Roz Fox - A Mom for Matthew

“I see you brought your sweater again. Shall we nab a table on the patio? It’s a nice night,” he said, gesturing out a window that showed a glimpse of the bay. “I guarantee the patio will be half as smoky as it’ll get in here.”

“The patio, by all means,” she agreed. “Is there a side that’s better for seeing the sun go down? I’ve only been here a week, but I’m addicted to your sunsets. There’s something so fabulous about the red, peach and purple colors layered all the way down to aqua waves that’s…indescribable.”

“Hmm. To me, sundown signals the end of our most productive hours out on the rig. Even with as much wattage as we use to light the platform, there’s much more danger to our workers after dark.”

“Goodness,” Grace exclaimed as she settled into the wrought iron chair Zeke pulled out. “If it’s so dangerous at night, why not shut down like most businesses do?”

Zeke looked indignant, while simultaneously signaling to a waitress moving among the outer tables. “How many ways can you spell money? We’re an oil-dependent society. Until we unearth new pockets of black gold, it’s all outgo and no income for our companies.”

The waitress arrived then to take their orders. Zeke requested a dark ale, and she ordered a popular south-of-the-border light beer with a twist of lime. After the waitress had gone, Grace traced the logo on one of the napkins the woman had set out. “I never stopped to consider everything you had at stake, Zeke. I guess you must view me as worse than a sunset, huh?”

He snorted with laughter. “That’s one way of putting it, Gracie.”

Her head came up fast. “My grandmother’s the only person who ever calls me Gracie.” Hearing it delivered in Zeke’s gravelly voice caused a curl of pleasure to spread through Grace, and for a moment she looked at him differently.

Ignoring her heartfelt comment, he continued speaking. “As I said, we work at night despite an increased risk of injury. But now—thanks to you—we’re not working at all. Not only have I laid off a number of qualified men, many of them with families, but Pace is shelling out big bucks daily in fines because we’re running beyond the start time we promised our subcontractors.”

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