Page 38 of Home With You

"Gladys!" Raine says, a hint of pink coloring her cheeks.

"Smitten, huh?" I smile at Raine.

"She's kidding," Raine says. "Gladys, what are you doing up? I thought you were resting."

"I was, but then I heard talking and wondered who was out here."

"Need some help?" I ask, offering Gladys my hand.

"Thank you." She takes both my hands as she struggles to get out of the tent. It's hard for someone my age to crawl out of a tent. I can only imagine how hard it must be for Gladys, who is probably in her seventies.

Gladys looks like someone's grandma with all-white hair, a round face, and a kind smile. She's wearing green polyester pants and a dingy white button-up shirt with two cardigan sweaters layered over it, one pink and one yellow.

"How are you feeling?" I ask, helping her to the lawn chair that's set up next to the tent.

"A little better," she says, coughing as she sits down.

"Gladys, it's cold out," Raine says. "You should really stay in the tent."

Gladys ignores her, her eyes on me, still smiling. "Raine said you like to work on your computer at the coffee shop."

"I wouldn't say I like to," I say with a laugh. "It's more like I have to. My job doesn't always end at five. Sometimes I have to bring work home."

"Which is why he needs to be going," Raine says, coming up beside me. "Bye, Miles."

I chuckle. "I wasn't planning to leave. We haven't decided about dinner."

"Dinner?" Gladys asks.

I look at Raine. "You didn't tell her about dinner?"

Raine clears her throat. "I knew she wasn't feeling well and I wasn't going to leave her all alone. Dinner wasn't going to work."

"He asked you to dinner?" Gladys asks Raine.

"I asked you both," I say. "But apparently you didn't get the invite."

Raine gives Gladys a look to go along with whatever she's thinking, which I'm guessing is that she wants out of this dinner. But why? I understand if she's not interested in dating me but we could at least be friends. So why won't she go to dinner with me?

"I'd love to go," Gladys says, "but as Raine said, I've been struggling with this cough and really should stay here and rest. But Raine, you should go." She looks at her. "There's that restaurant down the street that just opened. The one you keep saying smells so good when you walk by?"

"Which one is that?" I ask, not sure what she's talking about.

"It doesn't matter," Raine says, walking back to the tent. "We're not going." She zips the tent closed because the wind kept blowing the flaps around, making a loud noise.

"Raine, dear, just go," Gladys says. "You can walk there and be back in an hour. I'll be fine for an hour."

"Or we could somewhere else," I say. "I have my car so wherever you want to go. Doesn't matter to me."

"I think it's best if you walked," Gladys says with a smile, but the hint of concern in her eye tells me she's not sure she can trust me. She wants us to walk because she doesn't want Raine in my car.

"Then we'll go to the place down the street," I say with a smile, trying to appear friendly and not the least bit threatening. I didn't think I was, or even appeared to be, but I guess when you're on the streets, everyone seems like a threat.

"Gladys, wait there," Raine says. "I'll be right back." She comes over and grabs my arm, then says in a low tone, "Let's talk on the street."

We walk out of the alley and she continues down the street until we're just past the coffee shop.

"I told you I couldn't go," she says, her hands on her hips.

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