Page 42 of Grit
Stu nodded.
“You sure?”
He looked up. “Leigh’d leave me if I used again, Ms. Rhodes. I lose her; I lose everything. So yeah. I’m sure.”
She nodded slowly. The truth was written all over Stu’s face. She’d seen the two of them together. Seen how Stu looked at his wife. Melissa suspected Stu would sooner cut off his own arm than lose Leigh.
Melissa took a deep breath. “Well, this sucks.”
“If you need to fire me, I understand and I don’t have any hard feelings. Please don’t blame Leigh though. She’s been—”
“You legal to leave Oklahoma?”
He blinked. “I… Yes, ma’am. Free and clear.”
“You in a program or something?”
He nodded. “Twelve-step. You can talk to my sponsor if you want. He’s back in Oklahoma, but we talk regular. He’s trying to connect me to someone out here.”
Melissa nodded. “Why California?”
“We headed to Idaho first. Thought we could head back to where we had friends and just work to make a living. Nothing fancy. Just work. I just wanted to be around good people, you know? Oil fields are a different kind of folks. Went to the Bradys first. They sent me to you.”
“So the Bradys knew all about your record?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She was annoyed that Carla hadn’t trusted her enough to share the information, but then Carla’s dad and her grandfather had been close. She and Carla only knew each other by reputation.
Melissa frowned, processing everything Stu had said. “Your back injury… You good to be on a horse?”
“I’m good.” He nodded firmly. “I’m better now. I can get a report from a doctor if you want, but believe it or not, I met a physical therapy assistant in prison. He was a good guy. Showed me some exercises, and I was real steady about following his instructions. He knew his stuff, and I don’t feel anything around the old injury anymore, except when it gets real cold. One of the reasons Miz Brady thought California’d be a good place for me.”
Melissa watched the man—his hands were folded, his shoulders hunched. The lines of his face told the story of a hard life, but the straightforward way he spoke told Melissa he wasn’t hiding anything anymore.
“Sometimes life shits on you,” Melissa said. “Trust me. I’ve been there.”
“Yes ma’am. I know you have.”
“A whole lot of it is pure luck. Who you’re born to. Where you’re raised. Who loves you.” Melissa stared into the distance, watching the stars that filled the sky. “You know how people say they’re blessed by this or that? I’m not sure if I even know what that means anymore. My grandfather died, the baby I was expecting died, and my husband got hit by a truck. All in about a year and a half.” She turned to Stu. “Does that mean I’m not blessed? You think God’s got something against me?”
Stu shook his head. “I don’t think so. I don’t think God works that way.”
“Your back got injured and you didn’t get the right treatment. That’s bad luck, Stu. Nothing more than that. It could have happened to me or my mom. My brother. Anyone.”
Stu nodded.
“I’m not gonna fire you. I wish you’d told me up front and I didn’t have to hear all this because Cary found out.”
“He was just—”
“You don’t need to defend Cary to me. I’ll deal with him.” She stood. “Anything else you need to tell me?”
“The fight was a one-off. I swear it. I’ve never beat someone like that in my life. I was high and had just been laid off. One of the executives came in—”
“Wait, you beat up an oil executive?”
Stu shrugged. “Pardon my language, but he was an asshole. Came into that bar the end of every week to try to pretend he was one of the guys. Self-made. All that shit. He wasn’t, but most of ’em ate it up. Made ’em feel important that the big boss wanted to drink a beer with ’em. I shouldn’t have lost my temper—”
