“Oh! Great. We can always use another set of hands. What is your specialty? Gift wrapping?”
“No.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t exactly getting ‘master of the tape dispenser’ vibes from you. Well, I’m about to hit the street to try to drum up some donations, if you want to come. I’m Steph, by the way.”
“Steph,” I repeated.
“Stephanie Bovalino,” she said, tucking her clipboard to thrust a hand out toward me.
Something told me that touching this woman was not a great idea. But I took it anyway.
“Venezio.”
“Venezio. That’s a unique name. Well, Venezio, welcome to the team.”
“Are you in charge around here?” I asked, not seeing anyone else around who seemed to have any sort of power.
“That’s me. The new director.” She reached up, running a hand through her hair, making it fall messily around her face. A nervous tic. Like maybe she wasn’t comfortable in the role yet. She seemed young for it. Probably inexperienced. And worried about what everyone thought of her because of it.
“Yeah, wasn’t it some old guy before?”
“Irving, yeah. He passed away around Thanksgiving, unfortunately. This place was seconds away from closing down without him.”
“Until you stepped in.”
“That makes it sound a lot more heroic than it is.”
“Dunno. Giving gifts to kids who wouldn’t have any otherwise, seems like the kinda shit a hero does.”
“Maybe. The problem being that Irving was the one with all the connections in the community. And me, well, the only connections I have are at a law firm and a hospital.”
“You a lawyer or a nurse?”
“Neither. My best friend’s girlfriend is a nurse. And my mom was in and out of the hospital a lot before she passed. But, yeah, the nurses and aides aren’t exactly rolling in it. I shook downall the doctors I could, though. And literally every twenty bucks really adds up.”
She gave me this whole story as we walked across the warehouse.
Getting to the coat rack, she put the clipboard between her legs so her hands were free to shrug into a white puffer coat that was so long it hung just below her knees.
“So where are we going?” I asked. I told myself it was because my job was to get close to her, to get to know her, to see if she was someone we could grease the palms of. But, honestly, I just wanted to tag along. Fuck knows for what reason.
“Upper West Side,” she said, yanking a Santa hat down on her head from a reusable grocery bag full of them. “We go hang out outside of the fancy grocery stores, jewelry places, gyms, and spas, and basically beg the rich people to give a damn about shelter kids.”
It was a big ask in a city where people literally walked past homeless people on the street every day without giving them a second thought.
But people tended to care about kids at Christmas.
“You have to play the part too,” Steph said, going back into the bag to grab another Santa hat, then reaching up to shove it down over my head. “There. Much better.”
Somehow I doubted that.
But I didn’t pull it off, either.
“Ready?”
“Sure,” I agreed, falling into step with her as she grabbed an oversized purse, then wrenched open the door and moved outside. “So, where do you put the money?” I asked as we walked.
“I mean, a lot of people write a check. Who even carries cash anymore?” Me. I carried cash. Always.
