8. Samuel #2
“I appreciate your honesty. However, I must inform you that you can’t simply come and go as you please.
This is a real job. There are rules. For everyone .
” His gaze flicked to the others. “And that includes all four of you. As pleasantly surprised as I am by how you worked together, I can’t just let it slide that you tried to hide this from me. ”
Gordy stepped forward. “Dad, we didn’t?—”
“I’m not done talking,” Mr. Farley cut him off, sharp enough to make Gordy retreat a step.
“If it weren’t for the fact that, even though the team was shorthanded, you still over-achieved our numbers while I was gone, I’d be a lot madder,” he jabbed a finger at Grace and Gordy.
“You two are lucky you’re family, and I don’t have anyone else to take over the farm when I retire. ”
He turned to Benji. “You are lucky that, despite all the trouble you caused in the past, you’re a good worker.
As nice as it was of you to cover for Sam by agreeing to that stupid idea of fulfilling his quota as well, it was reckless.
You don’t have to do your job fast. You have to do it right.
The faster you work, the more likely you are to damage the fruit.
So I hope that I don’t find a single orange in a shape it shouldn’t be in. ”
Finally, his eyes settled on me. “As for you, Mr. Cauley...” His voice dropped.
“I have no real reason not to fire you, except for the fact that right now, I need every hand out there I can get. I’ve heard that you’re a quick learner and, surprisingly, not afraid of physical work, which, frankly, I doubted when I hired you.
But you’re still slower than everyone else.
And with the season nearly over, why should I invest any more time and money in you if I know now that you plan on leaving for college as soon as possible? ”
I pressed my hands to my hips to stop my legs from shaking. The lie might have gotten everyone else off the hook, but it drove me deeper into my own grave.
“No.” Benji’s voice cut through the air like it wanted to shield me. “You can’t fire him.”
“That’s not for you to decide,” Mr. Farley replied, not taking his eyes off me.
“He only tried to do the right thing,” Benji said, his hands locking into fists.
“And I mean that in every way. If he has the chance to go to college, that’s his right.
But he still shows up. How many have quit after half a day?
He does his best. He’s loyal. And you want to fire him? That’s straight-up bullshit.”
“Don’t make me reconsider my decision about you, Mr. Putnam.”
“It’s still not right .” Benji's voice rose, his fists trembling, his neck so tense his face reddened.
Gordy stepped between them. “Benji, calm down.”
“I can’t. This is. Not. Right .”
Gordy raised his arms, pressing his palms on Benji’s chest, bracing to push him back so this wouldn’t end in a brawl. But Benji didn’t move. He stood there, breathing heavily, his whole body taut, like it took him everything he had to contain the storm raging inside him.
“As much as I don’t like his tone,” Grace stepped in, her eyes sharp on her father, “I agree with him. If you fire Sam, you might as well fire me. I told Sam that it was better to come in later. He didn’t force that decision upon me.
On the contrary, he asked if it was okay to come in, and I told him to rest first. I agree that this shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
But... everyone makes mistakes. I know he’ll learn from this—and I know he’ll work even harder to make up for it. ”
I couldn’t believe how the others took my side. At first, I wanted to cry because of Mr. Farley’s words, but now, it was because of them. Even if it was built on a shared lie, it still meant something.
“I need everyone to calm down,” Mr. Farley said, stern enough to make an army halt.
“I never intended to fire Sam. Period. But I need all of you to understand that a situation like this can never happen again.” He swept his gaze over me.
“Coming to work five hours late?” He looked at Grace.
“Not logging it? What for? This is a business. We don’t pay people for hours they didn’t work.
And before any of you say anything, this mistake is not on Sam, it’s on you.
” He pointed at Grace and then at Gordy.
“I believe your stories because they match. However, all of this is strangely odd. There was no reason to hide this from me, and that’s why I needed to talk about it.
If something like this happens again, there will be consequences. Are we clear about that?”
The words echoed in the silent room until we all mumbled a breathless, “yes.”
“Good,” he said, his chest falling and rising as though this had taken a toll on him, too.
“As much as I appreciate your loyalty to each other, I need to be able to trust each of you individually as well. Believe me, that will take time and effort to rebuild. And when I say all of you, I mean all of you, blood-related or not.” He took a deep breath and then stepped back toward the computer.
“Mr. Cauley and Mr. Putnam, I’ll see you both tomorrow morning. You’re dismissed.”
I looked at Benji and found him already looking at me.
There was no bruise from this conversation on his skin, but it was in his eyes.
He didn’t even need to say anything. I could see it.
He blamed himself for all of this, as if he had lost his necklace on purpose.
But he hadn’t been the one who stayed up all night to look for it like an idiot.
If anything, this was my fault. And as soon as we were out of here, I needed to find a way to apologize to him.