He adds, “I feel like I should buy some myself so my nephews and nieces can have something from me.” He searches my face. “You look kind of mad.”
“Do I?” And here I thought I was doing a pretty decent job of hiding it.
“Yeah, because you’re usually like a rainbow after a thunderstorm, but right now, you’re like the storm itself. What’s wrong?”
“Curie asked me about how my job hunt was going. And I told her it wasn’t going too great. So…” I sigh.
Court nods. “It is weird that you haven’t even had a single interview yet.”
His words pierce like arrows, but he isn’t pointing it out to purposely make me feel bad. I inhale deeply. “Yeah. You know, my dad was pretty convinced that I wouldn’t get a new position. He said getting a job would be really hard. Now I’m wondering if he’s right.”
Court shakes his head. “Something will come up. I have faith in you.”
Sudden doubts swirl in my mind, spiking my anxiety. “You were right about somebody sabotaging me. And it was my dad. What if he called around and asked everyone not to hire me?”
His face sets into a grim façade. “I doubt it, but tell me where you applied.”
“Why?” I ask, unsure why his mood has darkened so abruptly.
“To see if I heard anything or know anything about the companies.”
I doubt that’s the real reason he looks so upset. But I’m so agitated by the lack of employment response that I start to list the places. When I get to OWM, he stops me.
“Okay, it’s not your dad,” he says, but for some reason seems even grimmer.
“How do you know?”
“Because Gavin Lloyd—the founder and owner of OWM, if you don’t know—has a reputation. He does what he wants, and he’s not going to refuse to hire you because of what your dad said.”
So Dad’s right? The job market’s just really that tight? The doubts and anxiety twist into a knot large enough to surround my heart. “Do you think I’ve overestimated myself?”
“No, I don’t think so. You’re really good at what you do.”
His belief in me loosens the knot. But it doesn’t totally go away. Maybe…just maybe I should expand my criteria a bit more to include places other than Los Angeles. “Thanks. I’ll just send more résumés out and follow up with these companies.”
“That would probably be best.”
* * *
Court
Although I told Skittles that there’s no way Steve told others not to hire her, I decide to check for myself. Besides, he isn’t the only one who could mess things up for her. My own father is particularly interested in my personal life, above and beyond what I find acceptable. Part of me wants to believe parents are decent, but I can’t afford to be that naïve.
But there’s no way I can contact every company she applied to. So I choose Omega Wealth Management. It’s the easiest because Gavin Lloyd is close to Nate’s family, given that Gavin’s mother is dating Nate’s great uncle. It won’t be difficult for Nate to set up a meeting.
“Great idea,” Nate says. “Gavin will quadruple your fortune in ten years. The man’s a genius with money.”
I nod and smile, since I don’t want him to know my exact reason for seeing Gavin. I don’t want him to tease me in case I’m wrong, and I don’t want Nate to feel awkward or bad about Gavin if it turns out that Gavin did listen to Steve or my dad.
When I walk into OWM, Gavin’s assistant smiles at me warmly. She’s a curvy redhead with keen eyes and an air of professional competence. Nate told me to be extra nice to her because she apparently runs everything at OWM.
“You must be Harcourt Blackwood,” she says.
“Yes, ma’am.” I shoot her a warm smile, although I’m certain she knows who I am because of the family scandal. “Just Court to my friends.”
“Call me Hilary.” She hits a button on her desk. “Gavin, your eleven o’clock is here,” she says into a set hooked to an ear. And then, to me: “He’ll see you now.”
I thank her and step inside.