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I try to suppress a grimace. From the little I know about homeless shelters, I’ve picked up they can get lawless when the lights go out.
“It was maybe midnight when they jumped me. Not sure how many. They took—” His voice breaks, and I have to press my fist against my lips to keep a sob at bay. “They took my backpack. And your dad’s jacket. I’m sorry, Ms. Pierce.”
A tear leaks out of the corner of his swollen eye.
“Don’t worry about that.” How I’ve kept myself from crying up to this point is a mystery to me. “There’s nothing you need to apologize for.”
He rests his forehead in his hands, staring at the desk in front of him. “One of them knocked me out. One of the volunteers woke me up. School had already started, and I didn’t have any of my homework, and I just couldn’t see C-Craig, l-like this.”
My arms ache from the need to wrap the young man in an embrace. There’s nothing I want more in the world than to make him feel safe and cared for. But I’m also terrified that any sudden move will have him running from me.
“So you came here? You’ve been here all day?”
Jamie nods, still not looking at me.
Before I make any decisions, there’s a piece of the story I don’t have. I’m afraid to ask for it.
“You said your dad kicked you out. What about your mom? Is she in the picture?”
“She does whatever Dad says. He’s the law. She follows it.”
Damn. Damn it all to the archives of hell.
“Okay,” I say more to myself than to him. Plans, solutions, fixes as temporary as a damp Band-Aid present themselves in my mind. At last, I settle on the most sturdy, even if it doesn’t take much of the future into account. Jamie needs helpnow, and I can give it to him.
“I want you to stay with me, Jamie. You don’t have to go back to that shelter.”
“I can’t…”
“You can. I have a couch, and pillows, and blankets, and food. You can sleep safe.” How long has it been since he’s slept somewhere without worrying what would happen the next morning, or even during the night? Even one night of that is too long. “If not for yourself, then do this for me. I’ll worry until I’m ill if I don’t know where you are tonight. Just stay over tonight, and we can figure out how to move forward tomorrow morning. All right?”
Finally, I get a nod out of him. Briefly, I wonder if his agreement only came from exhaustion, but I’ll take what I can get.
“Good. That’s settled. You stay here until the end of my shift, and then we’ll head to my place. I’m going to grab you some ice for your face. Be warned, if you sneak off, I will spend the entire night scouring the streets for you. Don’t test me.”
Somehow, Jamie manages a half-smile, even as pain lingers in his eyes and movements.
But he doesn’t leave.
For the rest of my shift, I circle past Jamie’s desk regularly, making sure he’s still there. He is, although at one point I find him with his head down. Worried, I approach, only to realize he’s asleep. I leave him, and when I spot Daniel the security guard approaching him I grab the man’s arm.
“He’s had a rough day. Can we just let him sleep?”
Daniel glances down at my grip then covers my hand with his, giving a friendly squeeze.
“Sure, Summer. I’ll leave him be.”
“Thank you.”
My mind is so hyper-focused on Jamie that I don’t realize until fifteen minutes before the end of the day that Cole is supposed to pick me up. I still need to figure out how to buy a new car without destroying my savings. The need hasn’t felt urgent, when most days Cole declares he’s going to pick me up from work, and then we spend the evening, sometimes the night together.
I may or may not have a toothbrush at his place.
But today, the situation poses a slight problem. I’m going to have to tell Cole my plan, and I’m going to have to hope that Jamie doesn’t shy away from exposing his vulnerability to another person.
Damn. What a day.
After throwing my purse over my arm and locking my office door, I go to collect Jamie. The teenager moves carefully, and I wonder how many more bruises he’s sporting.
