Fortunately, we had a crowd for lunch, which made us focus on the job. Blake, Paige, and Michael took a seat in the back and I served their meals. “I’ll talk to you after it slows down,” I said. Blake gave me a concerned look. “Chase is really angry, and he’s rather intimidating when he wants to be,” she said. “He’s got pride, baby, and he has the means to make people pay for what they do to him. That Maury woman is screwed, but that’s the game he plays, and she should have known that,” I replied. “Don’t you resent him doing this here,” my daughter asked. “I wish he hadn’t, but he’s playing hardball.” “Jeanette has small children, Daddy.” “I’m sorry, Paige, that is out of my hands because she was charged with D.U.I. last night,” I replied. “He called her in, didn’t he,” Paige asked. “Yes, and there’s nothing anyone can do about that.” “Tara called me to ask if I wanted to come here to have lunch and hear the new plan for the restaurant,” Blake said. “But I don’t think that’s why she wanted me here,” she added. “I have to get back to work,” I replied.
After we finished cleaning up, Kevin and I took a seat at the counter. We talked about what to do with Tara, which wasn’t a hard decision for him. “I want her gone, Scragg, so let me handle it,” he said. “Okay,” I replied. “I hate it, but we can’t have her acting like this,” my partner continued. “I know.” “There’s something wrong with her, so the quicker you distance yourself from her the better off you’ll be in the end. She’s not just over-emotional, or immature; she’s unhinged, but manipulative, which is a bad combination. What really pisses me off is that she didn’t have the guts to stay and face the music,” Kevin said. “This is the problem when you hire friends,” I replied. “This is all on her, Scragg; all you did was give her a chance.”
I got back to the house and found Blake, Paige, Michael, and Bruce, chatting in the living room. “Everything okay,” my wife asked me. “Yeah, we had a good day, business wise. Kevin doesn’t want Tara around anymore, which I can’t say I blame him. I hate this, but we can’t have her acting like this,” I replied. “Is Tara overwhelmed or wigging out over being married and pregnant,” Paige asked. “No, she’s got issues far more serious than that,” I replied. My daughter gave me a stunned look. Blake hung her head. “Blake called the house and told me what happened. Bob is getting his truck serviced, so I came down alone,” Bruce said. “He’s very fond of Tara, as am I, but there’s no denying that the young lady has some character issues that are beginning to reveal themselves. I thought about her on the way down here, and I began to realize that she has trouble with authority, and dealing with adversity, which describes a lot of people, but it does sound that Tara likes to do what she wants. I called one of the farm managers she worked for, and he said that Tara was fine as long as she could move around and not take orders. He liked her, but he did say that she came and went as she pleased, which prevented her from getting a better paying job at the farm. She did well under Elmer, because she was constantly busy doing different things, but apparently there were some problems at the store when she didn’t get her way, and that’s when this dislike of Kevin started. Tara also never had much discipline at home because her parents were so much older and sick. Fortunately for them, she just liked having her space, so she could dream. I don’t know anything else about Tara, so that’s all I’m going to say,” Bruce concluded. “Who told you she liked to dream,” I asked. “Her father,” Bruce replied. “At the time I just assumed she was dreaming of leaving that broken town, so I just laughed and told him that at least she has dreams. He didn’t laugh, however,” the old solider said in an ominous tone. “What did he say,” Blake asked. “He told me Tara had other dreams, and walked away.”
I was feeling very uncomfortable.
“Maybe it’ll be alright,” I said. Blake and Bruce gave me dire looks. “What are you thinking,” I asked them. “It sounds like we don’t know Tara, very well,” my wife said. “It’s not that easy, Scragg,” Bruce added. “You implying that she’s sociopathic,” I asked. Blake’s hand fidgeted, and Bruce remained silent.
It’s very easy to jump to the worst conclusion.
I stepped outside and called Tara, who immediately answered. “Get over her, young lady,” I said. “What’s going to happen,” Little Mama asked in a weepy voice. “Just get over here,” I replied before clicking off.
I’m not ready to give up yet.
