We arrived home from Christmas in Jackson and our work load picked up immediately. The rigs we'd been working had been moved to new locations and we'd gained the three additional rigs we'd been promised. True to her word, Janie started helping the first day. Despite her lack of technical knowledge, she quickly picked up most of the day-to-day things we were handling. Her attention to detail was amazing and very helpful, given the pace of our operations. After watching her avoid the family business for years, it made me smile.
Steve received a call from Rachel Rossi on New Year's Eve. She wanted to meet with us again. I shook my head at his smug look. He'd been right after all, and she'd called us back. We scheduled a meeting for Monday, January 4th. Steve said she'd seemed excited.
With 5 rigs drilling now, we were extremely busy. There were so many things to keep up with that without Janie, Steve and I would have been in serious trouble. Rick's semi-departure also meant that a lot of the day-to-day decisions fell on me. I called Roxanne a lot seeking her opinion.
"Baby, you're doing fine. You know what to do," she said.
"I know, Roxanne. But I'm afraid I'm going to fuck it all up."
"No, you won't. It's in your blood," she replied.
"I hope so."
"It is, sweet baby. You're doing fine. Bye," she said.
We were drilling the Janie, Roxanne, Shelley, Stevie and Smith wells all at the same time. All five wells were in uncharted territory. There'd never been a well drilled on either the Wilcox place or the Circle J ranch. As Rick said, our asses were hanging in the breeze. I thought about being bitter on New Year's Day, when he and Shelley got on a plane to Europe for a month, but I couldn't. It was what we'd talked about, he was going to step back. He'd earned it I reminded myself.
Rachel came to the office at 10 o'clock on January 4
th
. She was dressed to impress wearing a black dress and tan nylons. Thankfully she wore low heels, or she would have been taller than Steve and me. I admired her figure briefly, before I realized I might very well be her boss soon. I shouldn't be doing that. We were soon down to the facts.
"Anstar has offered me $60,000 a year," she said.
"I can offer you the same, plus working interest." I countered.
"Are you serious," she asked.
"Yes, very serious."
"I don't see I have anything to lose, when can I start," she asked.
"Immediately," Steve and I said in unison.
The next day, Rachel walked in the office at 7. She was dressed a lot more professionally than Steve or I bothered with. We usually wore jeans or shorts, but she was in a short skirt and nylons, again. Very Roxanne I thought.
I watched Janie, closely. I could tell there was something working in her mind. She didn't give away anything with her face, but her eyes were a different story. Later, she and I walked down the street to get bagels. I decided to ask her.
"Does it bother you we hired her," I asked.
"No, why should it? She's seriously the sexiest one you two assholes could find?"
"Hey, I hired her because Steve and all the professors said she was really smart," I replied.
"Uh, huh," she said sarcastically. "Daddy and Uncle Bob always had Roxanne around. You thought you and Steve needed a little cupcake in the office, too?"
"Janie. I don't think you're being fair."
"I'm not? Her skirt was even shorter today. She's there for her brains," she asked angrily.
"I hadn't noticed."
"No? Well, those long legs are there to see. I can't believe you missed them," Janie said.
"Baby, I don't want to fight with you over something that's not an issue," I said, trying to defuse the situation. We'd had some pretty serious arguments over the years, but this was our first as lovers.
We stopped on the sidewalk and she looked at me angrily.
"I just don't like it, Brad."
"You've made that clear, but she was the best candidate."
"Sure, she was. Maybe you should have looked a little more," she snapped. She started walking towards the bagel shop again. I followed her, wondering how I was going to make this work.
The next couple weeks passed quickly as Rachel settled in. Janie and I started classes again as well. Rachel was very confident about her abilities, but as with Steve, there'd been a learning curve. Janie took great delight in pointing out the mistakes Rachel made. I tried to see it from Janie's point of view. Rachel had missed key signs showing changing drilling conditions that we needed to catch. Janie was still pretty green herself though, and I thought she was being a little unfair. I brought it up over dinner on Thursday night.
"Okay, so I'm being a bitch, but she walked in right away acting like I was a stupid secretary or something, baby," she hissed.
"And you didn't like that," I said.
"No, of course I didn't."
"I'm sorry she did. She's figured out you're a woman of some importance, now," I offered.
"Good, she needs to know exactly how important I am," she replied.
"Baby, it's okay. You don't need to feel insecure around her."
"I've seen her look at you," she persisted.
"So, I've seen her look at Steve more," I replied.
"Steve is not my concern. You are," she retorted.
"How do you want me to handle it?"
"You figure it out, you're the one that hired her," she said as she walked to the bedroom.
I shook my head. That went nowhere. What was I going to tell Rachel? Things aren't working out, because my beautiful cousin that I'm in love with is jealous, because you're attractive, too? That wouldn't work. I knew what Janie was seeing. Rachel was extremely pretty and she was a touchy sort of person. It wasn't just me, it was even more so with Steve, since they'd know one another for a few years. In my mind, Rachel paled in comparison to Janie. Janie was the most gorgeous girl I'd ever known. She had my heart. I would never risk her trust and love for anything. I wasn't getting that across to her though. I hated that she felt that way. I grabbed our dishes and put them in the sink, after I rinsed them. I walked to the bedroom and saw she was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.
I sat on the side of the bed, but she scarcely acknowledged I was there.
"Baby, I'm really sorry. I don't want you thinking like this. You have nothing to be jealous of or anything to worry about. My sun rises and sets with you," I said.
She raised up from the pillow and looked at me closely. I finally could see that she'd been crying. She just looked at me briefly, before she laid back on the bed.
"Brad, do you ever think that maybe things aren't going to work out between us?"
"Baby, what are you talking about," I asked.
"Do you," she persisted.
"No, never, why would you ask that," I replied. That was something I'd honestly never considered.
"Because of everything. Are you ashamed of me, of who I am?"
"No, of course not. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever known. I'd never be ashamed of you," I answered.
"Then why does no one else know outside our family," she asked.
"Honey, this has all happened pretty fast. I haven't had time to put an ad in the paper, yet," I said.
"Don't be a fucking smart ass, okay?"
"Janie, did this just come up this week," I asked.
"No, I've just been thinking, Brad. Especially since you gave me this ring. I just don't know how things will be for us. I mean we're 18, how is it going be when we graduate? We want two totally different things in life."
