Page 6 of The Honorable Texan
It was fascinating.She’d never seen anything like the tangle of spreadsheets and software that ran his empire.Even the feed was mixed by computer.
“Not that you’ll have to concern yourself with theorganic pork operation,” he added quickly.“I have three employees who do nothing except that.But these figures—” he indicated the spreadsheet “—are urgent.They have to be maintained on a daily basis.”
“All of them?”she exclaimed, seeing hours and hours of overtime in statistics before her.
“Not by hand,” he replied.“All the cowboys are computer literate, even the old-timers.They feed the information into handheld computers and send it to the mainframe by internal modem, right from the pastures,” he told her.
She just shook her head.“It’s incredible,” she replied.“I hope I’m smart enough to learn all this, Mr.Wright.”
He smiled approvingly.“There’s nothing I appreciate more than modesty, Miss Hardy,” he replied.“You’ll do fine.Ready to get started?”
“Yes, sir!”she replied.
* * *
It was ashort day, mainly because she was so busy trying to learn the basics of Duke Wright’s agricultural programs.She liked him.He might have a bad reputation, and she knew he could be hard to get along with, but he had saving graces.
She managed not to think about Mr.Kemp all afternoon, until she got home.
Her mother smiled at her from the sofa, where she was watching her daily soap operas.“Well, how did it go?”she asked.
“I like it!”Violet told her with a big smile.“I really do.I think I’m going to work out just fine.And, besides that, I’m going to be making a lot more money.Mama, we might even be able to afford a dishwasher!”
Mrs.Hardy sighed.“That would be lovely, wouldn’t it?”
Violet kicked off her shoes and sat down in the recliner next to the sofa.“I’m so tired!I’m just going to rest for a minute and then I’ll see about supper.”
“We could have chili and hot dogs.”
Violet chuckled.“We could have a nice salad and bread sticks,” she said, thinking of the calories.
“Whatever you like, dear.Oh, by the way, Mr.Kemp came by a few minutes ago.”
Violet’s world came crashing down around her ears.She’d hoped to not even hear his name, at least for another few days.
“What did he want?”she asked her mother.
The older woman picked up a white envelope.“To give you this.”She handed it to Violet, who sat staring at it.
“Well,” she murmured.“I guess it’s my final pay.”
Mrs.Hardy muted the television set.“Why not open it and see?”
Violet didn’t want to, but her mother looked expectant.She tore open the envelope and extracted a check and a letter.With her breath in her throat, she slowly unfolded it.
“What does it say?”her mother prompted.
Violet just stared at it, unbelieving.
“Violet, what is it?”
Violet drew in a breath.“It’s a letter of recommendation,” she said huskily.
CHAPTER TWO
“I can’t believehe actually gave me one,” Violet said huskily, her heart racing from just the thought that he’d backed down that far.“I didn’t ask for it.”
“He told me that,” her mother replied.“He said that he felt really bad about the way you left, Violet, and that he hoped you’d be happy in your new job.”
