Chapter 2 - He Came Back
Marin nearly dropped the coffee pot.
Adrian looked very different when he wasn't half-conscious in an alley.
Dark charcoal suit.
Black overcoat.
Fresh bandage hidden beneath his shirt.
Controlled expression.
Two men remained beside the sedan.
Everyone in Earl's Diner noticed him.
Marin's manager, Dale, leaned through the kitchen window.
“Friend of yours?”
“No.”
“He's staring at you.”
“I'm aware.”
Adrian entered.
The bell above the door jingled.
Marin approached his table.
“What are you doing here?”
“Coffee.”
“We sell that.”
“Good.”
She folded her arms.
“You could get coffee anywhere.”
“I wanted this coffee.”
“You've never had this coffee.”
“Then I'm taking a risk.”
Marin stared at him.
Adrian stared back.
Finally, she poured him a cup.
“Two dollars.”
He placed a five on the counter.
She returned three.
His eyebrow lifted.
“Seriously?”
“You don't get special prices because you were bleeding yesterday.”
“I wasn't complaining.”
He drank.
His face remained expressionless.
Marin waited.
“Well?”
“Terrible.”
“I told you.”
“You absolutely did not.”
“I was thinking it.”
He almost smiled.
Then his expression changed.
“Sit down.”
“I'm working.”
“Two minutes.”
“No.”
“Marin.”
She leaned toward him.
“Whatever this is, I don't want it.”
“You saved my life.”
“I drove you three blocks.”
“You stopped.”
She went quiet.
Adrian lowered his voice.
“People saw me in that alley.”
Marin's stomach tightened.
“Is that supposed to scare me?”
“No. It's supposed to explain why I'm here.”
“Explain.”
“Someone may come asking what you saw.”
“I saw a hurt man.”
“If anyone asks, that's all you remember.”
“That actually is all I remember.”
“Good.”
Marin looked toward the sedan.
“Who are you?”
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Then Dale appeared.
“Marin!”
She turned.
“What?”
“Your phone's ringing again. School.”
Her face changed instantly.
She hurried behind the counter.
“Hello?”
Adrian watched.
“Yes, this is Ivy's mother.”
A pause.
“What happened?”
Another pause.
“Is she okay?”
Marin grabbed her coat.
“I'll be there.”
She hung up.
Dale frowned.
“You leave again, don't bother coming back.”
“My daughter fell at school.”
“Marin, Friday you left early because she was sick.”
“She had a fever.”
“I have a business.”
“And I have a child.”
“You also have rent.”
Marin froze.
Dale pointed toward the door.
“Choose.”
Adrian slowly set down his coffee.
Marin looked at Dale.
Then removed her apron.
“My daughter.”
“Then you're fired.”
The diner went silent.
Marin swallowed.
“Fine.”
She walked out.
Adrian followed.
“Marin.”
“Not now.”
“I'll drive you.”
“No.”
“Your car has a flat.”
She stopped.
“What?”
One rear tire was completely flat.
Marin stared upward.
“Of course.”
Adrian opened the sedan door.
“Get in.”
She hesitated.
“It's your daughter.”
That decided it.
---
Ivy was sitting in the nurse's office with an ice pack against her forehead.
“Mom!”
Marin immediately crouched.
“Hey, bug.”
“I fell.”
“I heard.”
“I didn't cry.”
“It's okay if you did.”
“I only cried a little.”
“That's okay too.”
Ivy noticed Adrian standing in the doorway.
“Who's he?”
Marin looked over.
“A man who needs better hobbies.”
Adrian's mouth twitched.
Ivy studied him.
“You're really tall.”
“So I'm told.”
“Are you Mom's friend?”
“No,” Marin answered.
“Yes,” Adrian said simultaneously.
Marin glared at him.
Ivy grinned.
“Which one?”
“Your mother is still deciding.”
On the drive home, Ivy talked enough for all three of them.
She told Adrian about school, dinosaurs, her missing purple crayon, and the neighbor's cat.
Adrian listened.
Actually listened.
Then Ivy asked, “Do you have kids?”
Silence filled the car.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Ivy,” Marin warned.
“What? I'm asking.”
Adrian looked through the window.
“I never had anyone to have them with.”
Ivy considered that.
“You could get a dog.”
Marin covered her mouth.
Adrian looked completely serious.
“That's an excellent backup plan.”
When they reached Marin's building, Adrian stepped out.
Marin faced him.
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
She started inside.
“Marin.”
She turned.
“I heard what happened at the diner.”
“No.”
“I haven't offered anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I know someone hiring.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“For what?”
“Housekeeping. Office work. Whatever you're comfortable with.”
“Your company?”
“One of them.”
“Doing what?”
“Property management.”
“Is that the polite term?”
Adrian's expression hardened slightly.
“You're smarter than is convenient.”
“I have a kid. Convenient stopped being an option years ago.”
He handed her a business card.
MORETTI HOLDINGS
Marin stared at it.
“I don't want charity.”
“Then work.”
“I don't want your money because I saved you.”
“Then don't take money for saving me. Take money for doing a job.”
She looked at him.
“Why me?”
“Because yesterday you had access to thousands of dollars while I couldn't stop you.”
He paused.
“And you returned every dollar.”
Adrian opened the car door.
“I need people I can trust.”
Marin looked at the card again.
“I'm not promising anything.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
He climbed into the sedan.
Then Ivy leaned around Marin.
“Bye, Adrian!”
Adrian looked toward her.
Something unexpectedly gentle crossed his face.
“Bye, Ivy.”
The sedan pulled away.
Marin looked down at the card.
She had no job.
Forty-three dollars.
A daughter depending on her.
And an offer from a man she'd found bleeding in an alley.
“This is a terrible idea,” she whispered.
Ivy took her hand.
“Are we getting pizza?”
Marin laughed.
“No.”
“Then today is terrible.”
May you like
But by three o'clock that afternoon, Marin had called the number.
---
