Page 22 of Echoes of Eternity
Motioning with a hand toward the door, Steven shook his head. “I can’t find good help!”
“Come on, man. This isn’t the first incident. The last week or two, you’ve started coming into work late, leaving early, and you’re short with the staff. Something changed in the last two weeks.”
Deflated, Steven dropped his arms to his side and shook his head as he stared at the cement floor. “Is it that easy to see?”
“It is.”
He let out a sigh and turned as he raked a hand through his hair. “Marissa left me, man. I have been trying to keep everything together, but I have to get the kids to school and pick them up. There’s just so much involved in running a house without her.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
Steven dropped his face into his hands. “I don’t know how to do it all, and I miss her so bad.”
“You should’ve said something. I’m sure someone at church can help with the kids.”
He shook his head as his tear-filled eyes lifted to meet Ryan. “You don’t understand that church or this town. You haven’t been here long enough. It’s not like it used to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’d eat me alive. Judgmental and unforgiving. They’d ask me what I did to make her leave. Gossip would spread like wildfire around this town.”
“Really? What about if you went to the deacons? Like Bill? I’m sure they could keep it quiet.”
“Bill’s the worst of them all. I’m sorry, but they cannot know.” Walking toward the exit, he stopped. “Thanks for the concern, though. I’ll be okay. My sister Miriam is coming to town at the end of the week to help out.”
“Go to your wife when your sister gets to town. You can’t work on your marriage while you’re apart.”
“But the grill?”
Ryan held a hand up. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be waiting here for you when you get back.”
“Okay . . .” He smiled at Ryan as he shook his head. “You’re just like your old man. One of the good ones. Thank you. I’m going to go finish closing up.”
After he left the walk-in, Ryan lifted a prayer as his heart ached in a new wave of grief. Then he prayed for Steven and exited as well. Going into the manager’s office, he sat down to go over next week’s schedule. He wanted to give Steven a few extra days off even after he arrived back from visiting Marissa. Looking for a pen, he opened the drawer. Hearing a clank at the back of the drawer, he reached in, and his fingers felt a glass bottle.
Pulling it out, he saw it was a bottle of whiskey.
Peering up at the doorway, he shook his head as he touched his forehead. Steven had been drinking at work?
Setting the bottle on the desk, he stood and called out the doorway for Steven.
Walking in, Steven’s gaze fell on the bottle of whiskey. His eyebrows shot up. “You drink now, Ryan?”
“Come on, Steven. Be honest with me.”
“I’ve never seen that in my life. I don’t even like whiskey.”
Furrowing his eyebrows, Ryan looked again at the bottle. “It’s not yours?”
“No. Your dad didn’t drink, did he?”
“Not that I know of. You can go back to what you were doing.”
After Steven left the office, Ryan went over and shut the door.
He sat down in the chair, his fingers naturally finding the chip on the wood chair. He began to pick at it as he thought.
The text message from the day of his father’s funeral surfaced in his mind. He didn’t know who sent it. Then the bank account belonging to the mysterious woman. Remembering Jason and his conversation almost a month ago, he recalled his brother’s words about it all being pointless since Dad was gone.