The noise in the room was suddenly deafening. All the bystanders backed away from the fight, dozens of chair legs dragging across the concrete floor with a groan. Yelling above that din, Ayesha, Davion, Yvonna, and Stephanie’s voices implored Richard to let their boss go. Only Richard and Jeremiah were silent, saying nothing, but eyeballing each other as if planning for an all-out fistfight.
And then Jeremiah brought up his free hand, snaking it between Richard’s forearms to immobilize him. Twisting his ensnared wrist, he easily yanked it out of the drunk man’s grip. Then he clapped Richard on the shoulder with a hand that looked gentle but still meant business, and he said, “We’re leaving now. Get up slowly and don’t try anything. I’ll make you regret it.”
Faye looked around the room for damage and saw none, so she threw down some extra tip money and headed for the door. As she herded her employees out, she locked eyes with Armand and telegraphed a mute apology for spoiling his restaurant’s mellow vibe.
She reached the others waiting on the sidewalk as Jeremiah guided Richard out the door. Sometimes his hand on the younger man’s shoulder steered, and sometimes it kept him from toppling over. There was no way Richard could walk all the way back to the motel under his own power.
Faye beckoned to Jeremiah, who sat Richard’s sagging form on a bench that looked sturdy enough to hold the inebriated man up while Jeremiah spoke with his client in private.
Holding the bill out for Jeremiah to see, she pointed at the line item for Richard’s beers. “It isn’t possible that he got this drunk on three beers.”
“You got a point there.” Jeremiah shrugged. “He’s twenty-one. It’s not like I searched their suitcases. Maybe he packed more liquor than clothes. It looks to me like our boy had ethanol for breakfast, then kept drinking.”
“I can’t tolerate this. I have to fire him.”
“Hold on! Don’t do anything hasty. Besides, you can’t fire him. He works for me. You can tell me not to assign him to your job, or you can terminate your contract with my organization, but you can’t fire Richard.” The expression on his face was almost insubordinate, but not quite.
“You’re his boss? Okay. So you’re his boss and he just assaulted you. Why aren’t you firing him?”
“He didn’t hit me. He grabbed my wrist. Big deal.”
“He tried to twist your hand off. He didn’t manage it because you’re big and you can apparently handle yourself in a fight. If he did that to me, I’d have a broken arm right now. Ayesha, too.”
“But not the other women?” Jeremiah’s eyes were squinched up like a man about to laugh. Faye was not amused.
“I think Yvonna and Stephanie can probably take care of themselves, but I do not want to see them try. You’re willing to risk everyone’s safety on the chance that Richard will stay sober and peaceful? Why? There are plenty of people who would love to have that job and all the training and perks that come with it.”
Jeremiah’s eyes looked less amused now. “Sure there are, but they’re not interchangeable. Richard is a human being and he deserves a chance. He’s not perfect, but I’m not ready to throw him away. Are you?”
Faye struggled to keep her voice down, because her crew definitely did not need to hear this conversation. “Who said anything about throwing human beings away? Who called them interchangeable? This is an important contract and it needs to be staffed by people who take it seriously. Why is it so important to you for Richard to stick with a job that he may not even want to do?”
“Where would I be if nobody ever gave me a chance when I screwed up? I was real good at that, you know. Screwing up, I mean. Everybody needs somebody to hold their feet to the fire.”
Faye didn’t know what to say, but she knew that it wasn’t, “Tell me exactly what you did to screw up, and when.” Jeremiah and his past was not her current problem. Richard was. When she weighed Richard’s future against the safety of those around him, not to mention the success or failure of her contract, she wasn’t sure what the right answer was.
“He’s staying in my room with me, right?” Jeremiah said. “That fabulous room you’re paying for because you think a murderer is out to get us?”
Faye tried to protest, but he just waved a hand and said, “Joking.”
Faye wasn’t laughing.
“I’ll talk to him. I’ll search his suitcase for liquor. I’ll watch him like a hawk,” Jeremiah promised. “I’ll tell him that I don’t give three chances to people who screw up, but I do give them two. One more screw-up, and he’s out. And I’ll tell him all those things again when he’s sober enough to understand me.”
Faye hesitated, not sure that she was willing to buy into Jeremiah’s management style.
He took her hesitation as a sign that he’d won. “Now, why don’t you walk the others to the hotel and then drive back over here to get me and Mr. Can’t Hold His Liquor? I bet Armand will bring me a glass of sweet tea while I wait. Maybe one for Richard, too, but it looks to me like he’s already sloshing inside. He doesn’t need to take in anything wet for at least a week.”
Faye had just witnessed a small miracle and she was grateful.
The miracle had occurred after she’d dropped off the women and driven back for Richard and Jeremiah. After she’d successfully loaded them into her car and headed back to the motel, Richard had miraculously
