Page 20 of His Middle

It was almost nine o’clock and he was ready to get Noah out of there and safely tucked into bed. The emotional and physical exhaustion he’d witnessed on Noah’s face that day broke his heart. Was this how it had been for him since Oliver’s death?

Sawyer swiped the back of his hand across his forehead then headed back inside. As soon as the night shift had arrived, he’d been able to hand over bar duties and he’d sent Noah into the office. Fortunately, the evening staff seemed much more capable with a decidedly better attitude.

He had to wonder whether Dirk had been the poison that had infected the daytime employees. If so, he was happier than ever that he’d dumped the asshole. After Noah had gone into the kitchen, Sawyer told Dirk he was done and that he’d mail him a check for his final two weeks.

Sawyer headed to the cooler to do one last sweep of the contents. He’d disposed of so much spoiled food, it was ridiculous. The inmates truly had been running the asylum, and he’d been spending the past couple hours, after taking a dinner break with Noah, cleaning things out.

“Getting a lot of orders still, Ricky?”

The night cook glanced over his shoulder, a plate of freshly baked, macaroni and cheese with bacon bits in front of him. “Yeah, pretty decent. Friday and Saturday nights we get more orders than the rest of the week.”

“Makes sense. When does the kitchen close?”

“Eleven. Leaves me an hour to clean up and put everything away.” He lowered his head before looking at Sawyer again. “Sorry about all the mess in the walk-in—” he waved his hand around “—and everywhere else. The day shift always left me more than I could handle on my own, and when I’d leave a list of what still needed to be done for Marcus, he’d basically ignore it. After a while, I gave up.”

Sawyer pressed his lips together. “Was this going on before Oliver died?”

“It was only starting to be a problem. I spoke with Mr. Epstein about it once and he said he was going to keep an eye on things. But it wasn’t long after that when he…” Ricky lowered his gaze. “You know.” He let out a sigh. “I sure miss him.” His eyes darted up. “Noah’s a great guy, too. It’s just that…” He shifted from foot to foot. “I can tell how overwhelmed he is and how some of the guys take advantage of him.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me, Ricky. Would you have time to meet with me before your shift tomorrow? I’d like to discuss the possibility of expanding your role here. That is, if you think it’s something that would interest you.”

Ricky’s face lit up with a grin. “It definitely would. Thank you.”

Relief filled Sawyer. The more they’d be able to promote from within, the quicker it would be to build a solid team.

“Great. Meet me in the office at five.”

Sawyer went back to giving everything a final look-over so he could get Noah out of the club and back home. They’d put in much longer hours than he’d intended, but there were a lot more immediate issues that needed to be dealt with than he’d anticipated.

It still had him steamed how many employees had felt it was all right to take advantage of a grieving young man, someone who was giving them a living wage. When he’d taken a cursory peek at payroll so he could cut a check for Dirk, he’d noted how generous Oliver had been with the wages he gave. Sawyer also determined that the club needed to implement direct deposit as soon as possible. He’d been surprised to discover they still only used checks.

Sawyer ran a hand across the top of his head then washed up in the utility sink. He’d done what could be done for now. It was almost nine-thirty, and poor Noah had to be dead on his feet.

As he made his way through the club to the office, he mused how the job ahead was so much more involved than he’d anticipated from Noah’s call. A couple weeks of consulting—a month at the most—and he’d figure he’d have Noah set up nicely. He glanced at a neon light that was half burnt out.

Yeah. He wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

Sawyer tapped a few times on the closed office door with his knuckles and waited.

“Come in!” Noah called out.

Sawyer stepped inside, noting that Noah was slumped in his chair behind the desk, the picture of exhaustion. Sawyer sat down across from him, angling the chair to the side so he could stretch out his legs.

“Why aren’t you resting on the sofa?” Sawyer raised his eyebrows in emphasis.

Noah bit his lip. “I tried. But I couldn’t lie still. I felt guilty that you were out there still working, and I was back here slacking off. I thought I’d make a list of the employees’ schedules and rate them from one to five, like you were saying earlier.”

Sawyer let out an aggravated sigh. “Noah, have you put me in charge of everything for now?”

Noah squirmed in his seat. “Well, yeah.”

“Then it’s not your job to worry about anything. If I ask you to lie down and rest, there’s a reason behind my request.A spankable offense, if you were my boy. And the idea that you’re slacking off, is frankly, laughable. You’ve been overdoing it for way too long.” Sawyer shook his head. “My Everest trip was bad timing in so many ways.”

Noah’s eyes widened. “Don’t say that, I feel bad. I remember you telling Dad how excited you were about finally getting to go. And isn’t there only like a three-week window a year to try and summit?”

Sawyer smiled. Noah was so cute, so caring. The thought left him angry at Noah’s rotten staff all over again.

“There’s nothing at all to feel bad about. I said that more as a general commentary. I regret not seeing Oliver again, or being here to say goodbye.” Sawyer swallowed past the emotion clogging his throat. “And I hate that you’ve been struggling with this burden for so long.” He sucked in a deep breath. “But enough of that. We’re getting it handled, right?”