Chapter 4 - THE JOB SHE LOST
Amber had been unemployed for five months.
That was the fact her parents repeated most.
At Thanksgiving:
“You’re not working.”
At brunch:
“You’re living like a teenager.”
At family meetings:
“You walked away from stability.”
All true in one form.
Amber left her junior design role at Mitchell Development after discovering her father intended to promote her into corporate communications.
She did not want it.
She wanted art.
Charles called art:
a hobby with invoices.
Then Amber took a contract job with a small gallery-services company.
Three months later, the contract was not renewed.
Her parents said:
See?
Amber believed it too.
Until Richard’s foundation lawyer, Daniel Cho, reviewed her exhibition file.
Two galleries had declined her after initially expressing interest.
Why?
One director remembered receiving a call from Mitchell Foundation arts liaison.
The caller said:
“Amber Mitchell is currently dealing with family instability and may not be able to meet professional commitments.”
The gallery backed away.
Who made the call?
A woman named Denise Parker.
Director of community giving for the Mitchell Foundation.
Amber knew her.
Denise had attended Christmas at their house.
Daniel asked:
“Did your parents know you submitted under A.M. Vale?”
Amber shook her head.
“Then how did Denise connect you to those galleries?”
Good question.
The second gallery had received a similar warning.
Not defamation in some cartoon sense.
No accusation of drugs or crime.
Just:
unreliable,
family concerns,
possible schedule issues.
Enough to make a small gallery nervous.
Then Amber remembered something.
Six months earlier, her mother found a shipping receipt in her apartment.
Destination:
North Line Arts.
One of the galleries.
Amber had said it was “a friend’s package.”
Her mother did not believe her.
Then Daniel checked phone records obtained later through civil discovery.
Margaret Mitchell called Denise the next morning.
Amber stared at the date.
Her parents had not merely watched her fail.
They had helped create the failure.
Then Richard asked:
“Why?”
May you like
Amber answered before anyone else.
“So I’d come home.”
