Chapter One #2
She nodded, setting her coffee thermos down and then herself into one of the mismatched chairs at the table.
That was one of the perks of working at Turtle Grove.
They allowed staff to eat lunch for free from the cafeteria, but sometimes they would have extras from breakfast. She often had lunch there and snacked out of her lunch bag throughout the day.
Her appetite had come back tenfold since getting sober, and with all the physical labor she did, she found herself hungry all the time.
Considering how skeletal she had looked when she entered treatment, it was a welcome problem.
She flipped open the container, pleased to see a biscuit along with the pile of yellow eggs. And they were still warm. “Nice.”
“So, did you see the email from Tracy saying everyone needed to come to this morning’s meeting?”
She shoveled a spoonful of eggs into her mouth just as he asked his question, so she nodded in response.
“I wonder what it’s all about. The wife thinks we may be reducing staff since it’s the slow season.”
Matty frowned. She needed the job. “I hope not.”
“Me too.”
They chatted for a little while as the others filed into the room. They had a meeting every morning to discuss things that were happening at the rehab and to get assignments for the day. She and Grady usually teamed up on anything that required two people.
Tracy, the head of maintenance, walked in last. He held a stained coffee mug in his hand that matched the stained yellow patch in his brown beard. She suspected it was like that from the copious amounts of coffee the man drank. She rarely saw him without the mug.
He was a large man with hands as big as her head. His voice was gruff, and his overall appearance was intimidating as hell. But he was all bark and no bite. He loved Little Debbie snack cakes, The Golden Girls, and had three granddaughters who had him completely wrapped around their fingers.
“All right, let’s get this meeting started. Is everyone here?”
He scanned the room, then nodded when he confirmed they were. She was the only woman on the maintenance team.
“Good. Now, general matters. The counselors in Main are going to be checking houses tomorrow during Group. They asked if one or two of you could go share your stories. They suspect there’s some contraband going around, so they want some people filling in so they can check it out.”
Grady raised his hand, and so did Malachi, a thirty-something-year-old with a decade of sobriety under his belt. Grady, like Matty, had less than three years.
“Great. You two go down to Main a little before nine tomorrow. I’ll text you where they want you.”
It was common in addiction facilities for a large portion of staff to be addicts themselves. Everyone on the maintenance team was. Matty and Grady had the least amount of time, with Tracy having the most, somewhere between twenty-five and thirty years.
They were given their assignments for the day.
Her load was fairly light. She’d be over on Tindle Street for a while, changing out all the filters and performing routine cleaning on the AC units for both their residential houses and their office building, which housed two counselors and the auditing department.
She’d also be at The Church fixing a picnic table and then back to the Fire Station to take her turn cleaning it, as they rotated that chore.
“Now, I guess you’re all wondering why I asked everyone to be here this morning.”
Everyone in the room seemed to shift and sit up a little straighter.
“As you know, Carolyn has been having more and more health problems. Our daughter tries to help when she can, but she’s got a whole family of her own. Our son is moving back, but he’s a newlywed, so we can’t ask much of them. I—”
He stopped, appearing like he was trying to find the right words.
“I love working. It’s what’s kept me going, but I love Carolyn more.
I don’t know how many more years we have together, but I want to be there with her for them.
I turn sixty-five in five months. I can start drawing benefits then.
I’ve given Tyler my notice in advance so he can plan accordingly.
I’m going to miss you guys, but I think it’s time. ”
Mumbles and nods of encouragement spread around the room.
“With that being said, Tyler will be posting my position in the near future, but I have the requirements posted on the bulletin board in case any of you are interested in applying when the time comes.”
The meeting came to a quick end after that. Everyone stood in line, waiting to shake Tracy’s hand and congratulate him.
Matty would miss him. He had been a good boss and never treated her differently, even though she was the only woman on the team.
Sexism was rampant in male-dominated fields, and their little team was no different.
She was used to a few of the other guys cracking jokes at her expense, but she ignored them and did her job well.
More than once, she had wondered what it would be like to have Tracy’s position. The gratification of being in management. Having the respect of others that came with it.
As everyone headed out, she hung back to look at the bulletin board. It was full of various pictures, notes, and this week’s lottery tickets. Everyone pitched in a buck weekly, and whenever they won, they split the reward. So far, since joining the team, Matty had gotten $217.
Her eyes landed on the paper Tracy mentioned.
Then her heart dropped as shame took over.
Why had she even bothered to look?
The first requirement for the position was a high school diploma or GED.
Of which she had neither.
She was thirty-five years old and had a tenth-grade education.
Seventeen-year-old Matty hadn’t thought much about dropping out. It happened so casually. She started missing days, preferring to hang out with her older friends or sleep off whatever she had gotten her hands on. Eventually, she just stopped going.
Grammy wasn’t happy about it, but she didn’t push.
Neither Grammy nor her dad had graduated, so what did it matter if Matty didn’t?
Sighing, she turned away from the board.
Grady locked eyes with her briefly, but she ducked her head and scooped up her empty food container to throw it out.
“Ready to start the day?”
He looked like he wanted to say something but only said, “Ready if you are.”
Relieved, she opened the door and motioned for him to go.
“Ladies first.”
That earned her a light punch to the shoulder, and they laughed as they left the station.