Page 6 of Defended by the Lumberjack (Moonshine Ridge Lumberjacks #2)

Chapter Six

July

E ddy's wife leans over her husband's shoulder and hands me a thick envelope.

"We were going to give this to you after closing tonight but since you're here now."

Pepper shrugs apologetically and I peek inside the envelope to find, not a termination notice and final paycheck, but several crisp, one hundred dollar bills.

"Clinton came up personally to make sure we weren't planning on letting you go," Eddy explains easily. "Left you a nice tip."

Nice tip is putting it mildly.

I stutter a timid thanks to Mr. Murdock but I'm not sure Eddy and Pepper's plans for my employment haven't changed now.

Deputy Hawkins scribbles some notes. Looks between us all and steps aside to make a call on his radio. The crackle of static and a dispatcher's voice addresses him by his first name, asking him what he needs.

"Can you send Tompkins up to the Ridge, Bette? I'm gonna need transport."

We all heard him. Even though he stepped across the room to make the call. Someone isn't driving themselves off the mountain tonight. My hand squeezes Levi's.

"Okay, so, that explains some things. Miss? What exactly happened between you and Mr. Pendergrast?"

All eyes land on me. My employers' filled with curiosity, Levi's soft and reassuring, Robert Pendergrast's narrowed and warning.

"Um...last night, I had a customer at a table that sent back every dish I sent out to their party.

Word got back to me before the end of the night that he'd put in a complaint about me to the Joneses.

I'm only head chef on a trial basis after we lost our full time lead so I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be employed here much longer. "

Eddy looks back over his shoulder at his wife, an unspoken question on his face. Pepper shakes her head slightly.

"We never received a complaint about Ms. West. For the record." Eddy looks at me, but addresses Hawkins' scribbling hand.

"I had every intention of expressing my dissatisfaction before we left." Pendergrast says. "I mean, look at her, she's barely old enough to be out of school. No wonder she's willing to make passes at customers in exchange for a good review."

"I did not !"

The deputy's hand pats me lightly on the shoulder as tears spring to my eyes.

I can't believe I have to sit here and defend myself against this creeper's gross accusations.

Levi edges forward on the seat, ready to beat the truth out of the lying scumbag on my behalf, but his boss level's a stern look at him that seems to remind him this isn't the place or time.

My hand reaches for Levi's knee and he settles back into the couch beside me, wrapping me protectively under one arm.

"I asked Miss West for her account, sir. Please wait your turn." Hawkins tells Pendergrast in a tone that probably sounds professional to anyone who's never met the deputy.

From the stifled amusement on my bosses' faces, I'm not the only one who recognizes the undercurrent of sarcasm.

"She didn't, Hawk! I can vouch for the girl."

We all look up to look at the new voice joining the conversation and see a gray-haired woman decked out in state-of-the-art snowboarding gear, pulling off gloves as she hustles toward us.

Levi

" W hat are you doing here, Marianne?"

Our local sheriff's deputy's voice is tight as he addresses the woman he obviously already knows.

"Pft, four feet of fresh powder, you think I was going to leave town without getting on that?" Marianne invites herself into our tense group, standing beside me at the end of the sofa where July sits between me and Deputy Hawkins.

"Eddy Jones, I'm ashamed of you! You shouldn't be putting this poor girl through this bullshit, you know damn good and well this asshole's a lying sack of shit. I don't care how deep his pockets are. It's not like your people are hurting for money, now, is it?"

Hawk seems to be the only one who knows this woman and he's not making introductions, leaving the rest of us to stare at her while she issues her scathing report.

Not that she's wrong. Everyone knows the Jones family is one of the four founding names behind Moonshine Ridge, going all the way back to an ancestor who struck gold up on the river in the eighteen sixties, leaving a lot of wealth and some serious land to trickle down to the current generation of the family.

In fact, the Murdocks bought their timber rights directly from Anders Jones after his business partnership with Brodie McAllister went south. Small town history, man. You can't live on the Ridge and not hear it.

"Go watch your security footage. Them cameras you have all around this place aren't just for show, are they?"

Pendergrast stares hatefully at our intruder.

Jig's up.

"Saw him skulking around the hallway earlier. Didn't think much of it at the time, but I heard him talking to her in the supply room, saying he was willing to save her job for her if she did him a favor."

Marianne looks to be in her early seventies, with steel gray hair pulled back in a sporty pony tail and an athletic build that suggests she's not letting age take her out easy.

When she says "did him a favor," she adds the air quotes with a look of pure disgust aimed right at the man being quoted.

Eddy and Hawkins head into the office to watch aforementioned security footage.

Pendergrast's wife and kids come in from the slopes to find him sitting with a bunch of strangers and Pepper and I both let the man face the music, explaining the accusations he's facing to a woman who's apparently unsurprised by her husband's behavior.

"You promised you were done. This was supposed to be about reconciling, Robert. This is the last straw, it's over."

Pepper, Clinton, July, and I all exchange silent glances at the easily overheard exchange taking place a few feet away.

The squawk of a police radio enters the lobby and a second deputy follows the desk clerk's point toward our solemn little party.

"Hawk called for transport?"

Pepper jumps up and takes the deputy that came up from the valley into the office. Leaving me alone with July and a man who's been glaring daggers at me since he walked into the lobby to find me dragging one of the resort guests out the door.

Clinton's eyes soften for July though. He puts out his hand toward her.

"You must be the lady that has Levi ready to face down an army in defense of your honor."

July giggles softly and leaves the crook under my arm to lean forward and shake my boss's hand.

My gut tightens though.

The Murdocks are known to be pretty fucking precious about their reputation-- both for their ethical logging practices, and for the men and women they employ.

There's a damn good chance that by making such a public scene up here today, I might have saved July's job but at the cost of my own.

Clinton nods in silent thought as he releases July's hand and straightens back in his seat.

Raised voices sound from the direction of the office. Clinton eventually stands.

"Sorry miss, I just need to borrow Levi for a minute."

July's eyes fill with worry but I give her a quick shake of my head and a soft kiss to her lips.

Even if Clinton is about to tell me I'm unemployed, I don't give a fuck. I'll go flip burgers at Cedar McAllister's tavern restaurant, or work the late shift at the gas station market to keep July's dream safe and stay on the Ridge with her.

"I take it you're pretty serious about this girl?" Clinton puts his hand on my shoulder and leads me to an empty corner of the lobby, lowering his voice to private conversation levels.

"Yes sir. Very much so."

"Just met her though, didn't you?"

I glance back at July and see her sitting alone where we left her, nervously tapping her knee and looking between the office door and me. My heart swells up with an emotion that threatens to drown me in it.

"Yes sir," I confirm to the boss. "But I'm serious about her. July's going to be moving down to my place soon and I plan on putting my ring on her finger as soon as she'll let me."

I pull myself to my full six, five, which puts me eye level with old man Murdock's forehead. He can say whatever he wants about me but when it comes to my girl, he needs to tread lightly.

Clinton watches my posture and gives me a look like he just doesn't get it.

"Never put much stock into love at first sight, myself." He mutters more to himself than to me. "But I admire the integrity it takes for a man to stand up for what's right. Even when the consequences could bite him in the ass."

Clinton's eyes move to the open office door where my fate is being decided.

If there's no camera in the storage room, if the cameras don't record audio-- footage could work in Pendergrast's favor. It could look like a simple case of a guest following an employee into a room off record.

He could stick to his claim that July propositioned him, or he could claim he was just asking a question.

But there's no doubt the cameras caught me roughing him up as I dragged his sorry ass through the building.

The video will just show a jealous boyfriend coming unhinged on an innocent man with no record of what triggered it.

Voices rise again inside the office, growing louder as the group emerges.

Deputy Tompkins has his handcuffs dangling from his hands, his eyes scanning the room when he sees that I'm not where they left me.

I still don't know who's getting the ride down to the Slow River station.