“When you walked in here, I thought you were going to bring trouble.”
“I did.”
Wyatt almost smiled.
“Turns out trouble already knew the address.”
“What changed your mind?”
“You kept showing up.”
Samantha looked around the storage room.
That simple statement affected her more than praise would have.
She had kept showing up.
That was true.
Grizzly eventually stopped paying her cash.
One afternoon he pushed a payroll form across the bar.
Samantha stared at it.
“What’s this?”
“A payroll form.”
“I can read.”
“Congratulations.”
“I thought everything here was under the table.”
“Not everything.”
“You’re putting me on payroll?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you work here.”
Samantha looked suspicious.
“Is this one of your tests?”
Grizzly sighed.
“Sammy, someday you’re going to discover most paperwork is boring.”
She filled it out.
Several months later, Grizzly helped connect her with a small apartment whose landlord knew the club but was not connected to it.
Samantha paid market rent.
That mattered to her.
She wanted help.