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I was having a hard time swallowing this confession, too. Thacker and I had fought about this issue viciously, sometimes right in front of Ronnie, and she just let it happen when she knew the truth all along.
But I couldn’t forget what she said about her mom and the price of groceries. As I looked at her closely, I realized that she’d lost much more weight than I’d realized. Her chef’s coat was hanging off her frail frame.
“I didn’t know, Ronnie,” I said. She looked at me distrustingly. Almost like I was the one who had wronged her. “I didn’t. But I’m glad you told me. Don’t say anything to anyone else. Not yet, at least. I’ll see what I can do.”
I couldn’t promise her that she wouldn’t lose her job. At the end of the day, Thacker owned Speedgoat. He would make the final decision. But I could do my best to sway his judgment toward one of mercy. I made much better money than Ronnie did and I was still feeling the sting of food prices.
I couldn’t imagine what she was going through, to resort to this.
Stealing food from the restaurant where she worked was enough to get her blackballed in this industry.
But Ronnie was a good chef, and it was clear that she felt sorry for what she’d done. I was willing to forgive her and move on. I just hoped that her apology would be enough for Thacker.
87.
Thacker
I looked up at the sound of a knock at my office door and grinned when I saw Hope standing there.
“Come in,” I said. She didn’t look quite as happy to see me as I was to see her. “What’s wrong?”
She sat down heavily in the chair across from me and pinched the bridge of her nose. My heart was thumping in my throat. This woman made me feel like a teenager again, and part of that was the mood swings. My palms hadn’t been so sweaty since junior year.
“Ronnie is the one who has been taking the chicken,” she said. “She just broke down and told me everything.” At first, I was just gazing dreamily at her lips as they moved, but then the words coming out of them finally hit me and I went still, staring at her.
“Wait, what?”
“You heard me right. Her mom is sick and out of work, and Ronnie doesn’t make enough here to support them both. So she took some chicken and hoped no one would notice.”
I laughed, but there was no humor in it. It sounded more like a raspy bark. Ronnie?Ronnie?!Of all the people who worked for me, she was one of the last I would have suspected.
“Where is she?” I asked, pushing myself to my feet. A dull roar was filling my ears, and the world was tinged red. The more I thought about what she’d done, the angrier I got.
Hope held up a hand.
“Please don’t fire her, Thacker.”
“Don’tfire her?” I asked incredulously. “Of course I’m going to fire her! She stole from me!”
Hope sighed.
“Yes, and I know how that wounds a man’s pride. But have you looked at her closely? Recently?” I scoffed. What did that have to do with anything? “The girl is skin and bones. She has clearly only been taking what she needed to survive, and I’d bet my paycheck that she’s giving most of it to her mother.”
“Well, if you’d bet your paycheck why don’t you give it to Ronnie since she’s so fond of taking things that don’t belong to her? You want me to keep paying a woman who has admitted to sneaking around and taking things, hurting my business and my bottom line. This is my livelihood, Hope!”
She watched me with sad eyes. When I paused to catch my breath, she nodded.
“I know,” she said. “I know I probably sound crazy, or stupid. Maybe both.”
I didn’t comment. She didn’t sound crazy to me, just compassionate to a fault. Ronnie had confessed to criminal activity, and all Hope heard was that her mother was sick and she wasn’t making ends meet, like that justified thievery.
Doesn’t it?
I sucked in a steadying breath and fell back into my desk chair, clasping my hands tightly in my lap and fighting to keep my anger under control. It was the old morality test—would you steal bread to feed your family? I’d always thought that the only sane answer to that question wasyes. I shook my head.
“I don’t think you’re crazy or stupid,” I said. “I think you’re a wonderful person with a kind heart. But Hope…”
“I know. What she did was wrong. But she owned up to her mistake. She’s a wreck over it. Can you at leastconsiderkeeping her on a probationary basis?”
