He gives me a half smile. "What are you, in some Jack Kerouac novel?"
I laugh at that. Surprised actually, maybe, that he knows Jack Kerouac, that he reads. I don't know. That all sounds ridiculous, now that I think it. I know nothing about this man.
He works at a hardware store and he took care of my dog and he is big and strong and handsome, and he fills out that winter coat very well. And he apologized. All those things are better than the things I know about most of the men I've met in my life.
"Years ago, I came through this town with my family. And I thought it was the best place in the whole world. I always thought I would come back here one day, if I got a chance, if I could get away." I shrug, and as I do, Hijinx wriggles in my arms, causing the bandages on my arm to pull, making me wince in pain and set him down.
“Are you all right?"
"It's okay." I set Hijinx down, holding his leash tight. "It's just..." I press a hand to my stomach. "It's going to sound crazy, but when I was getting off the train, these guys stole my wallet, and I tried to get it back, which was probably stupid because they were two men and they were bigger than me. And I got sliced by their knife.”
“What? Shit." Bartlett shakes his head. "I didn't know people were getting in knife fights in Home."
“That's why I was at Urgent Care. I got stitches."
“Where?” he asks, worry in his voice.
“It’s not so bad,” I say. But he is already stepping closer, listening with care, concern in his eyes.
I unzip my winter coat, shove off the sleeve, then pull up the cuff of my sweater, showing him the bandage. "Six stitches." I shake my head. I shove down the sweater sleeve, zipping my winter coat.
"You've had a hell of a day," Bartlett says.
I laugh tightly. "I've had hell of a life."
"What are you doing now?" he asks. “It’s about dinner time.”
"Now? I was going to go to the Home Away From Home Bed and Breakfast and see if I could get a room."
"Without your wallet?" he asks. “Not to be too personal, but do you have any money?”
Bartlett clearly is worried for me and my fear dissolves in his presence. For the first time in days, I feel myself relax. A man I just met, who rescued my dog, is making me calm in a way I rarely am.
“They ditched my wallet after taking my cash, but thankfully I have my credit card in my backpack. I still need to go to the police station to get it. The doctor at Homesick Urgent Care told me the clinic would get me a room, though. He felt terrible for what happened. Graham, the police officer who came to take a report, doesn’t think the men who jumped me are from here.”
"Well, to be fair, it wasn’t technically Home where you got attacked. The train station is on the outskirts of town, closer to Burly. Still, this is the worst welcome back to Home I've ever heard of."
I shrug. "It could be worse," I say, "I mean, what if I hadn't found Hijinx tonight? What if you had just taken him with you, and I was here by myself without my dog, and I thought I had lost him?"
Bartlett groans. "You're right. It could have been worse. Still, damn, you got cut by some hoodlums from Burly the same day you rode in on a train, after running away from some life that doesn't sound like it was all that good."
I run a hand through my hair, smiling shyly. "You said something about dinner?"
Bartlett laughs. "Yeah. I think taking you home for dinner would be a way to make up for your bad first impression."
I shake my head. “It wasn’t the first impression. My first impression was incredible. It was the summer I turned ten and I came here with my family for the circus, and it was..."
Bartlett cuts me off. "I remember the circus. Ah, that was amazing. I was 14 that summer. Oh my God, my sister Lemon, she thought she was going to be an acrobat after that circus came through town. I swear to God, my brothers and sisters and me, we spent the rest of that summer doing all sorts of acrobatic shit. And my mom and dad told us if one of us broke a bone, they weren't going to pay for the medical bills; we’d have to use the money in our piggy banks."
I laugh. "Really? That’s hilarious." I realize he has no idea what I meant when I said I came for the circus, because my whole family was, is, the traveling circus, but I'm not going to get into that here. Right now, this man who saved my dog is looking at me like I am someone worth seeing, and I’ve never felt like that before.