Chapter 5 - Sign Here
Eli’s next scheduled shift at the restaurant was Monday.
Anna wanted him to stay home.
Eli refused.
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know.”
“Then I go to work.”
Thomas agreed.
Grant was technically suspended from management duties while Claire reviewed records, but at 3:17 that afternoon Eli found him standing beside the employee lockers.
Grant was not wearing an apron.
He was holding a piece of paper.
Eli stopped.
“You’re not working.”
Grant smiled.
“Just picking up a few things.”
Eli moved toward his locker.
“Actually, I need your help.”
Grant held out the paper.
“What is it?”
“Correction form.”
Eli read the top.
TEMPORARY TRAINING ACKNOWLEDGMENT
His face tightened.
Grant spoke gently now.
Very differently from Friday.
“The schedule was entered wrong. You weren’t technically working four paid hours.”
“Yes, I was.”
“You were training for part of it.”
“No.”
“Eli, listen—”
“I washed dishes.”
“I know, but legally—”
“You texted eighty dollars.”
Grant’s smile disappeared.
“Your sister put you up to this?”
Eli looked at him.
“No.”
“You emailed screenshots.”
“Anna helped.”
“Exactly.”
Grant stepped closer.
“She’s making you think something bad happened.”
“Something bad did happen.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
He tapped the paper.
“This says you worked one and a half regular hours and the rest was voluntary training.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It fixes the paperwork.”
“It makes the paperwork wrong.”
For a moment, Grant said nothing.
Then he changed tactics.
“You like working here?”
“Yes.”
“You like Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t make trouble for him.”
Eli frowned.
“You made trouble.”
Grant’s face changed.
There it was.
The anger.
“You don’t understand what you’re getting involved in.”
“I understand eighty.”
“This is bigger than eighty dollars.”
Eli stared at him.
The words hung between them.
Grant seemed to realize too late what he had said.
A kitchen door opened.
Claire stepped through.
“Interesting.”
Grant turned.
She was carrying a cardboard file box.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.”
Grant folded the form quickly.
Claire extended her hand.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll photograph it.”
“You’re not my boss.”
“No. Thomas is.”
Claire pulled out her phone.
Grant crumpled the paper.
“Grant,” she said quietly, “do not destroy that.”
He stopped.
Claire held out her hand again.
After a long pause, he gave it to her.
She unfolded the page.
Her face hardened.
“Who created this?”
“It’s a standard form.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“You’ve been gone too long to know.”
Claire pointed to the footer.
“It says Form WT-14.”
“So?”
“Whitaker’s doesn’t have numbered HR forms.”
Grant said nothing.
“You made this.”
“I adapted something.”
“To retroactively classify paid labor as unpaid training?”
“That’s your interpretation.”
“It’s printed in front of me.”
Grant turned to Eli.
“See what I mean? She twists everything.”
Eli looked at the paper.
“No.”
Grant blinked.
“No what?”
“She reads it.”
Claire looked at Eli.
A tiny smile touched her mouth.
Grant saw it and flushed.
“You both think this is funny?”
“No,” Claire said. “I think it’s evidence.”
Grant went pale.
“Evidence of what?”
“That depends on what else I find.”
She folded the form carefully and placed it in the file box.
Grant moved toward the exit.
Claire called after him.
“One more thing.”
He stopped.
“If you contact Eli about his wages again, do it in writing.”
Grant turned.
“Are you threatening me?”
“No.”
Claire’s voice was calm.
“I’m helping you preserve your version of events.”
Grant stared at her for several seconds.
Then he left.
The door slammed behind him.
Eli exhaled.
Claire looked at him.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Did he scare you?”
Eli considered the question.
“Yes.”
Claire nodded.
“Thank you for saying that.”
He looked toward the exit.
“He said it is bigger than eighty dollars.”
Claire became very still.
“He said those exact words?”
“Yes.”
She opened the file box.
May you like
Inside were photocopies of payment records.
“Eli,” she said, “I think that may be the first completely honest thing Grant has told us.”
