tell her. Then after looking in her eyes, observing that you-better-not-bullshit-me look, he decided to come clean. “It was a deathbed promise. My grandfather asked the three of us to take over the running of Granger Aeronautics. And it’s a promise I intend to keep.”
She could admire that, but still...why would his grandfather ask the three of them to do that? Richard Granger knew they had lives they were more or less content with. Why would he ask them to give up their livelihood for a company they’d walked away from years ago?
Evidently, she had a confused look in her eyes, because he said, “I don’t know why he asked that of us, considering everything. But we knew our grandfather. We don’t think it was last-minute manipulation. I honestly believe he thought we could do a better job than Freeman. Why he felt that way, I’m not sure. Granddad loved Granger Aeronautics. He wouldn’t turn the running of it over to us unless he felt we could do it.”
She took a sip of her wine and then asked, “For how long?”
“Excuse me?”
“How long will you stay at Granger? Just until I get it out of the red? I understand you didn’t resign from your company in California, but took a leave of absence.”
Jace frowned, wondering how in the hell she knew that. She wouldn’t have been able to find that out in twenty minutes. But from the self-confident look in her eyes, he had a feeling she had. She must have some damn good contacts.
He took a sip of his drink, because at the moment he couldn’t answer her. All he knew was that he was staying put, but he had a feeling his saying that would not be good enough for her. “Just what do you expect of me, Ms. Bradford?”
“Maybe you ought to be asking yourself what those employees of Granger Aeronautics expect of you, Mr. Granger. I would think they’d want someone who plans to do right by them and not leave them out in the cold. They worked hard for your grandfather, and most were loyal. They expect a leader who would remember that.”
And he had remembered that. He knew then what his answer to her question would be. “I can only speak for myself, but I’m staying.”
At that moment, the waiter interrupted by bringing out their food.
* * *
Over lunch, Shana asked Jace several questions that she felt he answered truthfully. He even told her about the other promise they’d made regarding her father. She definitely felt he had a lot on his plate but was confident he knew how to handle his business.
He asked her more questions, specifically how she would go about evaluating the company if she accepted the job. She made sure he knew she hadn’t decided whether she would work for him or not before she went into explaining her company’s in-depth evaluation process. Although, in the end, he didn’t have to implement all her recommendations, but the success ratio would increase if he did so. She could almost guarantee it.
She appreciated that he was honest enough to admit that in some areas he felt like a fish out of water, but over the years his grandfather had kept him abreast of some things, so he was familiar with the day-to-day operations.
“If you take the job, I think having you work on the premises would be a plus,” he said, pushing his plate away.
She glanced over at him. “I’m surprised you would want your employees to know the company is in a dire enough situation that I had to be called in.”
He shrugged. “They know anyway, and I have an idea how they found out.”
Shana considered his words and said, “I know Freeman would be the logical culprit, but I’ve discovered the logical one is not always the guilty party. You would be surprised what’s tucked away in closets that I usually expose. People you thought you could trust can prove otherwise. I would suggest you watch your back, not just with Freeman but with others. Some might think you don’t know what the hell you’re doing and try to take advantage.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
The waiter came to remove their plates. Wineglasses were replaced with coffee cups, and they continued talking. She was being evasive about whether she would take on Granger Aeronautics, and with good reason. She had just come off a big, lengthy assignment and had looked forward to taking a month off to do practically nothing. She had