Chapter 4
It was Izzy’s first day at work. He’d barely been able to sleep, because he was so fucking nervous. How hard could it be, right? Would he be able to learn the ropes quickly enough for Justin to keep him on the payroll?
He’d get slightly-above-minimum wage for the first two months that was the trial period. After that, it would be bumped up, but by how much, depended on the quality of work he did. Justin had told him it made people work better, smarter, when they knew they could actually get more money if they put effort into it.
It had shocked Izzy to hear that not only were the workers insured for workplace injuries, but they also had regular health insurance. There were also bonuses to be earned on the times when extra hours needed to be put in, and you could even get an emergency advance after you’d worked there for six months.
Yeah, somehow the place sounded too good to be true and completely realistic at the same time. He wouldn’t have thought the latter if he hadn’t met Justin himself. The way the guy’s eyes shone with pride and happiness as he’d explained things to him a couple of days ago, it hadn’t seemed like bullshit. It had seemed genuine. If that was the kind of boss Justin was going to be, Izzy could see himself being happy there.
He locked the door to his room and walked through the narrow hallway and into the kitchen. He was pretty damn early, knowing there was an hour’s drive ahead, but there were still people getting ready for their days.
“Hey, Izzy, you got the job?” Max, one of the young guys asked as he put together a breakfast at the counter.
“Yeah, starting in an hour and a half. Need to grab something to eat on the way and drive to Oak Glen,” he replied while checking he had everything he needed with him for the fifth time, because the drive was long enough that there was no turning back if he forgot something.
“Well, when you get paid, you know,” Vinny said from behind a newspaper. He’d probably stolen it from a neighbor who wasn’t home, but nobody was going to call him on it. Vinny was one of those guys who had come out of prison into this house and everyone knew it was only a question of time before he’d go back in.
“Yeah, I’ll get you your money. Might take a month or two, but I’ll make sure you get yours first.” After rent and food, but he didn’t need to say that.
“As long as it’s not longer than that. I need to go visit my sister and I need to have my own car fixed before that.”
“Yeah, promise. Bye, guys!” Izzy made his escape and started the journey out of town.
At least Vinny wasn’t violent. He was more the type that would set his friends on you, though, and well, some of those guys were outright hostile toward anyone who wasn’t in their own group of people.
Luckily they weren’t allowed at the house, because guys like Max who were susceptible to peer pressure wouldn’t do well with Vinny’s friends.
Izzy listened to music as he drove and ate his Egg McMuffin. He’d gotten a large coffee too, and wished he had some more money so he could have bought something for lunch. Sadly, he was broke, and filling his gas tank had basically bankrupted him.
If he could cook, that would’ve helped a lot. There was a guy at the house, an older man who’d been in prison for some insurance fraud and found himself without a home or a marriage when he got out, who cooked a lot. Maybe Izzy could make a deal with him, see if the guy would make food for his lunches if he gave him money for the ingredients?
He was jamming along to some Placebo when he got to the narrow hillside roads again. This time he concentrated on the songs, singing along as he navigated to his workplace. It still made him smile, the thought of having a job.
He hadn’t met anyone but a guy called Carlos the other day, as most people had been busy working and hadn’t had time to chat. Everyone had greeted him though, some cautiously and some just happily, which said a lot about what kind of a place Justin ran.
The only negative so far was the fact that his work started on a Saturday. It had been the first open shift, so of course he’d taken it when Justin had asked, but it still felt weird. Oh well.
Today, he’d be packing deliveries, making sure he knew the different tasks at least somewhat, so that he could be let loose on Monday morning—Justin’s words. That meant absorbing a lot of information, and letting it simmer in his head so he could remember at least enough to be helpful on Monday. Besides, Justin himself would be there to teach him.
He parked the car at the employee lot and got out, stretching his back with a groan. The car ran fine, but hell if it wasn’t uncomfortable.
At least he had work boots and an old denim shirt to wear with his jeans. The undershirt might’ve been overkill, but at least he could ditch the denim one if he needed to cool down.
There was a hippie-looking lady setting up the booth thingy on the edge of the parking lot, and Izzy gave her a wave. She waved back, smiling slightly, her gaze shrewd as hell. He’d either love or hate her, and that was a gut feeling.
Izzy found Justin in the break room like they’d agreed.
“Morning, Izzy,” Justin said, smiling widely. “Good to see you made it in one piece. You ready to work? There’s coffee if you want a cup before we get to work.”
“Morning.” Izzy felt a bit shell shocked by the exuberant greeting. “Uh, I’m good. I had some on the way.”
“Well, if you don’t have lunch with you, there’s almost always something here to snack on. If nothing else, then produce that’s not as pretty as it’s supposed to be. My brother brings in baked goods a couple of times a week and sometimes my husband brings some stuff he’s cooked if he’s experimenting with recipes and gets into making bigger batches than what we eat at home.” Justin got up from his seat and took a coffee mug to the nearby sink. “It’s first come, first serve though, and especially Wyatt’s cupcakes and cookies vanish fast.”
Wyatt must’ve been the brother, then. The girl with the dogs, Lettie, was Justin’s sister. While they walked to the first greenhouse, Izzy wondered how the situation had come to be. Why was Justin living with his teenage siblings? Had his husband adopted them? How did that even work?
“I’ll show you a couple of things you might find interesting, and then put you to work with Sam. It’s the end of the week, so we pack the stuff we deliver to the food bank and the homeless shelters.”
“I really like the fact that you do all that charity work,” Izzy said as he tried to keep up with Justin. He was a couple of inches taller than his boss, but holy shit did the guy walk fast.
