Episode 1074: Innocent Man?

“You’re one of my best employees. I should probably tell you that more often,” Quent said.

Having pulled the last wrench from the box and placed it accordingly, Xavier stood from his crouched position and handed the empty box to Quentin as requested earlier for Quentin’s son who had his heart set on turning an empty box into a fire engine.

“Nothing I do around here is that big of a deal, none of it requires a skill set.”

“You might be surprised by just how few people are skilled at putting in an effort. I can always count on you to get the job done and more than I asked. This place wouldn’t run half as well without you.”

“Just doing my job, but thanks for the compliments. If this is about Sebastian though, about everyone thinking he’s going to succeed in running me out of town, I’m good where I am. I know you value my help around here, and you value me, too. You don’t need to blow smoke to convince me to stay.”

“I’m glad you’re happy here. Still, it can’t hurt to tell a person every once in awhile that it’s good to have them around. It’s not just work either, my whole family is better off for having a friend like you we can rely on.”

“Right back at you,” Xavier said. “Without you and a handful of other people in my life I don’t know where I’d be, I wouldn’t have handled this Sebastian situation so well.”

“How are you handling it?” Quent asked since they weren’t just boss/employee, they were genuine friends. “Are you going to talk to Ava like he asked? He must feel like their marriage is in a pretty desperate place to ask you of all people to vouch for him.”

Xavier responded with a grunt. He bent and tied a shoelace that hadn’t needed retying. He ran a hand through his hair.

“Did you believe him?” Xavier finally asked. “Do you think his mother tried to pay me off all on her own or did he ask her to?”

“From my experience, my in-laws, they’re shady people. They get ideas in their heads about what’s right for their kids and act on it whether their kids actually want them to or not. My father-in-law is usually the one at the wheel, but it’s not a shock to me that Katherine would do this, especially for Sebastian. Justine was her dad’s favorite by a mile, I think it’s pretty much the same for Sebastian and his mom. And they’ve had some rough patches, so I’m not surprised Katherine is still trying to get back to the way things were with her son before all that.”

“So do you think he asked her to do it? That it was his idea to pay me off and she just did it to get in his good graces?”

“I don’t know, my instinct says no. I don’t trust Bas much more than I do his parents. But in this instance, he seemed sincere, he seemed innocent.”

Xavier nodded. “I thought so, too. And that would bother me a whole lot less if I was innocent, too. But I can’t help wondering is their marriage in trouble because of what he did or what I did?”

Episode 1075: How It's Done