Most of All You: A Love Story(57)

God, we were all just half-naked nomads, moving from one temporary situation to another. It was exhausting. And pitiful.

A truck pulled up next to me, blocking out the sun. I squinted up at the driver. George. Blowing out a breath, I pulled myself up and made my way to the driver’s side window of his truck.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, George.”

George tilted his head. “No, I don’t imagine you expect much at all, do you, Ellie?”

I blew out a breath, smoothing a few pieces of hair back that had escaped my ponytail. I looked off into the distance unseeing, feeling sapped of strength. Sapped of the will to be anything but honest. “No, I guess I don’t.” Never have. Never will. Hope is too dangerous.

“I take it things didn’t go well in there.”

“No, they didn’t.”

George was silent for a moment, looking off into the distance before focusing back on me. “Dominic’s moved in with me temporarily.”

“Okay.” I didn’t know how I felt about that. Didn’t really want to think about Dominic at all at the moment.

He cocked his head to the other side of his truck. “Want a ride?”

“Where to?”

“Home.”

My eyes lingered on George for a moment before I nodded slowly.

“Need some help getting in?”

“No, I can manage.” I went around the front of George’s truck, slid my crutches behind the front seat, and used the small step to help me climb up into the passenger side. He pulled out of the parking lot, and I looked over my shoulder as the Platinum Pearl grew smaller and smaller. Some instinct in my gut told me it was the last time I’d ever be there, and I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. I really had no other employment options and virtually no skills that didn’t include my naked body. I leaned my head back on the seat and let George determine exactly what road led home.

We drove in relative silence, and I was glad because I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept more than half an hour the night before, and I took the opportunity to rest my eyes as the whir of the truck lulled me half to sleep. I was too drained to think of anything much at all and was grateful for the reprieve from my own desperate thoughts, grateful that the impact of losing my job on top of everything else seemed like nothing more than a distant worry … at the moment anyway. I knew the feeling was temporary, and so I took advantage of the calm it provided while it lasted.

When we pulled up in front of a small ranch house on a quiet residential street in Morlea, I looked over at George, confused. He nodded his head toward the house. “Come on. We’re not going in the house. Just the garage and I’ll leave it wide open. Dominic’s at work.”

“What are we doing?”

“Follow me.”

I got out of the truck hesitantly, grabbing my crutches and looking around at the tranquil, tree-lined street. A woman walked by, a small beagle on a leash trotting next to her. She smiled and called out a greeting to George, and he called back a hello.

George opened his garage and walked inside, calling my name. I approached tentatively and saw that it was a clean space, smaller than Gabriel’s, but with a similar work counter taking up the entirety of one wall, an old refrigerator humming in the back. In the middle of the space there was a punching bag hanging from the ceiling.

I stepped inside. “George, what are we doing?”

“I’m gonna teach you how to defend yourself.”

“From who? Dominic?”

George had been hitting the bag lightly but now dropped his arms, looking at me with an expression that spoke of disappointment, regret maybe. “Dominic’s not a bad kid, Ellie, not really, but yeah, him, too.” He sighed, looking older than I’d thought him before. “Not all men will take advantage of you just because they have the opportunity, but you gotta learn to spot the ones who might and then stay away. You got mixed up with the wrong crowd, Ellie girl.”

I made a scoffing sound in the back of my throat. “Life mixed me up with the wrong crowd.”

“I don’t doubt it. But life also brought you Gabriel.” He eyed me for a minute, and the way he was looking at me made me feel exposed in some way as if he understood more about me than he really had reason to. “Now that you know the difference, stay away from the wrong crowd.” He paused. “Even so, every once in a while, someone’s gonna surprise you, and not in a good way.” Right. Dominic. “That’s when you gotta know how to deck ’em so they don’t get up again.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to teach me how to fight?”

“Yup.”

“George, what’s that going to do?”

“It’s going to help you see that you don’t have to take it. I think, Ellie girl, that you’ve been taking it for a long, long time. Am I right?”

“What choice have I had?” I muttered. I didn’t know what to make of this man standing in front of me.

“Maybe not many good ones. I’m going to open up the options for you here. Come on.” He bent down and picked something up and threw them at me. I caught them against my chest with one hand, looking down. Boxing gloves. The whole situation was ludicrous.

“I’m on crutches.”

“Are you able to put a little weight on your leg yet?”