Bad Decisions

Chapter Twenty-Five

-Avery-

As he laid down to try to sleep, his heart felt heavy. Yesterday, Peter had stumbled upon what Devin did, which led to outrage from the others. They'd all stopped by his cabin last night to bring him food and let him know how sorry they were about what had happened. That had made him feel better, but then their concern devolved into threats against Devin, which upset him. He didn't want his kind coworkers feeling like they wanted to harm someone on his behalf. They were going to go to Mitch, but he convinced them to let him do it. It was a conversation he needed to have with his boss, since part of this was his fault.

It had been difficult seeing Devin. Even though Devin had done something truly awful, the feelings he had for him hadn't gone away overnight. He'd acted cold towards Devin and it had killed him to do it. It was even more difficult when Devin sincerely apologized and seemed to mean every word of it. Avery wanted to believe him, but he knew he could never trust Devin again. Devin's improvement over the past month had all been manipulation in order to get Avery to continue having sex with him, and when he hadn't gotten his way, he'd shown his true colors.

He hated that he still cared for Devin. People had always praised him for his ability to get along with anyone and to see the best in others, but that was starting to feel like a character flaw instead. He let people walk all over him for the sake of being kind and agreeable. In this case, he hadn't just hurt himself; he'd made things more difficult for everyone at the camp by hooking up with Devin and repeatedly giving him chance after chance. Letting his own feelings get in the way and caring about Devin had contributed to this mess. It was time to let Mitch know the truth and face the consequences.

-

Preparing himself for the worst, he knocked on the door to Mitch's office early the next morning.

"Come in!" Mitch called out.

When he entered the office, Mitch pushed away the papers he was working on. "How are you feeling, Avery?"

"Um, well the truth is I wasn't sick," he blurted out. "I'm sorry."

"Is there something else going on?" Mitch asked, tilting his head to one side.

He sat down in a chair in front of Mitch's desk, already dreading what he was about to say.

"I haven't made the best decisions," he confessed, his heart pounding in his chest. "Shortly after Devin got here, I started...hooking up with him." He could feel his face turning red. "It wasn't professional at all and I have no excuse for my behavior. And then a few days ago, Devin smashed all of my prototypes for the culvert replacement project. I was upset and needed to take a day off, so I lied about being sick." 

He looked down at the floor, not able to meet Mitch's eyes. "I completely understand if you want me to get my things together and arrange for a ride home. I'm sorry that I let you down and caused all this trouble."

Mitch was silent for a minute before he spoke. "Avery, look at me."

Reluctantly, he lifted his eyes.

"You are my best employee," Mitch continued. "I know I can depend on you more than anyone. Devin is not your fault. Even if you hadn't slept with him, we'd probably be facing the same outcome. He'd have ruined something or hurt someone regardless. I don't want you blaming yourself, and I'm definitely not asking you to resign. We don't have any rules about relationships between employees, so by the book you've done nothing wrong. If there had been a rule against it, I still wouldn't ask you to resign. It would be one blight on an otherwise perfect employee record."

He stared at Mitch, hoping that he was actually hearing the words correctly. He had honestly thought he'd be going home after this conversation.

Mitch sighed and ran his hand through his hair, seeming frustrated. "I'm sorry for not assigning Devin to someone else after I heard he was giving you a hard time. You were probably the most vulnerable one of the group when it came to pairing you up with Devin. I'm sorry I didn't see that and didn't think it through. I can't do anything about your project, but if you want time off to rebuild it, or time to visit your family, you've got it. And you don't have to interact with Devin anymore. I'm actually considering sending him home due to concerns the others have brought to me throughout Devin's time here."

He knew he shouldn't be standing up for Devin anymore, but he couldn't seem to ignore his feelings for the guy. 

"Please don't send him home. I think he needs to be here, and it'll be good for him in the long run even if it doesn't seem like it right now."

"Avery, why are you defending him? You're the person he's been the worst to, and I thought you'd want him gone."

"I don't like giving up on anybody, and I feel bad for giving up on Devin. I'm afraid I said some harsh things to him yesterday. Things I shouldn't have said. There were times when I felt like I was making progress with him, and I know I didn't imagine that. He can be nice. I just think he's not there yet."

"You really feel like this experience is helping him?"

"I think so. I had my doubts after he ruined my project, but he did apologize the other day and it was sincere. He's not big on apologies so I know that took some effort on his part. Maybe I'm not sure how I feel, but I don't think it's sending the right message to send him home early. Won't that just teach him that if he behaves badly enough, he gets out of his punishment?"

Mitch sat back in his chair. "I have to admit I didn't think about it that way. I don't know what his dad will do with him if I send him home early, and that's none of my business, but it's possible that it'd just be an early end to his punishment. On the other hand, I don't know how I can keep him here if no one wants to work with him. Every one of your coworkers has come to me and said they won't work with him again."

"I can work with him. I know that no one else wants to and everyone wants him gone, so I'll deal with him since I'm the one who believes he should stay."

"Avery, you can't -"

"I can. If I'm truly a good and patient person, I have to be able to work with difficult people like Devin."

Mitch shook his head. "You're a saint, Avery. You truly are. My gut says not to let you do this, but I know you're just as optimistic and determined as you are kind, so I doubt I can talk you out of it. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?"

"I am."

"Promise me that if you change your mind at any point, you'll let me know."

"I promise."

Mitch saw him out, giving him a squeeze on the shoulder, and he slowly walked back to his cabin. He was relieved that Mitch hadn't been angry or disappointed with him.

Even though Mitch wasn't going to punish him, he was going to be punishing himself enough by continuing to work with Devin. It was going to be difficult to be around Devin when he was still upset with him for destroying his project and when he was trying to ignore his feelings for Devin. He was beginning to think that his plan of a long goodbye wasn't a good idea.