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Leo poked his head out of the house again, and this time he didn’t go right back inside. He was watching and listening, unable to leave them to themselves but also afraid of the high level of emotion.
Hendrix wondered if Lynn was aware of how the confrontation between them was affecting her tenderhearted son. She was usually more attuned to Leo’s wants and needs, but at the moment, she was too angry to rein herself in. Hendrix wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her quitethisupset. And Stuart wasn’t going to help. His truck wasn’t in the drive, anyway. If Hendrix knew his uncle, he’d taken off at the first sign of trouble. “I didn’t see it as a personal betrayal,” he explained, trying to keep his own voice calm so he wouldn’t escalate the situation. “And since we didn’t get the job in the first place, there was no loss to the business.”
“It probably would’ve come to us if you hadn’t helped her!”
“But it was only because I interfered that she lost her driller!”
“Stuart said you offered Ben a job. Big deal. We need a driller, too, and we have every right to hire anyone we wish, even someone from another outfit. That’s called competition. How’s that any different than what she’s doing to us by underbidding our jobs?”
She was the underdog! Couldn’t Lynn see that? Didn’t she care? Would she stop atnothingto destroy Ellen? “I just thought it was the right thing to do,” he said again. “Obviously, you don’t agree with me. But I already said I’ll pay the business whatever we would’ve earned.”
He thought this should disarm her. They didn’t pay him a huge amount. Most of the value of what he’d done remained in the business he was supposed to buy out at a significant discount the day Stuart retired—or inherit along with Lynn and Leo if something happened to Stuart before that point. It’d been Stuart’s business long before Hendrix had come along, and Stuart had trained him, then paid him for his help. Hendrix felt their arrangement was fair if not overly generous. It didn’t leave him with a lot of extra cash right now, though, and Lynn had to realize that. She could take however much she felt he’d cost the business over time.
Giving him a dirty look, she folded her arms. “What about the hours you spent doing it? It must’ve taken several days—days when we thought you were onourjobs.”
“It took two days, and I didsomestuff for us during that time. I’ll get everything done that needs to be done, so there’ll be no damage to Fetterman Well Services.”
“Hi, Hendrix,” Leo called, but his voice was high-pitched and worried. “I’m right here. It’s Leo.”
Hendrix waved, but Lynn didn’t even turn around. She acted as though she hadn’t heard her son.
“I’m afraid that’s not good enough,” she said. “If you don’t care about us and you’re not grateful for all we’ve done for you, you can just find work elsewhere.”
Hendrix reared back. “What are you saying?”
Tears welled up in her eyes, but she remained stoic. “You know what I’m saying.”
“You’re firing me? What about Stuart?”
“He won’t stand for this, either.”
“You’ve asked him?”
“I don’t have to, because Iknowhim.”
So did Hendrix, and he was afraid she was right.
“I don’t want to see you ever again,” she snapped and turned to go back in the house.
Hendrix had expected his aunt to be angry, and he knew she lost her filter when she was angry. But in typical Lynn fashion, she’d gone too far. And he was tired of putting up with her behavior. He’d worked hard, done what he could for them, too—because hewasgrateful they’d given him a home. For one thing, raising Leo would’ve been much harder without him. Growing the business in the early years, when they didn’t actually pay him, would’ve been much more difficult, too.
“You know what?” he yelled after her. “I’m surprised you took me in. I’m surprised you cared enough about my mother to do it, since you don’t really care about anyone other than yourself.” He started to go but slammed on his brakes before she could finish escaping into the house. “And, while we’re being so honest, what you’ve done to Ellen isunconscionable. How could you reject a ten-year-old child who needed you so badly? Cut her off from her own father and leave her to flounder with a mother like Jan?”
Lynn never backed down from a fight. Whipping around, she started screaming at him. “She was a little monster! A nightmare child! You have no idea—”
He wasn’t going to listen. He continued to speak right over her. “She was a child, for God’s sake! You could’ve stepped in and helped her. But you chose not to. You were too threatened by her—too worried about having to share the smallest sliver of your husband’s heart.”
She came rushing toward him again. She was pointing and screaming about what an ungrateful bastard he was, but he refused to hear any more. Stomping on the gas pedal, he peeled out of the drive, but his window was still down, so he could hear Leo calling after him before he could even reach the road.
“No! Mom, why did you do that? Don’t go, Hendrix! I love you!”
He made the turn, anyway. He couldn’t stay any longer. But a glance in the rearview mirror showed Leo barreling out of the house, running past his mother, who wasn’t strong enough to stop him, and charging after Hendrix’s truck.
“Hendrix!” Leo called again, sobbing uncontrollably. “Don’t leave me. I’m sorry! Do you hear me? I’m sorry! Please, come back.”
Hendrix slammed on his brakes. He couldn’t leave Leo like that. He’d never seen him so upset. But Lynn was rushing up to her son and pulling on his arm, insisting he go back to the house, and Hendrix knew he had no choice. Going back would only make matters worse for Leo, because Lynn would just keep the fight going.
He kept one eye on the rearview mirror as he pressed the gas pedal again and traveled more slowly while watching Leo have a complete meltdown in the middle of the road.
