Oil Patch Romance (Mail Order Bride Series)

by Susan Leigh Carlton

  “I’m catching an earlier train. I think it best, or one of us might say something we’ll regret for a long time.”

  “You sure seemed taken with Barnes. What about Joshua? I thought you and he liked each other.”

  “I do like Joshua. Since I took the Houston job, we haven’t seen much of each other. We’ve both moved on. I might see him again, under different circumstances. Right now, I just want to go back to Houston.”

  “Becky… I didn’t… I just… Oh, never mind, you don’t understand.”

  “I guess I don’t. I believe my carriage is here. Goodbye, Johnny, it hasn’t been fun.”

  She picked her bag and briefcase and went to her carriage, leaving her puzzled brother in his kitchen wondering what was wrong with women.

  At work…

  Following Rebecca’s advice, Laura threw herself into her work. “Johnny, I took another look at what we did yesterday. I think you’re on the right track with your idea of how to shut down a well if a blowout starts. For it to be practical, it has to be done so the roughnecks shutting it down don’t get killed.”

  “A drilling rig is dangerous. If there’s a blowout, someone can get killed. If there is a fire, many people can die. The real problem is you can only react after it happens. I need a way to know before it happens. Any pocket you drill into has the potential to blow out. Most don’t, but when it does, it’s bad.”

  Two days later…

  “You’re still here?” Johnny said. “I thought you left long ago.”

  “You’re here too,” she pointed out. “I didn’t have anything else to do, and I wanted to look at this some more.”

  “Did you eat?” he asked.

  “Not yet. What time is it?”

  “Almost nine,” he said. “Let’s get some dinner and call it a night.”

  “Okay, the lines are beginning to run together anyway,” she answered, surprised by his offer. It was the first time, he had any personal interest whatever.

  The only place nearby was a tavern frequented by their co-workers for a drink after work. “Hey, look who’s here,” one of their coworkers shouted. “Whatcha doing, boss? Slumming?”

  “I just wanted to see how the other half lives,” Johnny said. “We worked late and haven’t eaten so we decided to grab a bite before going home.”

  “It’s about time you let your hair down and joined us. All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy,” said another.

  Not usually comfortable in the jawing back and forth so commonplace, Johnny said lamely, “Some of us have to work for a living.”

  “I get some of my best ideas here,” said the man who had shouted first.

  “Hah,” said another. “You haven’t had an original idea in your life.”

  “Whatever, Laura, you sure brighten the place up. Good to see your normal side.”

  She smiled, reluctant and unsure about participating, she simply said, “Thanks Charlie. I don’t get out too much.”

  “Just say the word, and we can remedy that,” Charlie said.

  “Your wife finds out, you’re dead meat, Charlie,” someone said.

  “Laura, there’s a table over here. Let’s get some food in front of us,” Johnny said.

  Several of the men came over to their table, stood and chatted for a couple of minutes, but were not invited to join them. Johnny was cool to their presence, either ignoring them or giving abrupt answers. When they tried to talk to Laura, Johnny interrupted and cut them off.

  “What’s going on?” Laura carried on a conversation with herself. “He’s never acted like this. I wonder if his sister talked to him? It almost seems as if he’s jealous. Why would he be jealous, he’s never shown any interest. I wish he would. Funny, I’ve never liked the jealous type before.

  “I really like your sister, Johnny. She is one of the most beautiful women I have ever met,” Laura said.

  “She and Cassie are both attractive. With different mothers, they don’t look alike, and have very different personalities. Cassie is outgoing and likes everyone. That’s probably why she’s going to be a terrific doctor. Rebecca and I are a lot alike, quiet and serious. She looks a lot like Mother. Mom can be serious, but she’s funny at times. Neither Rebecca nor I are very outgoing.”

  “I don’t know about that, I found her easy to talk to.”

  “She’s a good listener. She just doesn’t listen to me. Nobody does,” he said,

  “I think you’re wrong there. Everyone listens to you at work,” she said. “They respect you too. You have a reputation that commands attention. That’s why I wanted to work with you.”

  “As I told you before, I prefer to work alone.”

  “Oops,” she thought. Better get back on safe ground. “Have you ever thought about going back to school? I’ve wondered if it would be helpful if I went back?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered. For now, I think most of the learning is in the field. I’ve actually considered spending some time with the drillers on the rig. I always thought it would be a waste of time, but the more wells we drill, the more we learn. Schools aren’t going to have that.”

  Laura said, “You know, someday, someone is going to invent a way to see downhole. I don’t know how or when, but knowing what is happening with well pressure would be a major breakthrough. I would like to be in on that.”

  “You are absolutely right there.” She’s more than a pretty face. She is serious about this. “Until they do,” he said, “we’re going to have to do it with guesses and crystal balls.

  “Are you about ready to go? I’ll walk you home.”

  “That’s not necessary,” she said. “It’s not far.”

  “Becky returned to her apartment after studying at the library at Texas,” he said. “Someone was there. Uninvited. He knocked her down getting away. I’ll see you home,” he said.

  “Thank you, Jonathon. I appreciate it.”

  He stood in front of the building until the door closed and he saw a lamp came on inside, then left.

  CHAPTER 7: A CRISIS AT WORK

  It was the morning after Laura and Johnny had dinner together. Encouraged by his behavior the previous evening, Laura was looking forward to work this morning. Greeting all of her co-workers with a smile and receiving a friendly good morning, she floated to her desk in the office next to Johnny.

  He was already at his desk when she came in. Rapping on the door frame, with the intention of saying good morning, she started to enter his office. “Stop,” he said brusquely. “I’m busy and don’t want to be interrupted.”

  “I thought we were going to continue with what we were doing last evening,” she said.

  “No, that is a dead end. Now if you don’t mind…” he nodded at the door, indicating he wanted it closed.

  Stunned, she backed out of the room and went to her office. There was nothing for her to do but review the work already done on the blow out preventer. After an hour, she said to herself, There is nothing wrong with this theory. I think it will work. What in the world has gotten into him. After last night, I thought we were good.

  Johnny had ventured out of his office and returned but didn’t close his door. Gathering the prints she had just reviewed, she went into his office. “I’ve gone back over these prints, and I think we’re on the right track.” She placed the print on the drafting table and pinned them down. “Look,” she said, as she traced the mechanical string. We can shut off the flow just by turning these plates together, exactly the way you said last night.

  “By the way, last night was fun,” she said. “We needed to get away from here for a while, and I enjoyed it. You surprised everyone by going showing up. From what I understand, they get together on a regular basis.

  “Thank you for walking me home. What you said about your sister was shocking. Walking in on a burglar was dangerous. She must have been scared to death.”

  “Last night was a mistake,” he said. “I should never have gone there. Fraternization is not a good thing. It blurs
the line of authority and causes a loss of respect.”

  “I don’t agree with you there. It lets the others see you are human after all. At school…”

  “This is not Harvard. This is the real world. What you did there has no bearing on what we’re doing here, “ he said.

  “On the contrary,” she said. “It has everything to do with it. We learn the theory in college, and it gives us the background to put the theory into practice.”

  “I am not going to argue with you. Now let me get back to what I was working on, when you interrupted me.”

  “Interrupted you?” she sputtered. “We are supposed to be working together on this.”

  He stood, and looked down at her in an obvious attempt to intimidate her. She stood her ground, not backing down.

  Abruptly, he walked around her and left, leaving her standing in the middle of his office. Forty-five minutes later, he came back, stood in her doorway, and said, “Arguing is not getting us anywhere.”

  “I agree completely,” she said.

  “That’s why I’m assigning you to work with Charles. He’s on a deadline and is a little behind. Maybe the two of you can jumpstart his project.”

  Not sure of the intent, she decided to take it as a recognition of her ability to contribute. “I’ll get with him and see what he needs me to do. I appreciate the opportunity.” As she walked over to Charles’s work area, she thought, This is my chance to show him I can be a plus here.

  Charles was poring over some drawings when she walked up to his desk. “What can I do to help,” she asked.

  “What do you mean, I don’t need any help,” he said.

  Frustrated, Laura said, “Not you too?”

  “I don’t understand,” Charles said.

  “Look,” Laura said. “Jonathon told me you were a behind schedule, and, I should work with you, so here I am.”

  “Laura, I don’t know what’s going on with you and Johnny, but if anything, I’m ahead of schedule.”

  “I don’t want to stir things up any more than they already are. Mr. Barnes told Jonathon we were to work together. He got his back up and said he worked alone. He was told in no uncertain terms, we would be working together. Now all of a sudden, he sends me to help you and you don’t need help.

  “Is there anything I can help you with? I’m competent, I really am. I just want a chance. Jonathon is the best in his field and I can learn from him. If he’d let me. I just need to prove it.

  “Johnny can be a royal pain in the ass at times, but he is good. There are some things we can do together. I’m glad to help. Maybe we can bring his highness down to a human level. A team is better than an individual.”

  “Thanks, Charles, I appreciate it. I don’t mind hard work.”

  “Chuck. Call me Chuck, everyone else does, except for Johnny.”

  “Chuck it is, and thank you,” Laura said.

  Laura and Chuck turned out to be a good team. Two weeks later, they prepared a report on their project and submitted it for approval. Johnny glanced at the report, and asked, “What’s the status of this as of now?”

  Chuck answered, “Complete, ahead of budget and ahead of schedule. We finished it today. We’re going to celebrate tonight. Why don’t you come along?”

  “I don’t think so; I’m going to be working late tonight,” Johnny said.

  “Suit yourself,” Chuck said. “If you change your mind, we’ll be at the usual place.”

  It was seven forty-fine when Johnny decided to call it a night. I think I’ll go by the Gusher Tavern, he thought. Pushing open the door, he looked in. At one of the tables, off to the side in a corner away from the tumult of the crowd, he saw Laura and Chuck, their heads close, apparently in deep discussion. Something Chuck said caused Laura to laugh. Above the noise of the patrons, Johnny heard the musical tones of her laugh. It bothered him, for reasons he didn’t understand. Without going further into the tavern, he turned instead and went home.

  It would have surprised him, had he known he was the topic of conversation. Laura bent her head toward Chuck and said, “Don’t turn around, but guess who is standing in the doorway.”

  “Himself?” Chuck asked.

  “Himself,” and she laughed. “He’s leaving. Why am I not surprised?”

  CHAPTER 8: THE EVALUATION

  It was a practice of Texas Fuel that all newcomers were on a ninety day probation period. At the end of the period, the assigned supervisor would write an evaluation, that would determine the future of the person on probation. Bill Barnes came to Jonathon’s office and said, “Jonathon, it’s time for you to do Laura’s 90 day evaluation. It needs to be done by Friday.

  Aware he was on the verge of becoming serious about her, he thought, I can’t let this go any further. This is my chance to get rid of her. I’d better do it now before it goes any further, so he wrote a scathing report.

  Ignoring the fact she was the most competent person with whom he had ever worked, his report stated, “Miss Ingram is not a team player, all efforts are directed at self-aggrandizement. She takes credit for other people’s work. In my opinion, she doesn’t have the technical skills necessary to succeed in this field. Her talents appear to be more suited to an office environment.”

  Rather than run it by Barnes, he submitted it directly to the corporate offices. This is going to take several weeks to get approved, I have to make sure I keep her at a distance. I don’t want or need an office romance. The evaluation went into the mail that same day.

  The next day, Barnes stopped by Jonathon’s office. “Johnny, I’ve got to be in Houston for a few days. I’ll need you to look after things for me.”

  “Sure thing, Bill. I’ll take care of things. By the way, I put Laura’s evaluation in the mail.”

  “I wanted to write something on it before it went out,” Barnes said.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize it. I should have given it to you.

  “No big deal, “ Barnes said. “I’ll tell Rebecca you said hello.”

  “You’re going to see Becky?”

  “Yeah, we’re having dinner tomorrow night. Is that a problem for you?”

  “No problem. I’ve never known her to go out much, that’s all,” Johnny said.

  “I enjoyed her company while she was here and I’d like to see more of her. I’d better go, I don’t want to miss the train. Let me know if anything unexpected comes up.”

  “You got it. Have a good trip. I’ll keep everything humming here.”

  Friday afternoon, Beaumont office of Texas Fuel…

  Barnes stuck his head in Johnny’s office. “Everything under control here?” he asked.

  “As quiet as a church,” he said. How was Houston?”

  “Big, noisy. Every time I go there, they’ve thrown up a new building. Rebecca sends her love, by the way. We had dinner every night. I like her. I wish her firm would assign her to Beaumont full time. Seeing her once a month is not often enough for me.”

  “Bill, remember, she’s my sister,” Johnny said.

  “Are you trying to tell me something?” he asked.

  “No just reminding you. I don’t want her to get hurt. I worry about her, being in Houston and all. She’s not used to the ways of a big town.”

  “I don’t know about that. She seemed to know her way around. Besides, Austin is a big town too, and she was there four years. In any event, she’s old enough to take care of herself. She has nothing to worry about coming from me.”

  “Actually three years. She finished college in three years,” Johnny said.

  * * *

  Standing outside Johnny’s office, Laura rapped on the door frame. He looked up and motioned her to come in. “What is it,” he asked irritably. “I’m busy.”

  “Am I to continue working with Charles on his new project, or do I work with you? Do I still take work directions from you or do I take them from Bill? I’m sort of in limbo. I don’t want to cause any more problems than already exist.”

  “You will co
ntinue to work with Chuck as long as you’re here, unless otherwise directed by Bill or by me.”

  “What do you mean by as long as I’m here? I’m not going anywhere. I was assigned here by the corporate office, just as I presume you were.” She paused. “Okay, you win, I’ll work with Chuck. We make a good team, anyway. I’ll not bother you again.” Her voice broke as she spoke. She had never experienced failure in any activity. This was a first, and she had no clue why she was failing. Her shoulders slumped, she went back to the work area, she now shared with Chuck.

  “I guess we’re partners again, if you’ll have me. Johnny doesn’t need me. Can we get it done?”