“How long have you been living at the woman’s shelter?”
“A few months.” I could tell she was uncomfortable, but I needed to get to the bottom of things. Based on how we met, I knew she was having some financial troubles, but when she gave me the address to the shelter, I realized it was much deeper than I thought.
“You don’t have any friends or family you can stay with? What made you come back home if you didn’t have a place to live?”
“Because I had nowhere else to go. I came home from jail with nothing except my clothes and a few dollars. Life has been giving me its ass to kiss, and I’m just trying to survive. The women’s shelter is temporary until I get on my feet, but it was a better option than sleeping in my car.”
“Well, what about her father? He doesn’t have any family that could help you?”
“Do you think I would be staying in a shelter if I had another option? I understand someone like you probably has no idea what it’s like to struggle, but some of us aren’t so lucky. My mother is dead, my father is unknown, and my daughter was conceived from a one-night stand with a man I don’t know. Do you have anything else you want to know?”
“You’ve got a lot of mouth for someone who needs my help. I was trying to better understand your situation. Promise is young, and I don’t like the idea of her being raised in a shelter. No child should have to live like that.”
“And you think I don’t know that? Don’t you think it kills me to know my child has to go without because of the choices I made? I barely sleep at night because I’m too busy watching her sleep. What do you want me to do? Give her up for adoption?”
“I never said that. I was only expressing my concern.”
“Well, you can keep your concern to yourself. This is the reason I didn’t want your help in the first place. People think they can judge you or tell you what to do when they help you.”
“You’re taking this the wrong way. I’m not even the type of person to go out of my way to help people. I’m doing this because I genuinely care about what happens to you both.”
“Well, I never asked for that. I don’t need you to take pity on me or try to insert yourself into my personal life. That’s not your place,” she huffed with her chest rising up and down.
“Don’t you think that’s selfish. I mean, you have a daughter to think about. Everything isn’t about you and what makes you comfortable.”
“You can save the lectures for a bitch who wants to hear them. I don’t want your charity, pity, or anything else. Everybody wasn’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth, so excuse me if I don’t have it all together. I appreciate the job, but what goes on in my personal life is none of your business. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get going. Curfew is at eight, and I’m not trying to miss it.”
Peace walked back over to her car and climbed back into the driver’s seat. I didn’t like the way she was talking to me, but I decided to let her make it because she had enough on her plate. If she didn’t want my help, then I would let her figure things out on her own.
peace graham
. . .
“Where the hell is my bracelet?”I whispered to myself after I went through my things for the third time. I knew for a fact that I had set it in my bathroom before I left. The only reason I took it off was that I didn’t want it to get wet while I cleaned the sink. No one had access to our rooms except the staff, which was why I kept searching.
After I tore my room up for another hour, I finally gave up. Tears threatened to fall, but I refused to let them. Instead, I decided to head to the front desk to see if anyone could answer my questions. There were cameras everywhere, so someone should be able to access the footage. The last time I saw my bracelet was this morning, so they wouldn’t have to look very far.
“Hey. Is Denise in? I need to speak to one of the managers.” The girl at the front desk looked up at me as if I were interrupting her, but I didn’t care.
“I’ll check to see if she’s busy.” She got up and headed towards the little office behind her. I kept to myself so I rarely had any issues, but I had a feeling today would be different.
“Hey, Peace. What can I do for you, sweetheart?” Denise was an older black woman. She always came in with a smile, ready to help anyone in need.
“Hey, I apologize for interrupting you, but I need help with a situation.”
“It’s no problem, love. What’s going on?” I could tell she genuinely cared about what was going on, and I appreciated that.
“I set my tennis bracelet on my bathroom counter this morning, but when I came home, it was gone. I’ve turned my room upside down trying to find it, and it’s nowhere to be found. I know for a fact it was on my counter, and no one has been in my room besides the cleaning ladies. I was wondering if there was any way to check the cameras. The last thing I want is to falsely accuse someone of theft, but my bracelet has sentimental meaning, and I would really like to have it back,” I explained.
Denise gave me a sympathetic smile before she responded to me.
“Oh, no. I’m sorry this has happened. I would be happy to speak with the security staff to see if they can retrieve footage from earlier today. Is it at all possible that you may have left it at work or in your car?” she asked. I wanted to go off, but it wouldn’t get me anywhere. She had every right to ask questions when I was essentially accusing her staff of theft.
“No, it’s not. I wear it every day, but I was running late this morning. I accidentally spilled setting powder in the sink, and I wanted to clean it up instead of leaving it for someone else. I removed my bracelet and set it on the counter while I cleaned the sink. In normal cases, I would have grabbed it before I left, but since I needed to get to work, I forgot all about it. I’m sure whoever grabbed it did so by mistake. All I want is my bracelet.” On the outside, I appeared calm, but on the inside, I was ready tobreak down. My mother purchased that bracelet, and it was one of the only things I had of her.
“Okay, sweety. I can see this means a great deal to you, and I would like to give you some peace of mind. Give me until tomorrow to get some answers, and we’ll see what we need to do to rectify this. Hopefully, it turns up before then.” Denise placed her hand on mine before she retreated to her office.
It wasn’t the answer I was looking for, but I was satisfied that someone was working on it. I turned to head back upstairs when I saw a group of women talking in the common area. It wasn’t anyone I was cool with, but something caught my attention. I noticed the sparkling jewelry on Marissa’s wrist, and my stomach sank to my feet.
