Free Sweet Water by Anna Jeffrey

and began topping off the sugar dispensers.
    “Where you going?”
    He didn’t look up and didn’t answer right away. “I’m out of a job,” he said finally.
    She heard a quiver in his voice and glanced up to see him   spear a lettuce leaf. His fork tines tinked against his plate. Gordon Tubbs was the only person in Agua Dulce directly employed by the owner of the town. Marisa hadn’t thought of it before now, but obviously, Gordon’s employment either transferred from Clyde Campbell’s estate to the new owner or disappeared altogether.
      “Really? Have you gotten some kind of word from the new owner?”
      “I’ve talked to him on the phone. I don’t think there’s gonna be a place for me in his plans.” Gordon shook his head slowly.
    The splinter of fear that had harried Marisa for more than a week grew into a two-by-four. She set the pitcher of sugar on the counter and walked back to where Gordon sat. “Did he say so?”
    The trailer park manager looked up, his brow tented. “He’s closing the RV park.”
    Marisa felt a cold wind waft through Pecos Belle’s. “But why would he close it? It isn’t in his way. You have tenants. And campers. I thought the trailer park made money.”
    Gordon’s shoulders lifted in a shrug. He dropped his fork on the counter with a clatter and covered his doughy face with soft-looking hands. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do.” He picked up a napkin, wiped his eyes and blew his nose.
    Marisa looked away. She didn’t often   see   men cry, but this week, she had seen almost everyone in Agua Dulce on the verge of tears.
    “I don’t   know what I can do.” Gordon seemed to be in control again and Marisa turned back to face him. “I’ve been here for so many years,” he said. “Clyde always took care of me. What I mean is, he paid me a wage and gave me health insurance through his company.”
    He shook his head again and fanned a hand in front of his face. “A man my age ain’t gonna get a job that amounts to diddly. And nowadays, a diabetic who’s had two heart attacks not only ain’t gonna get a job, he ain’t gonna get health insurance anywhere on this earth.”
    She didn’t know Gordon’s exact heart problem, but she knew it was expensive. She had never given a thought to how his care was paid for. After his last heart attack, he had been in ICU in a Midland hospital for days, his life saved by a highly skilled cardiologist. He now swallowed a handful of medications every day that couldn’t be cheap. And he was too young for Medicare. “No, I guess not.”
    What he said about health insurance might be true. Marisa had fought the health insurance battle on her mother’s behalf before Mama became eligible for Medicare. Even now, Marisa didn’t have health insurance for herself and hadn’t had it since she left her cooking job in Arlington.
    She felt her brow tug into a frown as she tried to remember and calculate how many years Gordon had been the manager of the RV village. “Surely you’ve got some savings, Gordon.”
    “Savings? Clyde Campbell was the stingiest man I ever met. Do you think he paid me enough money for me to have any left to save?”
    Marisa’s jaw clenched involuntarily. Hell, yes, Clyde Campbell was a skinflint, along with being a thoughtless asshole. Look at how he had treated Mama. Of course, Mama had let him take advantage of her, but that was beside the point.
    What was Gordon going to do? What was he qualified to do? As far as Marisa could tell, the answer was a resounding nothing. Without the Sweet Water RV Village, he wouldn’t even have a place to live. “So the new guy’s going to just close up the trailer   park”—Marisa snapped her fingers—“just like that?”
    The middle-aged man nodded.
    “But what about Ben? What about Tanya and Jake? Where will they go?”
    A new spark of indignation burst within Marisa. The big guy kicking the little guy. She had never been able to keep quiet when she saw it