Page 57 of The Talk of Coyote Canyon

“Shit.” Hendrix started to slide his phone back into his pocket but pulled it back out at the last second to text Ellen.

Ben just called me. What’s going on?

I fired him.

Why? I told you I wouldn’t hire him. Was it the money?

That and more. It couldn’t be avoided.

But why not keep him on until you find someone else?

Because he’s no longer reliable.

How will you get by?

I don’t know. But you should be glad. Your buddy Jay Haslem will probably be calling to have you drill his well. I was supposed to start it today but had to pull out. Ben never came back from his trip to Utah like he said he would.

Firing her only employee—especially at this time of year—would cause a huge disruption to her business, and for how long? It might not be easy to replace Ben, especially if they were both looking to hire someone at the same time. “Damn it,” Hendrix cursed. Why’d he ever approach Ben at the bar?

The fact that he was now disappointed that he might get the Haslem well was too ironic. It wasn’t very long ago that he’d been furious about losing it. But he was suddenly rooting for Ellen’s success even if it came at his own expense.

What should he do about the problem he’d caused?

He was just pondering that question when he got a text from Lynn.

I can’t believe how you behaved last night.

Hendrix was too mad at himself to play the penitent, as she obviously expected.

I only behaved the way I did because of how you’ve behaved toward Ellen for so many years.He typed that and sent it off quickly—probably too quickly. He understood what was required of him to be able to get along with his aunt, and he had to get along with her for the sake of the business, if not for the sake of peace in general. He also owed her a great deal for taking him in. He would’ve gone into the foster care system otherwise. That gratitude had held him hostage from the beginning.

He felt a moment’s regret after it was gone, knew it would cause an even bigger problem. But he was suddenly tired of turning a blind eye to the injustice he’d witnessed where Ellen was concerned.

Why are you standing up for her all of a sudden? What’s gotten into you?

He liked Ellen, he realized. Way more than he should. But that wasn’t what he wrote.Fair is fair.

He sent that message. Then he texted Ellen again.Meet me at the Haslem property as soon as you can get there.

What for???

I’m going to help you drill Jay’s well.

Ellen wasn’t convinced she should allow Hendrix to help her. Why would he come to her rescue when he could take the job for himself? What would they do when it came to getting paid—split the money? If so, how would they figure out who would get how much?

If they used her license, insurance, equipment and supplies, she should retain more than half, but she had no idea how much Hendrix would expect. She’d have to pay him more than she’d pay Ben—that was for sure. He was worth more, and his assistance would help her out of a jam, so it made sense.

But how much would be enough? And how would he explain what he’d done and why he’d done it to Lynn and Stuart?

Why would he put himself in the position of having to explain when he could simply let her languish and step in to claim the entire job for himself? If she couldn’t find a new driller quickly enough, he might be able to take some of her other jobs, too. Surely, he could see she was vulnerable...

Although Ellen was as dubious as she could be, her curiosity and need to keep working instead of just filling time until she could hire someone to replace Ben brought her back to the Haslem property. If she started the well today as originally planned, she could finish close to when she’d promised, and it would also buy her a few days to try to replace Ben so that her future schedule wouldn’t be disrupted.

And she wouldn’t be the only beneficiary. Jay’s parents could come as scheduled, and if something did happen to go wrong in the process of finding water—always a possibility when dealing with an imperfect science—Jay couldn’t make her look bad to Hendrix because he’d see Hendrix as equally responsible. There’d be some consolation in that even if she didn’t walk away with much of the money.

A call came in from Talulah as she sat behind the wheel, waiting for Hendrix, but Ellen didn’t want to answer. She wasn’t quite ready to tell her best friend that Hendrix had offered to help her drill the Haslem well. Because she couldn’t understandwhyhe would step in on her behalf, she couldn’t completely trust that it would work out the way she hoped. Part of her still believed this had to be some sort of prank...

She’d send Talulah a message after Hendrix arrived and she knew more about what was going to happen today, she decided, ignoring the call.

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