Love (Gimme 6)

I pick up a set of boys onesies and I get baby fever at the little dinosaurs on the material. The first thought that pops into my head is a man holding our little boy, and when he looks up at me it’s Elijah. His bright blue eyes staring at me while his thick black hair usually slick back is mussed up from another round of love making.

Immediately, I shake off that insane idea. That man would have no interest in a wretched homeless girl like me. A lone tear falls down my cheek, catching me by surprise. I never expected to have that reaction. It’s not like I know him, we’ve never met and I’ve only heard about him from his mother and online. Every fantasy I’ve had in the past year has been about that man. I’ve dreamed about a future that can never be.

My day is a long one and thankfully a cool one inside the air-conditioned building instead of wasting my day in my broiling vehicle. I work an extra hour to cover someone else’s shift change and then head out. Turning on my cell phone which I let charge in the breakroom, I see I have a text message.

Come home where you belong. This is no place for you.

When I go to my vehicle it’s not in the lot. Oh my goodness. I head back into the store and go to security, asking them to check the lot. Three hours earlier a tow truck came and scooped my vehicle. A part of me died inside because there’s no reason for anyone to take a car unless it was my stepfather.

He stole my car, my home, and all of my belongings. What am I going to do? I have nowhere to go. My wallet is in my purse that I put in my locker, thankfully, so I have access to my bank account.

“Are you okay, Haley?”

“Yes, thanks.” I leave their area and know I’m screwed as I walk out of the store and down to the main road.

I can’t call Lila since she lives next door to that asshole, so I walk to the only place I know I can get help. The person who has been kind to me.

It seems like forever when I finally make it to her porch. The lights are off and I’m afraid to knock. “Maybe I’ll just lay in the garden for the night.” I walk around the back and enter through the gate with the code she gave me. Sliding into the entrance, I duck down and try not to activate any outdoor light sensors. However I’m not so lucky and they go off, but thankfully there is no movement, so I scoot over to the lovely patio furniture and make myself a nice bed for the night.

Tears and fatigue finally send me to sleep in the early hours of the morning.

Chapter Three

Elijah

The sun hasn’t even begun to rise, but I can’t stay asleep because I can’t stop thinking about this girl who was trespassing. Strangely, I can’t even get mad anymore about it because all I want to do is make sure she’s safe. I’m betting that we scared her off yesterday and that sends a pain in my chest. Getting dressed, I walk down to the garden to think and to look for any evidence, like somehow I can find a clue to where she’ll be.

“It’s just my fucking imagination.” It has to be because she can’t be sleeping on my mother’s garden bench. “God, could she be more beautiful?” This is the woman who has been slinking in to get some food and sleeping in her vehicle. I want to grab her stepfather’s head and smash it against the stone pavers below my feet. This angel curled up in a ball to keep warm in a blue top and beige pants, cheeks ruddy from the chilly night air needs love and protection. Something I plan to provide…always.

I brush a stray hair away from her face and then stare at her some more like a lovesick puppy. A breeze comes through and the first drop of rain falls. Shit. I need to get her out of here before she becomes sick.

The sun starts to rise as I bend down and lift her up into my arms to bring her to safety before the storm kicks in. “What are you doing here, sleeping beauty?”

She moans, turning her body into mine, nestling her head against my chest as I carry her inside.

“Oh my goodness. What happened to Haley?” my mother calls out, finally revealing her name, something she inconveniently left out yesterday.

“She was sleeping in the garden,” I grunt. If she’d told me her name at least I could have done a little digging into women who lived in the area under that name around her age.