Page 4 of The Billionaire and His Driver
It looked like a thousand other biscuits to Ronny. “Very edible, yes.”
Brina smiled. He was one of those educated homeless people like her, she figured. She wondered what was his story? But she learned the hard way to never get deep with anybody in these streets. That drew suspicion on you. That drew unwelcome attention onto yourself. Besides, she didn’t really give a squat about his story. She was too busy licking her lips. She couldn’t wait to devour that biscuit. But still. “Have you had something to eat today?” she asked him.
He hadn’t eaten a thing all day. But it wasn’t even noon yet, so that wasn’t unusual. “No,” he said.
She didn’t want to do it, but no way was she going to let him starve while she had something to eat. She careful broke it in two. “Here’s half,” she said and reached it out to him.
Ronny found her gesture so odd that it caught him off guard. He stared at the biscuit.
“Go on,” she said. “Take it.”
“No, no, I couldn’t.”
“Don’t make the mistake I made. I was offered half a sandwich like a few days ago and I said no, figuring I’d get something to eat later you know? I was pretty sure I’d get a labor pool gig that day, get some money, and then get me some food to eat. But they didn’t have any jobs, at least none they put me on, and I ended up not having anything to eat all that day. Take it,” she insisted. “You may not get any more food for the rest of the day. You know how that goes.”
Ronny was stunned. Did she think he was homeless too? But even more importantly to him: was she homeless? “Are you saying that you don’t have a roof over your head?”
When he said that, Brina looked up and noticed the rain had stopped. Which was good because she really didn’t want her hair messed up for her interviews coming up tomorrow and the next day. “The rain’s stopped,” she said.
“Answer my question,” Ronny said in a way so authoritarian that it caused Brina to smile at him.
“This isn’t the army,” she said.
Ronny smiled, even though it still concerned him. “But are you saying you don’t have a roof over your head?”
“I’ve got one. They put me up in this halfway house after I got out, but you have to supply your own food. I’ve been getting day jobs here and there waiting for my real interviews to come up, but everything’s dried up the last few days. My food ran out. But take it,” she said, shoving the half biscuit closer to him. “You’ll thank me later.”
Ronny was indeed hungry now that food had been shoved in his face, and he could tell she wasn’t going to stop until he took that biscuit from her. So he took it.
She smiled as she bit into her half. “It’s good,” she said approvingly. “It’s homemade. It’s real good.”
Ronny ate the half of biscuit. And she was right: it was actually very tasty. But wasshegoing to be alright? “You said they put you up in a halfway house after you got out? Out of what? Rehab?” Was she a druggie?
She smiled again. “No silly. I wasn’t in rehab. I just got out of the penitentiary.”
For some reason, that news shocked him. “Prison? You were in prison?”
He saw a look appear in her eyes, but he couldn’t discern what it was. She nodded her head. “They gave me three years, but I got out in two. I got out on what they call good behavior.”
“Let me guess: You’re innocent right? You didn’t do it?”
She knew everybody said that, and he was being facetious about it, so she didn’t bother to give him the satisfaction of seeing her the way he saw every ex-con. She said nothing about it.
“How do you eat on the days you do find work?” Ronny asked her.
“Like I’m eating now,” said Brina as she continued to devour her share of the biscuit. Then she noticed, across the street at a bar, a merchant placing aHelp Wantedsign in her store window. “God makes a way,” she added, and began getting up. “That lady just put aHelp Wantedsign out,” she said as she quickly finished her biscuit.
But Ronny wasn’t ready for her to leave. “I thought you said you had interviews lined up.”
“I do. But I gotta work until they come through. Can sometimes take a month or even longer before they offer you the job. I’ll see you around,” she said, and began hurrying across the street.
“Be careful!” he angrily yelled at her when a car nearly hit her. He thought he was going to have a heart attack when she dodged that bullet. Then his heart dropped again when inher continued haste she was nearly hit by yet another car. But although those drivers blew their horns and gave her the finger, she seemed singularly focused. She went up to the merchant that was now sweeping around her establishment, and she and Brina talked. And then they went inside. As if she just talked herself into a position. Which Ronny was pleased to know.
But her absence and the continued stares he realized he was still getting, reminded him that the rain had stopped, and he was free to go.
He stood back up, stretching to prepare himself for the long jog back to his vehicle. He tried to wait around to see if she would come back out looking happy or if thatHelp Wantedsign was removed, as if he could then worry less about her. But no such luck. And his lingering only made him feel silly. He didn’t even know her name. Didn’t know anything about her, except that she was a criminal. What on earth was he thinking?
He took off running again. He couldn’t get away from there fast enough.
