I pulled back my fist, and I threw a punch. I aimed for her right eye. I hit what I aimed for. She cried out in shock and pain. I stood there in a defensive stance. I kept her and her friend in sight, while making sure I could see Hope. One of the other ladies from the bakery was holding her in her arms.
“Assault! Assault, someone call the police. This woman just attacked me,” she shrieked. People who had been passing by stopped and were staring at us with their mouths hanging open. Shit, what was I going to do now? If they threw my ass in jail, who would take care of Hope? And even if I had someone to watch her, I didn’t have money for bail. I quickly backed away and then turned to get Hope.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause a ruckus. Thank you for holding her. I’ve gotta go.” I plucked my backpack off the ground, took Hope out of the woman’s arms, and started to move toward the alley up the street. The dark-haired woman stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“Please, don’t leave. I know the cops. They won’t listen to a word those two say. We heard most of what they were saying. I’d have decked her five minutes ago. Come on, let’s go inside. If they call the cops, we’ll tell them how that one,” she pointed to the one I’d punched, “assaulted you first. That makes what you did self-defense. Isn’t that right, Jocelyn?” she asked one of the women with her.
The woman who I assumed was Jocelyn, because she nodded, smiled. “Yes, you’re right, Madisen. It was self-defense. If she calls the cops, I work for a great lawyer. We’ll call him. How about we go inside? Come on. We’ll sit down, relax, eat decadent pastries, and talk.” She gestured for me to go ahead of her.
I did as she asked. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it was her calmness and her tone. She had that mom’s voice, though she didn’t look that old to me. She probably had small children like mine. Madisen turned to the two bitches, who were still crying and threatening to call the cops.
“If you don’t leave, I’ll have you arrested for loitering. And the next time you get the urge for pastries, go somewhere else. People who are mean to kids don’t need to come to my place.” The two women gasped, then scurried off like dogs with their tails between their legs. I gave a tiny giggle.
Inside, I saw there were only two other customers. Madisen and Jocelyn went behind the counter. I sat down with the others and held myself stiffly. What was I supposed to do? One of the women leaned closer to me. I hugged Hope tighter on my lap. She was young, maybe in her very early twenties. “Hi, my name is Devyn. I’m Jocelyn’s daughter. This is Jessica and Zara. Those two are Jocelyn and Madisen.” She pointed to the ladies as she said their names.
I had to admit, they were a diverse group of women, who were all gorgeous in their own ways. I felt drab next to them, with my dark hair and eyes. I gave her a tentative smile. How can I be polite but still get out of here before the cops showed up?
“Hello, I’m Ilara. This is my daughter, Hope. It’s nice to meet all of you. Thank you for coming to my defense out there. I appreciate it. I’d love to stay, but I have to run. I have an appointment. I need to go.” I stood up with Hope in my arms. She gave me an irritated whine. She’d almost been asleep and was upset that I had disturbed her. I rubbed her back.
“Ilara, what a beautiful name. Please, sit. Just for a minute. We’ve seen you looking in the window a couple of times. Are you new to the area?” Jessica asked me sweetly.
“I am. I’m actually just passing through. I was looking for a place to settle. I thought this might be it, but not with those kinds of people around. Again, I appreciate your help out there, but we can’t stay. It was nice to meet all of you. Goodbye and have a great day.” I headed for the door. They kept protesting us leaving, then told me to come back soon. I just nodded and then ducked outside. Thankfully, those other women were gone. I rushed down the street. I kept checking to be sure no one was paying attention. When I saw it was safe, I quickly ran into the alley and got into my car as fast as I could. God, only I would run into this kind of trouble.
I started up my car and put it in drive. I’d move and park somewhere else while Hope slept. It would give me time to think about what my next move was. My hopes of settling in Hunters Creek looked like a bust. I shouldn’t stay and chance running into those cows again, or worse, have Hope exposed to more of that attitude. I’d just have to pick another town. A weary sigh escaped. I was so damn tired of moving, of running. Would I ever be able to settle in one place? It didn’t look like it.
I found a campground just outside of town. It was out of the way. I parked under a shade tree and stayed there as Hope slept. What was I going to do? I was almost out of money. I couldn’t afford to be driving all over the place, looking for somewhere to settle. Hunters Creek has been the one place to speak to me the most, so far. Should I overlook today’s incident and keep trying to find a job here anyway?
However, if I did find one, then what was I going to do with Hope while I worked? In my last town, I had a sweet older neighbor lady who watched her. She charged me next to nothing since she already watched her grandkids. I knew when Hope was with her, she was safe and well taken care of. God, why did everything have to be so damn hard?
All I wanted was to take care of myself and my daughter, to give her what she needed and to raise her to be a healthy, strong woman. Why was life always slapping me down? Nothing had been the same since that night almost two and a half years ago. That’s when everything went wrong. I shied away from going down that memory lane. It wouldn’t do me any good and would only cause me to have anxiety. I needed to stay focused on the here and now.
After Hope woke from her nap, I took her to the bathroom at the campground. I lucked out, and it had showers, so we were able to wash and change clothes. That meant I was on the last set of clean clothes for both of us. I’d have to go to the laundromat I saw in town. Might as well get it done and feed Hope.
Back in Hunters Creek, I found the laundromat I’d seen the other day. I hauled in our basket of dirty clothes and Hope. She sat quietly, playing with her bunny as I got the washer loaded. I inserted the precious coins I’d been saving and sat down to wait. She crawled on my lap and pointed to her diaper bag. I knew what she wanted but pretended I didn’t. She frowned and tugged on my shirt.
“What is it, Hope? Do you want something?”
She nodded. I waited. Sometimes she tried to point and not speak. I wanted her to use her words. Finally, she sighed and said in that tiny baby voice of hers, that I loved, “Book.”
“Do you want Momma to read a book to you?”
She nodded, then added, “Yes, pwease.”
“Good girl. Which one?” I pulled out the four I had. She’d heard them hundreds of times, but never got tired of them. She pointed to the one, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I shifted her on my lap and we got down to reading. By the time the laundry was all done, we’d read all four books, and she’d played with her toys.
After loading our clean clothes into the car, I could tell it was time to feed her dinner. She was starting to fuss. She only fussed when she woke up before she was ready or when she was hungry. I wanted to get her something better to eat than drive-thru food. I saw a grocery store. Surely, I could find her something to eat there.
I passed up the better produce and went to the fruit that was on sale, since it was older. I found a few things that weren’t in too bad of a shape, then I went to the dairy aisle. Maybe I could find her some milk and yogurt. I was checking out the different yogurts when a voice behind me made me jump.
“Hi, Ilara, it’s nice to see you again. Are you trying to figure out which yogurt to try? I love the Greek kind myself.”
I turned to find Madisen standing there smiling at me. I smiled back. “Yeah, just looking for the one with the least sugar. I don’t want Hope to eat too much sugar. Doing your shopping for the night or the week?” I asked to be sociable. She had a cart that had several things in it. The steak made my mouth water. Her cart was full of produce and other good things. I wasn’t seeing a lot of junk food.
“I just had to grab some things before I went home. Rebel is home watching Moira and I know he’s probably starved. She’s easy, since she’s still on breast milk and just started baby food, but he’s a grown man and needs real food.” She laughed.
Rebel? That was an unusual name. I wondered how he got it. He must be her husband because I saw a wedding band on her left hand. I kept myself from commenting on his name, but I did ask her about Moira. “Oh, how old is your daughter?”
“She’s five and a half months old. If I don’t get home soon, her daddy will have filled her up with baby food. He thinks she needs to eat more. Men. I tried to explain that she’s not going to need food like him, but you know how they are. They think everyone eats a ton like them.”