“My pleasure. I’m just sorry Sienna bailed on you. By the way, how long is Sam staying?”

“I guess forever.” She laughed. “He applied for permanent residency in the U.S.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Sienna seems to really love him, and he loves her. So, it’s good.”

“What about his family?”

“When his mom and dad divorced a few years back, his mom moved to Germany, and his dad moved to Scotland with the woman he was cheating on his mom with.”

“And his job?”

“Up and quit. He’s going to find work here, eventually.”

Looking in the picnic basket, I saw she had quite a bit of food left over.

“You sure packed a lot for just you and Sienna.”

“Yeah. I packed a few extra things because, on my way home, I’m going to stop and give the rest to Willie and his friends.”

The corners of my mouth curved upwards as I stared into her eyes.

“That’s a good idea. I’m sure they would be very grateful. Would you mind if I came with you?”

“Not at all. By the way, Willie told me that a guy named Sebastian has been stopping by and giving him a few dollars here and there.”

I shrugged. “It’s the least I can do to help him out. You know, I have never forgotten about what it was like for me living in that abandoned house. When I said to you that night that his being homeless was his own fault, I said it out of anger because it reminded me of bad times. All these years, I wouldn’t even look at the homeless people on the street because every time I did, I went back to that time. A time I want to erase from my memory.”

“You shouldn’t want to erase those memories, Sebastian. That period of time in your life made you who you are today. You should embrace it and maybe tell your story to others and inspire them. What you did was amazing. All it took was one person to put you on the right path. People come into our lives for a reason, and they leave our lives for a reason. They only may be here temporarily, but they’re there for a purpose.”

I wanted to reach out and stroke her beautiful brown hair and tell her I knew why she came into my life, but I couldn’t.I didn’t want to rock the boat, so to speak. I wanted to tell her that if she were still dating Corey when she went to London, we would never have met because the thought of having sex with a stranger in a foreign country would never have entered her mind.

“Do you think if we hadn’t seen each other in London, we would have eventually met here in New York?”

She looked down. I could tell my question made her uncomfortable.

“I’m not sure. Why don’t we go and give this food to Willie and the gang?”

“Sure. I’ll call Eli and have him pick us up. It’s a pretty long walk.”

“It’s a beautiful day, though, and the walk is good for us. Besides, if you don’t keep moving, your muscles will tighten up from today, and you won’t be able to get out of bed tomorrow.”

I sighed. “Okay. If you insist.”

We got up from the ground. While she folded the blanket, I grabbed hold of the picnic basket and we walked to where Willie was camping out for the day.

“Hey, Willie,” Chloe spoke as she found him asleep, covered in a blanket on the cement in the alley.

He moaned and then coughed as he tried to open his eyes.

“Willie, are you okay?” I asked as I knelt down beside him.

Chloe placed her hand on his forehead. “He’s burning up.”

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I spoke, “I’ll call 911. He needs to see a doctor.”

“It’s okay, Willie, we’re going to get you some help,” she spoke.