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Truck takes my chin and turns my face to look at him. “I’ll deal with this, Rory. Come on, let’s get you looked at as an ‘in case’ and then I’ll take you home.”

It takes an hour for Scalpel to give me the all clear although he gave me some cooling cream to take any heat out of the areas the curry had hit me. I was caught by Coin as I was about to leave, and he asked if he could visit me tomorrow. After I agreed, I asked where Shelby was, and Coin told me she had left while I was being seen by Scalpel.

“What is happening with that woman?” I ask.

Coin laughs, “Oh, she’s being punished all right. She’s lost the small amount she gets each month and told she’ll have to do more than she has been doing. They are on Pres’ bad side anyway, so this hasn’t helped their case. I don’t think it will be long before they are all told to leave.”

I leave with Truck following me home on his bike. I’m astonished that this has happened tonight. How the heck these women think they can carry on as that one had I don’t know. By rights, I could have her charged with assault.

Truck stays a while mainly to make sure I’m okay before he kisses me and leaves. But I can see he’s not happy with what occurred tonight.

Chapter 21

TRUCK

It’s Monday morning, and I was able to dodge Xero and Collins who did their best to corner me about church yesterday. I just told them it was under review, and I admit it was hard not to laugh as I was dodging all their questions.

“Let’s check everywhere and make sure we are ready for tomorrow’s opening,” I comment to Rum who for some reason is following me around.

“Everything is ready, Truck. Stop worrying so much. All we have to do is open the door in the morning. I’m interested to see how much gas we sell in the first week. If we can get a steady stream of customers on a regular basis, it will give us an idea of how often we have to fill up the underground tank,” Rum says, and I can see he is already calculating what he needs to do.

“That is the type of thing we’ll only know as time goes along. I don’t think we’ll run short of gas at any time, Rum,” I smirk as I reply. “The stockroom has plenty in it, Rum. We can’t get more in there if we want to move around. I don’t see the store part of the gas station being that busy.”

“You’d be surprised, and if we keep our profit margin low enough, we’ll have people coming to get gas and do a fair amount of shopping,” Rum is calculating again. If he keeps this up and makes the station a good profit, I’ll see about giving him a salary increase.

I’m not sure if Rum reads my mind, but he states clearly. “No, I don’t want or need a salary increase. I don’t need the money sitting in a bank account doing nothing. I’ve nobody to leave it to, and I need nothing apart from what I have. My house has no mortgage. It isn’t in need of repairs. I had it modernized only two years ago, and I did that because I was bored. No need to give me a larger salary, I’m enjoying doing what I am doing, and I am enjoying the challenge of finding us the best ways to buy stock, and how much to sell for with a profit margin that is worth having but keeps customers coming back because we are not ripping them off.”

I’m not sure what to say to all that, so I keep my mouth closed, slap him on the shoulder and walk away. I need to check that the bunting is all tied tightly and the electronic billboard is ready. We decided on that, rather than one we’d have to keep printing posters for. We can give promotional information to encourage people to come into the station, like gas price drops.

Collins walks over to where I’m checking the gas pumps. “Everything is ready, Truck. We’ve checked everything twice this morning already. Mitchell is doing this week of late shifts. He’s got his pump-action shotgun ready under the counter, and you can bet he’ll be carrying other weapons. Let some little punk try coming in and robbing him. I’m pleased we are having 24/7 cameras running then if anything kicks off, I can get the popcorn and watch it.”

“I’ll get the beer, you get the popcorn,” I reply with amusement.

“How did your date night go?” Collins asks.

I look at him carefully to see if he’s taking the piss before I reply. “It went well. We had a steak, got to know each other, and I’m going to push to see her far more often.”

“From the little time she was here I liked her. She’s down to earth and has a good sense of humor. She’s a good one and I hope it works out for you, Truck.”

Again, I can see he is being genuine and reply with an honest response, “She is, and I hope this works out. I’m ready to settle down with a woman I can love, trust, and build a life with. I would like to have kids, but even one would be great. We could all practice with babies if fuckin’ Tracker would step aside for more than a minute.”

Collins laughs. “I’ve heard all about Pres and the baby, Ayla. Finger was in the diner last week complaining about not seeing enough of his daughter.”

“Did you hear that Ayla can see Bono?” I chuckle as I ask.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Cilla can speak to the dead. Bono, Tank, and Pyro all talk to her on a regular basis. Tracker is fascinated with it, but when Ayla started to speak her first word wasn’t mom or dad. It was Ono. That fucked off Pres because he’d been saying Tracker to her from day one.”

We shot the breeze for a few minutes before we both headed inside and checked the store area. We know it is all good to go, but my nerves for the opening have me checking and checking again.

Walking into the diner, I give Rory a huge smile, which I’m happy to say gets me one in return. I take a seat near the counter, but with my back to the wall. I can watch the diner as I eat, and I’m not going to admit it's more so I can watch Rory, then for any danger that may occur.

Shelby smirks as she passes the table, but I ignore her. When the diner door opens and Rum steps inside, I give a small wave to get his attention.

“I didn’t know you were eating here tonight, Truck,” Rum says as he takes the seat opposite mine.

“I wasn’t sure myself, Rum. I fancied a chicken pot pie.”