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“brEAD OF DECEIT IS SWEET TO A MAN; BUT AFTERWARDS HIS MOUTH SHALL BE FILLED WITH GRAVEL.” —PROVERBS 20:17

T he meeting began at 9:15 sharp. Sydney and Buck Gibson sat in the vinyl guest chairs opposite Sean’s desk, and a folding chair was brought in for Larry Welton, the shift supervisor. Sean was the picture of a hard-nosed general manager with his stony expression and hard jaw. He eyed his three subordinates. “You wanna tell me how this happened?”

Sean fixed his eyes on Larry Welton, who scooted forward in his seat. He was a frail man with red hair and a long nose that was dotted with freckles. His thin white shirt emphasized his sunken chest. “Well, um, Crandell was stacking lumber in the kiln.” His eyes darted around the room then down at the floor before continuing. “Um, we didn’t realize Crandall was in there. He was still in the back when we shut the door.”

Sean shook his head and his mouth twisted like he’d bitten into something rotten.

“He must’ve been in there for a while. One of the men happened to walk by and heard ’im hollerin’. It was terrible. Crandall in there hollerin’ and beatin’ and I’ll be doggone if the door didn’t jam. We turned off the heat switch and Mike Sutherland ran and grabbed a crowbar. We wedged it underneath and started working it up. We finally got the door open. It were a good thing too. If Crandall’d been in there much longer, he might not’ve made it.” Larry seemed relieved that his narrative was over with. He slid back in his chair and waited for Sean to speak.

“Why wasn’t the escape door working?” Sean looked at Buck first and then his eyes settled on Sydney. “This is why we hired you—to prevent accidents like this.”

She looked at Buck and waited for him to explain. She tried to make eye contact with him, but he wouldn’t look at her. “On my first inspection with Buck, I noticed the broken handle and the lumber stacked behind the door. I mentioned these problems to Buck, and he assured me that he would take care of them.”

Sean looked at Buck. “Is this true?”

Buck shifted in his seat, and his mustache twitched. “I don’t remember discussin’ no escape door with Miss Lassiter.”

Sydney’s eyes grew wide and she flinched like someone had doused her with a bucket of ice water. “What?”

Buck didn’t look at her. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on Sean.

Sydney continued speaking. “You and I discussed the escape door. You asked me not to write it up because of the flack you would get from Sean. I agreed to leave that out of the report as long as you took care of the problem.”

Sean looked back and forth between Sydney and Buck. “So let me get this straight. You noticed that there were problems with the escape door, but you didn’t put it in your report?”

Sydney’s chest felt like lead. “I trusted Buck to take care of it. I assumed that he would.” The words trailed off.

Sean leveled a stare at Buck. “Is this true?”

Buck’s eyes shifted toward Sydney and then away. “No boss, it ain’t true.”

Sydney turned crimson.

“I remember that Miss Lassiter and I talked about the fall protection, but I don’t remember talking about no escape door.”

Sydney’s eyes could have burnt right through the snake in the grass. Liar! she wanted to scream.

Sean looked at Sydney. “So it’s his word against yours. Is that it?”

It was all she could do to keep from ripping Buck’s head off. “It seems to be the case.”

“I’m going to have to document this,” Sean said. “Lucky for us Crandall wasn’t seriously injured. If he’d been hurt badly—or worse, killed, OSHA would’ve shut us down.”

“How nice of Crandall to be so accommodating,” Sydney said.

Sean didn’t flinch. “Larry, thanks for coming in. That’s all.”

Larry stood and scampered out the door.

Sean looked at Sydney. “When OSHA does a follow-up inspection, we’ve got to be ready.”

She lifted her chin and her eyes met his. “Oh, we will be.”

“I trust that from now on any safety violations that you find will be written in a report.”

Sydney raised an eyebrow and looked at Buck. The coward. He still wouldn’t look her in the eye. “You can count on it.” She stood to leave.

A knock at the door caught their attention. Barb entered holding a large bouquet of red roses. She cleared her throat. “These are for Miss Lassiter.”

All eyes went to Sydney. Her face burned. She glared at Barb. “You should’ve put them on my desk.” Sydney reached for the bouquet.

“Uh-uh, not so fast.” Barb lifted the card and read it aloud. “‘Please forgive me. Kendall.’ How sweet.”

Sydney snatched the flowers and card from Barb, who then turned and left. Sydney glowered around the room. Her gaze stopped at Sean. His eyes met hers and he motioned at the card she was holding.

“Lover boy has impeccable timing.”

Sydney jutted out her chin. Her humiliation was complete, but she’d be darned if she let Sean O’Connor know it. “If you’ll excuse me …”

Sean nodded.

Sean stood and closed the door. He looked at Buck. “You wanna tell me what that was all about?”

Buck sat up taller in his seat and pulled his pants over his belly. “You ought to be thankin’ me, boss.” He stuck out his thumb and thrust it toward the door. “A couple more incidents like this and Miss Lassiter’ll be out of here.”

“Are you admitting that you sat here and told a bold-face lie?”

Buck shifted in his seat like a caged pigeon. “I’m not admittin’ nothin’.”

“I’m gonna ask you this straight out, and I want an honest answer. Did Syd—I mean—Miss Lassiter ask you to fix the escape door?”

“Syd, huh. I see how it is.”

Sean’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

Buck leaned forward. “You’ve got a thang fer her. Ain’t no use denying it. I saw the look in your eyes when she got them flowers.”

Sean almost came off his seat. He slammed his hand on his desk. “Don’t you dare change the subject. A man was almost killed because you didn’t do your job!”

“And just when did you start caring about people dying?”

Buck leaned back in his seat and retrieved a cigarette from his shirt pocket. It was common knowledge that Sean didn’t allow smoking in his office. Buck took a long draw on his cigarette and then exhaled. “Did I ever tell you that my ol’ man used to raise hogs?” He didn’t wait for Sean to answer. “One time he brought home two of the prettiest little pigs I ever saw. My brother, Vernell, got attached to ’im. Even named ’im. Not me. I just called ’im by what they was gonna end up sausage and pork chops .” Buck laughed. “It like to of kilt Vernell when my ol’ man took his little pets to the slaughter house.”

Buck took another puff. “Miss Lassiter is a pretty little ol’ thang. That’s for sure.” He looked at Sean. “And you’re hanging onto her like a hair on a biscuit. But let’s face it. When the chips all come tumbling down—and I expect they will—in the end, she’s just a pork chop.”

The afternoon dragged by. Sydney tried to bury herself in paperwork. She was still smarting from the morning’s events. Part of the blame lay with her, she knew that. She should have never agreed to leave the escape door off her report. What was she thinking? And she should have followed up to make sure that Buck had kept his word. The truth of the matter was it had completely slipped her mind. If Crandall had died, it would have been on her head. She shuddered at the thought.

She looked at the roses. They were beautiful. She wouldn’t let Barb’s theatrics keep her from enjoying them. She rubbed her finger against one of the velvety petals. She inhaled deeply and let the sweet scent take over her senses. She frowned. Now she had to decide what to do about Kendall.

She turned her swiveled chair around and faced the window. She let herself get lost in the motion of the red birds fluttering in and out of the willow tree just outside her window. She watched a few more minutes before turning back to her desk.

“Time to face the music,” she said, using her dad’s words. She reached for her steel-toed boots that she kept stashed in the corner and then for her hard hat and clipboard. This time she was going to do an inspection on her own.

A cool breeze kissed her cheek after she finished her inspection, reminding her that fall was just around the corner. Fall was virtually nonexistent in Ft. Worth. She was looking forward to the changing leaves. She glanced up at the rolling mountain in the distance—Stella’s mountain. She felt a pang of guilt for not visiting her more often. She made a promise to visit her this week.

Her thoughts returned to the inspection. She’d found a few minor safety violations. But on the whole, the sawmill appeared to be in good order. She walked around the huge stacks of lumber and stopped in front of a pile of cedar. She loved the cedar most of all. She took a deep breath and absorbed the clean, fresh scent. It was the smell of Home Depot, magnified a hundred times. She ran her hand over the rough wood, feeling the grittiness under her smooth fingers.

Avery flashed in her mind, and she could see him propped against one of the stacks of lumber, smiling like a king overlooking his kingdom. How he’d loved this place. Without warning, hot tears welled and voices from the past rang in her mind.

“Come on, Cindy. We have to go,” Avery yelled. “Your mother will have dinner ready, and I told her we would only be gone an hour or so.”

“ Please Dad, five more minutes,” Cindy said for the umpteenth time and then dodged behind a stack of lumber.

“Sydney.”

The voice jolted her to the present. She turned and stood face to face with Sean.“What’re you doing here?”

“I saw your jeep parked up front and came looking for you.”

Sydney averted her face. Sean was the last person she wanted to see her in such an emotional state. He reached out and brushed a tear from her cheek. “Are you okay?”

His nearness was overpowering. Her heart beat bumped up a notch when she looked in his eyes. Was it genuine concern or pity she saw in them? “Yes, I’m fine.” She took a step back. “I was just doing a safety inspection.”

“Look, about this morning?—”

“You were right. I should’ve put the escape door in my report.”

“You should’ve never trusted Buck.”

She looked up at him. “You believed me?” It took a moment for the realization to sink in. “Why didn’t you take up for me? You knew Buck was lying, and you let me take the blame. Why?”

He leaned against the stack of lumber and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Regardless of what Buck did or didn’t do, you should’ve put the escape door in your report. End of story.”

“I know.”

“Look Syd, it’s just real important that you know who your friends are and who your enemies are.”

“Oh yeah, and which one are you?”

He looked intently at her.“If you don’t know the answer to that then I guess we’re both in trouble,” he said and walked away.