Page 63 of Truck

Walking away, I hear him mutter, “Not another fucking name before she says, Dada!” Cilla and I burst into fits of laughter, but Finger is not finding it amusing.

Sitting in the office with Coin, I look at the monitor and follow the information Coin is pointing out. “Can you send me a guest login to the dumpster business account? I’ll work on it at home and make sure you are utilizing the business as best as you can. Sometimes it is a case of you cannot improve what you are doing already, and if that is the case I will tell you that.”

“Let me make that login now, and you can work on it in your own time. I’ll make sure you get paid...”

I interrupt Coin, “I don’t want paid, Coin. I’m doing it because I want to help. You have all been so welcoming to me, and I didn’t realize I needed it. I’m more than happy as Truck’s Old Lady to do what I can for the club.”

“We are happy to pay you, Rory,” Coin starts again.

“No, I’m doing it for you all without payment, or I won’t do it at all.” I make sure I’m firm enough in my statement that he knows I’m not going to bend.

“Okay, okay, thank you, Rory.”

After getting the login, I grab Grady who needs to be dropped at the diner when I go to work. Jill has a movie night planned with him, and I know it’s something they are both looking forward to doing.

Three hours later, I’m at the diner and serving meals to our regular early evening customers. I enjoy working here and having the opportunity to get to know people. I did like my financial manager position, but it didn’t give me many chances to get acquainted with anyone. It was always about money, how to cope with money, and how to save money. Now I talk about gardens, children, groceries, neighbors, and any other subject that is thrown my way. I just love it.

Rum walks into the diner and takes his usual seat. I give him a nod to let him know I’ll be taking his coffee and a jug of water to his table.

“Here you are, Rum. Have you had a good day?” I ask as I place his drinks on the table.

Rum takes his coffee and quickly sips, “I need this tonight. It’s been very busy, but we are running smoothly now. The starting hiccups I think are done with.”

“That’s good to hear. Truck is enjoying the job, but he leans on you to keep the place right. He said you can’t retire because he’d be lost without you,” I giggle, and when Rum rolls his eyes, it has me outright laughing.

“If you get a few minutes one morning would you pop over to the gas station and check if I have the gas station business all set up correctly? I think I have, and I don’t reckon I can make any savings on anything, but if you would set eyes on it for me, I would appreciate it.”

I squeeze Rum’s shoulder, “Of course, I’ll get over one morning this week, but from what Truck has told me you have everything as it should be. It’s a good thing you don’t have a lot of employees you have to do payroll for. I’ll look, but I don’t think I’ll find anything.”

“Thank you, Rory. Now, can I have the pulled pork with broccoli? Oh, with a side of mac and cheese, please.”

“You sure can, Rum. I won’t be long fetching that for you.”

Once I’ve given Rum his meal the diner bursts with customers wanting their evening meal. I don’t get a break, and the time to go home arrives before I know it. Fallon worked just as hard as I did, and we work well alongside each other. But you know, there is nothing better than time to go home.

Chapter 33

RORY

Sitting in the office of the gas station, I am listening to Rum walk me through the setup and the system he has in place. “The setup looks fine to me, Rum. I like the way you have projected the profit from the business after paying everyone’s wages, invoices, and leaving a healthy petty cash.”

“Do you think I have left anything to risk?” Rum is rubbing his bottom lip with his thumb as he stares at the monitor.

“You have all the monthly financials covered. You’ve budgeted all expenses, and your cash flow figures look perfectly fine. I can see you are ensuring GAAP compliance, perfectly transparent, and will not leave any room for something to bite you on the ass. I think the billboard will bring in an easy portion of profit, and the idea of the pit stop is fantastic. If you can correctly estimate the salary for a cleaner alongside maintenance costs, then you’ll be able to charge the correct fee for the tokens.” I lean forward and double-check a row of outgoings and see nothing that needs altering. “You have it all set up fine, Rum. You have no reason to worry. But if you ever need me to take another look, just shout out and I’ll come.”

“Thank you, Rory. I had Coin look it over too, and he has said the same as you have so I’ll continue as I am. Truck is learning everything too, so if I’m ever ill, or something happens to me then he’ll be fine with the system.”

“Don’t say that, Rum. You are not that old, or on your last legs. You could outlive the rest of us.” I grip his shoulder and squeeze as I stand. “I’m going home now because I’ve some things to look at for Coin.”

“Okay, thank you again, Rory.”

I bump into Truck on my way back to my car and I’m sure it wasn’t accidental, on his part, anyway. “I’m going home now to look at the dumpster business for Coin. I’ll probably be at home for the rest of the day. Grady is having a day with his friend, so I’m going to get this done as quickly as I can. Oh, you need to see Grady on the ice. Truck, he’s an ice hockey star in the making. That’s if he wants to do that, of course. But he is better on the ice than most people I’ve seen.”

“We’ll have to take him together so I can watch him skate. If he is that talently inclined, we can encourage him. I’m a big believer in following your dreams, and if that is his dream we can do our best to make it a reality,” Truck replies before stepping into me and lining my back up against the wall. He wastes no time in kissing me senseless, then chuckles as he guides me to my car and makes sure I’m safely inside, seat belt on, and ready to go. “See you later, babe.”

“Yeah, see you later, Truck,” I reply as I start up my car and drive out of the gas station.

Once home, I quickly settled down to evaluate the roll off/dumpster business. Ninety minutes later I rub the back of my neck, which has tension building with me sitting over my laptop for so long. I tend not to move my head much when I’m deep in the figures, and it causes a tightness in my neck and shoulders. I step away from the table and grab a cold drink from the fridge. I’m impressed that Keys, who sets up the businesses, does it so well, as does Coin, who organizes the financials. Between them, they leave nothing to chance and they file on time, with no problems arising over the time the businesses have been in operation. As far as I can see I don’t need to do anything for them.