13. Leo
Leo
Lucy is looking at me like I’ve sprouted another head.
I don’t care. She can think I’ve lost my mind. There’s no way I’m letting her sleep in her car.
I can’t believe she’s been doing this for a year. Living in her car. Barely getting by.
I want to ask her a million questions. Why isn’t she living with her parents? Where are her friends? Why aren’t they offering to help her? Does she have siblings? How did her dog end up in a shelter? How did she become homeless?
She looks like she’s around my age, and she’s dealing with a level of stress and worry that I can’t even imagine.
I don’t ask her any of that though. I don’t want to overwhelm her any more than I already have.
By her expression, she’s freaked out at me insisting that she stay at my place tonight. And as much as I want to find out more about her, I need to make sure she’s safe first.
“You want me to stay with you tonight?” she says.
“Yes.”
Her mouth turns down, like she’s disgusted. It takes an extra second for my brain to process how creepy that comes off.
I shake my head and hold up my hands at her, like I’m surrendering. “No, that’s not…I didn’t mean anything weird or creepy. I just…I want to help you. I’m the reason you lost your job. I owe it to you.”
That’s all true. But it’s more than that. There’s no way I could live with myself if I let this girl sleep in her car knowing that I could do something to help her. That’s not how I was raised.
My mom taught my sister and me to always help others in need. My grandpa was like that too. He would have our family volunteer at shelters and do toy drives during the holidays. He donated a ton of money to charity too.
Lucy studies me for a long moment, like she’s not quite sure if she can trust me.
“I live in a house on the edge of the Hollis U campus with a bunch of roommates. The guys you saw at the diner with me earlier tonight,” I say. “We have plenty of room for you to stay.”
She raises an eyebrow at me, like she’s suspicious. “You want me to stay in a house full of guys I don’t know?”
Jesus, I’m fucking this up.
“Sorry, no. I mean, I know how messed up that sounds, but that’s not how I meant it at all.
I swear. I just wanted to explain my situation.
All my roommates are gonna be gone tonight.
They’re all staying at their girlfriend’s places.
I have plenty of space for you so you can get a proper night’s sleep instead of staying in your car. ”
Her expression eases. She actually seems like she’s considering it.
“You said yourself you’re exhausted,” I say. “I think it would help a lot if you got a decent night’s sleep in a bed.”
She’s quiet as she thinks about it. “This night’s been so weird.”
I crack a small smile. “Yeah.”
A long silence stretches between us. Her sapphire eyes are big and bright when she looks at me. “Okay. I’ll stay with you. Just for tonight though.”
* * *
I unlock the front door of the house and hold it open for Lucy.
I kick my shoes off and walk inside. When I turn around, she’s still standing at the entryway, glancing around.
“Wow. This is really big,” she says.
“It feels a lot smaller when all my roommates are home.”
She looks at the stone fireplace. “That’s really nice.”
“Thanks. My grandpa built it.”
“Really?”
I nod. “This was his house. I inherited it when he died.”
She gazes around the living room. “You must make a lot of money charging rent for this place.”
“I don’t charge my teammates rent.”
“Oh.” She hesitates for a second. She looks down at her feet like she’s nervous.
I think of a way to set her at ease. “Are you hungry?”
She looks at me. “What?”
“Have you eaten?”
She shakes her head. I motion for her to follow me. We walk through the living room and dining room, then into the kitchen.
“My roommate made a big sheet pan of mac and cheese. Does that sound okay?”
She bites her bottom lip, like she’s hesitating. “Yeah, that sounds yummy,” she says softly.
I grab a plate from the cabinet, then grab the leftovers from the fridge.
She drops her bag on the kitchen counter. “Can I help?”
I shake my head. “I’ve got it. You can sit down. Get comfortable.”
She takes a seat on the barstool at the other side of the counter. While I reheat the mac and cheese in the microwave, I pour her a glass of water.
“What else do you want to drink? We’ve got water, soda, orange juice, milk,” I ask.
She looks at me. “You don’t have to wait on me.”
“Why not? You waited on me.”
The corner of her mouth quirks up like she’s trying not to smile.
I open up the fridge and look inside. “Looks like we’ve got some beer too.”
“No beer,” she says, her tone verging on hard. “I’m fine with water. Thanks.”
I set the plate of food in front of her and head upstairs to change the bedsheets on my bed and grab her some towels for the bathroom.
When I walk back downstairs, her plate is empty.
She blushes. “I was hungrier than I thought.”
“Here, have more.”
I warm up another plate for her in the microwave.
“You can help yourself to anything in the fridge,” I say. “Not sure if all of it’s good. A couple of my roommates have a bad habit of leaving leftovers in there for disgustingly long amounts of time. So I guess be careful.”
She cracks a smile.
“But you can eat whatever you want.” I roll out my shoulder, feeling stiff. “I’ll let you settle in.”
I head upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. I throw on a T-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts, then head back downstairs to the kitchen.
Lucy’s standing at the sink, loading the dishwasher.
“You don’t need to do that,” I say, walking over to her.
“The least I could do is clean up after myself.” She sets a plate into the rack.
I notice the sink is completely empty.
“Most of those dirty dishes were my roommates’. You don’t need to clean up after them.”
She shrugs. “I ate a lot of their food. I wanted to do something.” She dries her hands on the kitchen towel and turns to me, the look in her eyes shy.
Seeing her like this, shy and a little nervous, is such a contrast to the tough, sarcastic exterior I’ve seen her put on.
Maybe that’s not really her though. Maybe, because her life has been so hard, she acts that way to protect herself.
“Is it okay if I go to bed now?” she asks. “I’m pretty tired.”
“Yeah, of course. Here, I’ll show you where your bedroom is.”
She follows me up the stairs to my bedroom. “I changed the sheets and pillowcases. Everything’s clean for you.”
She looks around the space. When she turns to me, her gaze is warm.
“This is my room, so make yourself at home. I’ll be sleeping down the hall in my friend Travis’s room.”
I step back into the hallway. “The bathroom’s just over here if you want to take a shower. I left towels on the bed. And a new toothbrush, in case you need it.”
Her gaze catches on something in the hallway. “You have a washer and dryer?”
“Yeah.” I’m confused at first, then I realize she probably wants to wash her clothes. “You can use it if you want.”
Her face lights up. “Really?”
My chest aches at how happy she sounds to do laundry.
She looks down for a second. “Sorry, I just don’t get to do laundry very often. And when I do, it’s at a random laundromat. They’re not always the best.”
“Do you have clothes in your car that need washing? I’ll grab them for you.”
She stares at me for a long moment, her brow raised in surprise. “Yeah, but you don’t need to get them for me…”
I stick out my hand. “Give me your keys.”
She digs them out of her bag, then hands them to me. I head down the stairs and out the door, grab the big garbage bag of clothes from her backseat, and carry it upstairs.
“Do as many loads as you want,” I say, setting the bag in front of the washer.
She looks at me for a moment. “You’re really polite. And thoughtful.”
“My mom raised me like this. She’d kick my ass if I had a guest over and didn’t take care of them.”
A small, sad smile pulls at her lips. “Thanks for all of this,” she says softly.
“I’ll be in that room on the left.” I nod at the door. “Knock on the door if there’s anything you need. No matter how late it is, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks, Leo. I really appreciate all of this.”
“It’s nothing. Really.”
I walk into the bedroom and close the door behind me, leaving Lucy to have some time to herself, hoping she gets the rest she needs.