Page 74 of Five Mountain Daddies

“Good people aren’t always strong enough.” He pats me on the back. “Fortunately, youare.”

He stands and heads off to another group of guys that are lingering over in the corner. I glance back at him for a second before sighing, shaking myhead.

I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do. I want to trust and believe in Amelia, even if she is some rich, spoiled girl that doesn’t know a damn thing about our way of life. Still, she’s better than Ingram, at least so far. Ingram would rape and pillage everything we have without any regard for human lives, all for the profit of his company. He doesn’t give a shit about us, not even a little bit. At least Amelia seems to care aboutpeople.

I care about people, too. Maybe that’s my fucking problem. This whole contract thing, the uncertain future of my people, it’s all driving me fucking insane. I never wanted this kind of stress. Hell, I didn’t think it even existed. I was happy down in the mine, digging away all fucking day, doing something hard that feltgood.

Now I have responsibility on top of this thing with Amelia. I want that girl more than I can even admit to myself. I don’t know how I’m going to juggle my deep, intense desire to take her one more time and my responsibility to mypeople.

I sip my beer, but unfortunately the answers aren’t at the bottom of thebottle.

7

Amelia

My father’s old office screams of memories, and it’s almost impossible for me to get comfortable. I took away all of his old stuff, boxed it up and put it away in the house, but I still feel like it’s lurkingthere.

I lean back in his chair. I can’t help but wonder how many times he sat in this exact spot. He spent so much of his time on Evans Energy that I feel like he left a little ghost of himself right here in thisspot.

Over the last few years, my dad and I weren’t that close. We were practically best friends when I was younger, since he raised me alone, but after I left town and spent most of my time at boarding school we sort of just drifted. Now, though, I feel closer to him than I have in a long time, and that’s even more painful than I could haveguessed.

There’s a knock at the door and I look up. “Come in,” I callout.

Ingram steps in. He closes the door behind him and smiles at me. “How are you settling in?” he asksme.

I shrug a little. “Just getting used tothis.”

“Of course.” He walks over and sits in the chair in front of my desk. “The union had a meeting lastnight.”

I raise an eyebrow. I’m not sure how he knows that, but I decide not to ask him. Ingram always seemed like a nice man when I was younger, but now that I’m back, I’m hearing things about him, disturbing things. He’s apparently much tougher than I could have guessed. He’s been pushing the miners hard, and they seem to hatehim.

And he’s trying to push me out. I can feel it, and I’m not really surprised. He probably resents me for walking right in here and taking the job he probably thinks he deserves. I know I need to be careful of him, but I also need him. Fact is, he knows this company better than I do, knows how to run it. I can’t do this withouthim.

“How did it go?” I askhim.

He shrugs. “The usual. Lots of complaining, nothing gotdone.”

I narrow my eyes. He has such a low opinion of his workers, it always surprises me. “How is their new leader settlingin?”

“Samuel?” He raises his eyebrows. “In over his head, I’dsay.”

“He seems competent. Cares about hisworkers.”

“Of course he does. It’s in his own interest to care aboutthem.”

“What do you mean?” I askhim.

He smiles at me like a grandfather smiling at a toddler trying to walk for the first time. It’s patronizing and frustrating, but I keep ittogether.

“This is how the unions work,” he says. “The new boss comes in, starts to pillage the coffers, until eventually he retires a rich man. Meanwhile, nothing gets done, except they’re a huge pain in mybutt.”

“That’s pretty pessimistic,” I say. “Unions were made to protect theworkers.”

“They don’t need protections anymore,” he says, waving his hand in dismissal. “There are federal laws protecting them. No, unions are there to gouge the companies for more pay, and to gouge the workers for their dues. The only real winners are those in charge, assuming they’re corrupt enough, which they alwaysare.”

I hate the way he’s talking about Samuel and the other miners. He makes them sound like a bunch of greedy assholes, only in this for some extra money, when really they just want to make a living. None of them are rich, very far from it, and they work in horribleconditions.

“You’re too soft on them,” Ingram continues. “They’re going to take advantage of you in thisnegotiation.”

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