they noticed but Beth just waved at them.

“Well, it’s good to see such a nice turnout,” she said. “For those who haven’t been introduced, I’m Elizabeth Barton-Warner, the chief executive officer of Barton Holdings. Barton has been around in one form or fashion for almost a hundred years. My great-grandfather started the holding corporation in 1966. Over the past 50 years we’ve grown and constricted; we’ve purchased under-performing businesses and sold them again when we failed to turn them around; we’ve had years when we weren’t certain we would still be in business the following year. My grandfather ran the corporation from 1972 until 1990 when my father took over. My father retired five years ago and now you’re stuck with me.

“I’m pleased to announce that our third-quarter earnings project to be among the highest we’ve seen in a decade. We’ve managed to rid ourselves of some of our under-performing assets – consolidating in some cases and selling them to competitors in others. We’ve still managed to grow our employment numbers as we’ve brought in other divisions.

“As always, the employees can expect to see a nice profit-sharing check at our annual summer picnic – so long as we can maintain our present pace. My grandfather started our annual banquet on the second Saturday of March each year for the purpose of allowing the leaders of all of our divergent companies to get to know each other. We are not a gathering of individuals; we are one company with many arms. That is why we’ve been successful when others like us have failed. We recognize our strengths and weaknesses. We use these gatherings in order to pick the brains of others in the company who might have the answer to what you seek.

“There is no shame in asking questions. There is no weakness in admitting you don’t have all the answers. None of us have all the answers but we might have a way – collectively – to find a way to succeed. We share a corporate headquarters but we also share an ideal. We share resources and we share ideas. We share success and we share failure. To that end, I’m proud to announce the elevation of one of our leaders to replace Leonard Hellwig as president of one of our newest holdings, Eisler and Associates. Leonard has decided the time is right for him to step aside and spend more time with his wife, his children and his grandchildren. We wish you nothing but the best in your retirement, Leonard, and you have my word that we’ll help the company you’ve shepherded for the last 15 years to grow.

“I’m proud to announce that Janet Groten, the vice president of engineering at Tolliver Manufacturing, will take over the reins at Eisler, effective July 1st. Janet has been with Tolliver for more than 20 years. She has a master’s degree in engineering from MIT and she has an MBA from the Wharton School. I think she will be the perfect choice to lead Eisler and Associates to the next level. Janet, would you like to say a few words?”

Chapter 5 »