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I nod, feeling oddly flustered. “What are you doing here?”
His smile drops, and he cups the back of his neck, his expression vulnerable. “I live here,” he says, his voice soft. “What brings you here?” His eyes roam over my body, and I wonder if he still thinks I’m a little girl.
“I… my dad told me to, um, to volunteer. Here.” My cheeks heat rapidly and I bite down on my lip. Why am I being so awkward all of a sudden?
He nods, his expression on the wall behind me. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Alanna. It isn’t that safe here. I’ll admit that this is definitely one of the better shelters, and they care a lot more than they do in other places. They guarantee a spot for months at a time if you can prove you need it, and that you’re working hard to reverse your circumstances, but we still have many people with mental health concerns, and it’s not uncommon for them to lash out. Theft is common too. You won’t last a day.”
“Why not?” I ask, indignantly.
He smiles then, disarming me. “You’re too pretty, Alanna. You look too sweet, too easy to take advantage of.”
I cross my arms, and for a moment, Si’s eyes drop to my chest before he looks away. “I think you underestimate me,” I tell him.
Si shakes his head. “It’s not a challenge, Alanna. I’m serious. This is no place for you.”
I bite down on my lip as I consider his words, but my mind is made up.
“We’ll see about that,” I tell Si, before walking away to meet my father. I’ll tell Dad I’ll do it. I’ll volunteer here.
ChapterFive
Alanna
I’m second-guessing myself as I pause in the doorway of the shelter. Being here without Dad makes me feel out of place and uncertain. I’ve never really volunteered before, and I’m worried I won’t do a good job. It’s clear to me that this place means a lot to Dad, and I’m afraid to let him down.
“Alanna!” Ricardo walks up to me with the kindest smile on his face, and I smile back instinctively. There are some people that just truly resonate positivity and hope, and Ricardo is definitely one of those people. “Come in, come in!”
He leads me to a small office near the entrance and offers to make me a cup of tea, which I decline. “I’ll do my best,” I promise him, as soon as we sit down. “You don’t have to look after me or babysit me. I’m not here to be a burden to you.”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “You really are your father’s daughter, aren’t you? When he first walked in here needing a place to stay, he also promised me that he wouldn’t be a burden to me.”
My heart aches for Dad and everything he must have gone through. There’s so much I never knew about him. He’s always been my hero, and Dad has always seemed larger than life to me. When we lost Mom, he took on her role in addition to his own with such ease that he’s always seemed like a superhero to me.
“Dad said that?”
Ricardo nods. “You definitely take after him, but you’ve got your mother’s smile.”
My eyes widen and my heart skips a beat. “You knew my mom?”
Ricardo nods. “Do a good job today, and I’ll tell you a story about your parents, okay?”
I grin. “I was always going to do a great job, but I won’t say no to this.”
“Come on. Let me show you what you’ll be doing today. Our needs shift daily, so the work you’ll do here will never be exactly the same. Today, I’ll have you help with inventorying our canned foods. Lately we have, unfortunately, had some thefts in the facility. We’re switching to a more secure storage system, and we want to create a better ordering system, so we can order more food at better prices further ahead of time. To do that, we first need to know exactly how much we have of everything after the recent theft incidences.”
I follow him through the building, trying my hardest not to stare at the people in the various rooms. The last thing I want to do is make anyone uncomfortable. Dad told me to remember that he often had to sacrifice his pride and dignity when he was homeless, and that it hurt each and every time. He specifically asked me to keep that in mind, and to be careful with my actions and expressions.Just a single pitiful gaze can hurt, Alanna, he said.
The job Ricardo gave me is easy enough, and though it’s slow and boring work, it at least makes me feel like I’m doing something meaningful. As I count the various cans of food they’ve got, my mind keeps drifting to the people that live here… in particular,Si.
How does a guy like him end up here? I know Dad said that it’s easy to lose everything, but it just seems impossible. I may have been young when we first met, but I’m not blind. Just his watch was worth several thousand dollars, unless it was fake, but Si doesn’t seem like he’d bother with fake goods.
I’m still thinking about him as I lock the storage room. I know I need to return the key to Ricardo and go home, but I’m curious about Si. It doesn’t take me long to find him sitting in the corner of a room with a book in his hands.
I smile as I approach him, my heart pounding wildly. “Si!”
He looks up, but instead of the smile I expected, he’s frowning at me, a hint of annoyance in his gaze. My heart sinks, and I draw my shoulders up defensively.
I sit down next to him, despite the fact that he ignores me and continues to read his book. The rejection stings, but I don’t let it discourage me.
