I Couldn't Pay My Three Landlords, So I Gave Them a Baby novel · Chapter 10 of 24
Chapter 10: The Layover
The Midway loop at ten past four in the morning was empty except for me and one other bus.
A jet came in low with its lights on.
I parked at the end of the lane, set the brake, folded the doors, and shut off the lights in the cabin.
The layover was long enough for coffee and a bathroom.
I was sitting in the driver's seat with my shoes off, eating a cold pierogi from a foil packet.
The doors folded back, and somebody climbed the steps.
"Transfer," Rudy said.
He wore his bar coat and carried two cups and a brown paper bag.
"You can't be on the bus after hours."
"It isn't after hours. It's the middle of your shift." He set the cups in the holder. "And I want to give you something."
"You brought a gift."
"I brought you a gift."
He handed me the bag.
Inside was a small thing in a velvet pouch, purple, the length of my finger, with a rounded end and a switch at the base.
I looked at it for a long second.
"You've been to the store on Archer."
"I've been to the store on Archer," Rudy agreed, "and the woman at the counter recommended it, and it comes with a one-year warranty."
"And I'll be honest with you, Renia. I told her it was for a girl on a bus."
I burst out laughing.
"What did she say?"
"She said, 'Oh, honey.'"
I wiped my eyes.
Then I looked up at him, standing in the aisle of an empty bus at four in the morning with a hopeful, anxious smile.
His coat hung unbuttoned over his belly, and everything in my chest softened.
"Come here," I said.
I got up out of the driver's seat and walked down the aisle.
It was cold, and the windows were fogged, and the long bench across the back was black vinyl, worn smooth.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of I Couldn't Pay My Three Landlords, So I Gave Them a Baby are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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