Home With You

by Everhart, Allie

  "We'll be closing soon," I hear Zoe say to someone.

  Checking my phone, I see it's almost nine. How did it get so late?

  Looking up from my laptop, I see Zoe standing next to an old lady. The lady is hunched over and wearing purple polyester pants that have a stain on the leg. The collar of her pink shirt is stained too, and over it she's wearing two button-up sweaters. Her white hair is sticking up all over the place and she looks tired.

  Another homeless person, but she's the first woman I've seen. All the other homeless people I've encountered have been men.

  Zoe hands the old lady a paper sack. "A little treat."

  The old lady grins from ear to ear. "Brownies?"

  "And a few leftover cookies. Sorry I don't have more. It was a busy day."

  "This is plenty," the old lady says. "Bless you, dear."

  Zoe gives her a hug, even though the lady is covered in dirty clothes and probably smells. "I'll see you next week, okay?" She walks her to the door.

  "Looking forward to it. Bye, sweetie." The old lady winks at her as she exits the coffee shop.

  Zoe turns the open sign to closed just as the door swings open.

  "We're clos—oh, hi, hon! Did you need something?"

  "Bathroom. I'll be quick. I promise."

  "No rush. Take your time."

  As the girl walks past Zoe, I get a better look at her. As she makes her way through the coffee shop, I'm still watching her. I can't take my eyes off her. She's gorgeous. Long thick brown hair. Dark soulful eyes. Full beautiful lips. She's wearing two tank tops, one layered over the other, and over that is a long gray open sweater that goes to her knees. Ripped faded jeans cover her legs and on her feet are sneakers that are missing the laces.

  "Hey," she mutters as she passes me. She must've noticed I was staring at her. I wonder if she lives around here, but if she does, why is she using the bathroom at the coffee shop?

  I shut down my laptop but remain at the table, wanting to see the girl again. But she's taking forever in the bathroom and it's after nine. I have to go. Zoe needs to close the place so she can get home to her family.

  "Sorry," I tell her on my way out. "I didn't realize it was so late."

  "Don't worry about it." She walks me to the door. "I'll let you out."

  She unlocks the door and opens it. "Have a good night! Be sure to come back."

  "I will." I glance back at the bathroom, hoping that girl will come out so I can figure out why I can't stop thinking about her. She's beautiful, yes, but there's something else about her. I'm drawn to her and don't know why.

  "Did you need something else?" Zoe asks.

  "Oh, sorry, no." I say, stepping out to the sidewalk. "Goodnight."

  I leave and walk back to my apartment, the whole time thinking about that girl. I need to see her again. I want to know more about her. But I have no idea why. I've seen beautiful women before but never had them take over my mind like this.

  I'm going to go back there tomorrow. And I'm going to keep going back there until I see her again.

  3

  Miles

  "The Samson case is behind schedule so I'll be assigning several of our new hires to work on it," Mr. Kasburger says. He continues to talk but I keep tuning him out because this update meeting has been going on for an hour and I'm finding it hard to pay attention.

  Every time my mind wanders it goes to that girl from last night and then the questions start. Where does she live? What does she do? How old is she? How did Zoe know her? And the question I most want to know...does she have a boyfriend?

  When I moved here I decided to focus on my career and set my love life aside until later. I'm in no rush to get into another relationship, and dating takes time, which I won't have with this new job. But then I saw that girl and suddenly I want to date again. Unfortunately, there's no way a girl that beautiful is single. If she is, it's because she wants to be, not because guys aren't interested.

  "Miles!" I hear Mr. Kasburger's voice and turn to look at him at the end of the conference table.

  "Yes?"

  "Did you hear anything I just said?" His bushy white brows lower over his narrowed eyes as he glares at me.

  "Yes. The Samson case. I'll get right on it."

  He keeps his eyes on me, but remains silent, making me think I was wrong in my response. I have no clue what he's been talking about the past five minutes so I just said the last thing I heard.

  Mr. Kasburger's eyes turn back to the conference table. "Does anyone have any other matters to discuss before we disperse?"

  "I'm having issues with my laptop," Mark, one of the new hires says. "I can't connect remotely."

  "Talk to the IT department," Kasburger says, seeming annoyed. "And for future reference, those types of issues aren't discussed in these meetings. These meetings are for client matters only."

  "Yes, sir," Mark says, his face getting red.

  "Good day, everyone." Kasburger leaves and we wait until he's down the hall before getting up from the table. He's a senior partner at the law firm and our toughest boss. Also the meanest. The other partners are younger and not so by-the-book as Kasburger. The guy has rules for everything and feels the need to enforce them, such as his rule for shoes being polished.

  I'm not kidding. Yesterday in the hall, he stopped me to tell me to polish my shoes. They're dress shoes I bought for interviews last spring. I've worn them a lot but they still look good. Apparently, Kasburger doesn't think so and said they didn't shine enough. He took me to his office and gave me shoe polish and made me polish them right then and there. Then he told me he expects my shoes to be polished like that from here on out. I honestly thought it was a joke, like he was just messing with the new guy, but he was totally serious. Later I talked to some of the other new hires and found out the same thing happened to them, so at least it wasn't just me.

  "You want to meet after lunch?" Lisa asks as we walk back from the meeting. She sits at the desk next to mine.

  "What are we meeting about?"

  "The Samson file," she says, wrinkling her nose. "Were you not listening?"

  "Guess not. My mind kept wandering in that meeting."

  "You have to pay attention, especially with Kasburger. He's been known to fire people for not listening."

  "Really? Shit. Good to know."

  We stop at her cubicle and she sets her notepad down. "I need to get some stuff done before lunch but I could meet around two."

  "Okay, but I still need to know what we're talking about."

  She checks her watch. "I don't have time to explain it right now. Want to grab lunch at noon and we can go over it? Then when we get back you'll have time to review the file before our meeting."

  "Um, sure. Okay."

  I was hoping to have some free time at lunch to go out and enjoy the weather. It's a warm September day and I'd planned to get some food and eat in the park. But now I have a meeting. I'm used to being in class a few hours, then doing whatever I want the rest of the day. I need to adjust to this new schedule and new way of life.

  Just before noon, I stand by Lisa's desk. "Ready to go?"

  She turns to face me. "It's lunch already?"

  "Yeah, but I can come back if you're not ready."

  She's already up and grabbing her keys. "Let's go." She walks past me and continues to the elevators. "I usually don't even eat lunch. I don't have time."

  "How long have you worked here?"

  "Eight years." She checks her phone. I just met her but she seems like one of those high-strung people that doesn't ever relax. Or maybe it's the job making her that way. I hope not. I don't want to end up like that.

  The elevator opens and we ride down to the first floor. She steps out first and I follow her outside. She's on her phone, texting someone.

  "My nanny is completely incompetent," she says, texting as we walk down the busy street.

  I didn't know she had kids. This is the first time she's mentioned them and she doesn't have photos of
them on her desk.

  "How many kids do you have?"

  "Three. Two boys, nine and six, and Macie. She's four. Anyway, I hired this nanny last month and she can't even remember the simplest things. She reminds me of my ex. He couldn't remember anything either. Why do people have to be so incompetent?"

  "Spare change, miss?" a man says to her as we wait at the intersection. I look down and see a homeless guy on the ground, leaning against the building. He's right next to Lisa, holding a plastic cup up to her.

  "Get a damn job like the rest of us," she says as she shoves her phone in her purse.

  The light changes and we cross the street. I assume she's picked a place for lunch. She's walking fast, like she knows exactly where we're going.

  "Lot of homeless around here," I say, noticing them on both sides of the street.

  "I hate it. I wish the city would do something about it."

  "Like what?"

  "Take them somewhere so we don't have to deal with their harassment every day."

  "The guy just asked for money. He wasn't really harassing you."

  We stop at another intersection and her head whips toward me. "Don't tell me you're one of those idiots who wants to hand out money to all the people too lazy to actually go out and get a job."

  I'm not sure how to respond to that. I wasn't trying to start an argument with her.

  Luckily the light changes and we cross the street. She turns left and I follow her, passing by two more homeless guys.

  "Those men we just passed are perfectly capable of working," she says. "And yet they sit on the street every day asking for money, expecting people like me to support them while they lounge around doing nothing." She opens the door of a small deli. "We're eating here."

  We go inside and get in line.

  "I hate waiting." She gets out her phone. "This line better move fast."

  As we're waiting, one of the homeless guys we passed on the street walks in and heads to the restroom.

  Lisa glances up from her phone and notices him. "They always do this. They come in and use the restroom and never buy anything. The restrooms should be for paying customers only. Do you really want to use a restroom after a homeless person's been in there?" She huffs. "Disgusting."

  "If they don't use the restroom, they'll go on the street or in the park. Isn't that worse?"

  "That's the point I was making earlier. They shouldn't be here. The city needs to get kick them out."

  We're at the front of the line now and she places her order. "Pastrami on rye with a thin layer of mustard. And by thin, I mean I should be able to see the bread. If there's more than that, I'll make you redo it."

  The young girl behind the counter nods. "Yes, ma'am. Anything else?"

  "Iced tea, and don't fill the glass with ice. It waters it down. Half ice. Got it?"

  The girl nods again. She seems nervous. I feel the same way. Just a few minutes with Lisa has made me nervous and uptight. I'm not even hungry anymore.

  "I'll have pastrami as well," I tell the girl, adding a smile to help put her at ease. It doesn't seem to help. She keeps glancing at Lisa like she's afraid of her.

  Once we're seated with our sandwiches, Lisa says, "The girl behind the counter should be fired. She's worked here for over a year and I still have to remind her about the mustard."

  "I'm sure she sees a lot of people a day," I say, noticing how the place is packed and there's a line out the door. "It's probably hard to remember everyone's order."

  Lisa smirks. "Aren't you sweet? You should've chosen a different career."

  "What do you mean?"

  "To be a lawyer, you have to be a shark, not a goldfish. You have to demand people treat you the way you want to be treated. You trust no one and you assume everyone has a motive. People lie. Cheat. Steal. It's a sick world and we're just here to make money off it."

  "You really see the world that way?"

  "I see what I know. And what I know is that people are lying, cheating, selfish bastards."

  "I respect your opinion but I choose not to believe that. Isn't that why we're lawyers? To help the wrongly accused?"

  She lets out a laugh. "I'd forgotten how naive people your age can be. I, personally, was never like that, but I knew people like you. Eyes closed to reality. Wanting to live in a fantasy world where only good exists." She crumples up her napkin and puts it over her plate. She only took three bites of her sandwich. The rest remains on her plate, along with the chips she never touched.

  She gets her phone out and texts someone. "So, regarding the Samson case."

  She continues to talk while texting as I struggle to take notes while eating my sandwich.

  At 12:30 we leave and walk back to the office.

  "I really hate that," she says when we're almost at our building.

  "Hate what?"

  "That." She points across the street. "When they dig out of the trash. It's so disgusting."

  I look where she's pointing and see someone pulling something out of the trash can. It's hard to see across the street with the cars going by but it looks like a woman. It's only the second homeless woman I've seen, the first one being the old lady that came in the coffee shop last night. This woman appears to be much younger. She has a navy blue backpack and I watch as she stuffs whatever she pulled from the garbage into her bag.

  "Hurry up," Lisa says, holding the door of our building open.

  "Sorry," I say, hurrying inside.

  "Go ahead without me," she says when we're in the lobby. "I have to call the agency and get a new nanny. I'll see you at our meeting at two."

  I continue to the elevators, relieved to get away from her. I have a stomachache and heartburn and it's not from my sandwich. It's from being around Lisa. She's the most negative person I've ever met. And the most angry. The only time I saw her smile was when she made fun of me for being naive.

  I don't think I'm naive. I know the world is full of bad people but that doesn't mean everyone's that way. Like Zoe from last night. The way she welcomed me the moment I walked in the door? I could've been a horrible person. A criminal. And yet she greeted me with a smile and welcomed me like we were old friends. And she was nice to the homeless lady, even gave her a hug. She's the complete opposite of Lisa and proof that good people exist.

  After work, I race out of the office, wanting to get home and get a workout in. There's a gym in the basement of my building that's not bad for an apartment gym. Exercise is how I relieve stress, and right now, I'm feeling a lot of stress. There's a client meeting tomorrow morning at eight and the boss wants us at the office by seven to prepare for it. I have to read through all the client files tonight, but I don't want to do it here. I'm going to go to that coffee shop again. Maybe I'll see that girl.

  After the gym I shower and eat a quick dinner. At seven I head to the coffee shop. On my way there, I stop suddenly when I see someone coming toward me. It looks like that girl. The one I saw last night. She's a block away so I can't say for sure but I think it's her. She has her hair up today but has on the same long sweater she wore last night.

  Slowing my pace, I get my phone out and pretend to look at it while I wait for her to reach me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when she does. I don't want her to think I'm stalking her.

  When she's a few feet away, I put my phone in my pocket and look up at her. It's definitely the same girl. With the same dark eyes. Same full lips. Same beautiful face.

  "Hey." I smile at her.

  "Hey," she says back, not really looking at me. She continues past me.

  I turn around and catch up to her. "Sorry to bother you but didn't I see you in the coffee shop last night?"

  She stops, her eyes moving over me like she's trying to assess if I'm a threat. Shit. I didn't mean to scare her.

  "What do you want?" she asks, folding her arms over her chest.

  "Nothing. I just remembered you from last night and wanted to say hi."

  She gives me a strange look. "Um, okay. Hi ba
ck." She continues down the street.

  I walk beside her but a few feet away because she still seems wary of me. "I just moved here and I'm trying to learn more about the city. Are you from Denver?"

  "No," she says, still walking.

  "Where are you from?"

  "None of your business."

  Wow. She really doesn't want to talk. And yet when I caught her eye from down the street, I could've sworn she smiled at me. Or maybe she was smiling at someone else. Or just smiling about whatever she was thinking about.

  I should leave her alone but I can't just let her go. Not yet. I've been thinking about her nonstop since I saw her last night. If she goes, I may never see her again.

  "Can I get you a coffee?" I ask. "I'm heading to the coffee shop to do some work but I'd love some company before I dig into reading files."

  She notices my laptop bag. "Where do you work?"

  "At a law firm down the street."

  "I don't like lawyers," she says, picking up her pace.

  "You don't even know me. And I'm barely a lawyer. I just got out of law school. I've only been on the job two days. I'm more like half a lawyer. Maybe not even that. Would you be willing to have coffee with not quite half a lawyer?"

  She laughs, which makes me smile. I made her laugh. I like her laugh. It's soft and gentle, not at all like the harsh persona she's trying to pull off. I don't think she's really like that. I think under the harsh exterior is a good person. Someone who's kind and generous. I know it's strange to say that since I just met her but sometimes you can feel what someone's like without really knowing them. I feel it even more so after being around someone like Lisa. The contrast between Lisa and this girl is like night and day.

  "You like brownies?" I ask, still walking beside her.

  "Yeah. Why?" she asks, not looking at me.

  "The coffee shop has great brownies. If you'll sit with me a few minutes, I'll get you coffee AND a brownie. That's how desperate I am for company."

  She glances at me. "I prefer donuts, specifically apple fritters. They're my favorite. But the coffee shop runs out of them by noon."