Page 105 of Wild Card
“Sorry, guys. You snooze, you lose.”
Matteo stood up, holding Taz in one arm. “Want another beer?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
He jogged over to the RV and went inside to fetch two more from my fridge. I watched the flames crackle and dance while he was gone and tried not to wonder what a certain deputy might be up to right now.
He’d texted me a few times about meeting up tonight, but I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Things were getting too seriouswith that man, and I wasn’t boyfriend material, no matter what my brothers said about it.
“Here.” Matteo handed me a cold can.
“Thanks.” I cracked it open and hunched a little closer to the fire. “So, where’s Allison tonight?”
Usually, Matteo was out of here the second he clocked out, to grab dinner with her. I was fairly sure wedding bells would be ringing soon.
“Girls’ night with Sasha and Chelle,” he said.
“Surely, you can find someone better to hang out with than one of your bosses,” I drawled.
“Nah, I don’t have many friends,” Matteo admitted. “Had to ditch the old crowd when I got out of prison. Didn’t want to risk them dragging me into any more trouble.”
Friends could certainly do that. I had half a dozen texts from Jett about setting up the next poker game. I was reluctant to do it while Dalton was up in my business, which was why I’d been ignoring texts from both of them.
Matteo shifted in his seat. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something. When I was in prison, I had this friend.”
“What kind of friend?” I asked, perking up.
Every clip of prison porn I’d ever seen played through my head. Which was better than the steady reel of deputy porn starring me and Dalton that persisted.
“Not that kind,” Matteo said flatly.
I slumped in my seat. “Boring. Go on.”
“We were cellmates, and he had my back. The way you and your brothers are with each other. I trusted him with my life, you know? And he’s getting out soon.”
“That’s good news.”
“Yeah, he wants to come to Riverton. He wants a fresh start. But I don’t want him to struggle to find a job like I did. Having a job, a purpose, is really important to living right.”
“You want us to give him a job?” I asked. “You’d have to talk to Holden about that.”
It was doubtful we could support two employees. We’d had to cut back Matteo’s hours more than once to avoid overextending our finances.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to him, but I wanted to talk to you first because this concerns you more.”
“How is that?”
“Allison has been helping me get a grant to set up an ex-con work program. Basically, it would help finance the employment. Businesses would pay fifty percent of the income, and the grant would match that.”
“So they get cheap labor,” I said. “That’s smart.”
“I wanted to ask if you’d sign on. We need a few businesses lined up to get the grant. I’ll figure out the money part with Holden. Even if it means you all need to let me go…”
“We’re not letting you go,” I said flatly.
Holden was the one who made those decisions. But I wouldn’t sit back and do nothing. If nothing else, I’d hire Matteo to work at the junkyard and everyone else could fuck off with their opinions.
“This program is more important than my job,” Matteo said earnestly. At my raised eyebrow, he added quickly, “I really like working here. You all went out on a limb for me, and I appreciate it so much.”
