A night after that, however, she worked her first weekend shift and made more money in tips then she'd ever made in a week at any other job in her lif... and she endeavored to endure as best she could.It wasn't easy, but she managed to last a solid five months in hell before the Sunday night that helped send her down a path she never imagined. After five months of near perfect work (a dropped plate here, a drink ordering mix-up there¾nothing big at all, really), she managed to mess up one entree. I suspected that the difference was due to Gabriella’s opinion of me. Or, more specifically, the fact that she wasn’t ashamed of my actions. Having her approval, as well as her acceptance and forgiveness, after what I’d done when I got hurt, all seemed to help alleviate my conscience more than I’d expected.I honestly wasn’t sure what would have happened to me if my first time getting seriously injured had been before I met her, but I doubted it would have turned out well. How would I have coped. We were moving through what would be part of the State of Utah at a pretty good clip and I saw in the newspaper out of Denver that they were already planning some sort of celebration at Promontory Summit, Utah not far from Salt Lake City. That was the center of the soon-to-be headquarters of the Mormon church and it was appropriate because old Brigham Young had not only financed the completion of the transcontinental railroad from Omaha near Council Bluffs all the way out to the Pacific coast. And fuck me, what a comforting sound it was ... well disgusting, but still comforting. I knew a man had been grabbed in the brush, to my right, and his throat had been slit. The quick, muffled slashing was unmistakable and fit Jimmy’s methods perfectly. He’d used the laughter as a distraction and pounced when the rustler’s guard was down.The poor bastard hadn’t even see Jimmy coming, I figured. Quite sure their boss missed it as well. The faint noise would have been hard to detect from across.