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It didn’t matter all that much. I only wanted more of Jax, and that was what mattered.
Chapter four
Neil Deals With Staff
Istoodatthefront of the room with my arms folded over my chest and a scowl on my face. I waited. Tanner was the last to arrive, showing up five minutes late. “Now that we’re all here. I’ll make this short and sweet.” I glared at Tanner, the worst offender, but then eyed everyone else in the room. Every single one of them had called off work this week at one time or another. Some of them were also willing to come in and cover for their teammates on their days off, but most of the time, I had to cover. And I was over it. “There’s no more calling off.”
A few groans echoed around the room.
“I mean it. When you call off, I have to cover, and I still have my job to do. No one covers for that. I end up here at night until all hours. I need a break. This has to stop. Next person to call off gets fired. I mean it.” I couldn’t cover for all of them, do my job, and have time to see Jax. When the hell would I sleep?
“What?” Tanner stood with his eyes wide. “What you mean, boss?”
I lifted my hand. “Here’s how things are going to go. I’ll make the schedule for the week a day earlier, on Thursday rather than Friday. Then you’ll have more time to make changes. At the end of the day on Saturday, it’s final. Week starts Sunday, and if you miss a shift or call off during that week? Good-bye.” I gave Tanner a little wave, wondering how long the kid would make it.
Tanner sat back in his chair. “What if we get someone to cover on our own?”
I nodded. “If that someone is willing to do it, fine. But they better stick to it and not even be a minute late, or you’rebothfired. Got it?”
Tanner nodded. Looked like he swallowed hard, too. I hoped it scared him into getting his shit together.
Chad clapped Tanner on the shoulder. “Party when you’re scheduled to be off the next day, man. It’s that easy.” As the resident frat boy, he was definitely the one to give advice on partying. He went to school and picked up a few shifts on the stand during the week, but as far as I could tell, the rest of his time was partying and hanging out with his frat brothers.
“Right. Any questions?” I looked around the room. No one had anything else to say, so I let them go. I made a mental note to try and give Tanner and Chad fewer early shifts, anyway. That couldn’t hurt.
After everyone filed out, my boss, Eric Cohen, came in. He rapped on the wall next to the door. “Got a minute?”
“Yes, sir.”
Eric held up his hands, pleading. “Nosirs, please. Makes me feel old.”
“Sure.” He hadn’t been the boss for long, and I was still working out how to deal with him.
“I like how you handled this.” He tucked his fingers into the front pockets of his khakis and rocked back on his heels. He wore deck shoes and a golf shirt with an alligator logo on his chest. Like me, Eric wore his hair short, professional. Unlike mine, Eric’s brown was graying around his temples.
“You mean the calling-off issue? Something had to be done.”
“Yep. Good job. Hope it works.”
I shrugged. “If not, I’ll be letting someone go and hiring replacements. I don’t want to do that. These are good kids, and despite their absenteeism, they’re well trained.”
“Plus, hiring is expensive.”
“That, too.”
Eric smiled. “I also wanted to let you know that the girl you rescued from the rip current the other day is fine. The hospital discharged her, and she went home.”
“That’s great, thanks.” It wouldn’t have happened so easily if not for Jax, but I didn’t want to share that with Eric. An awkward tension filled the room during their silence. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”
Eric took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “There is. It’s more…uh, personal.”
“Okay?”
“I want to talk about Jax for a minute.”
“Jax? What do you know about Jax?”
Eric pursed his lips together, then took a short step back. “He’s my son. So—”
