Unexpected Relationship

Ch. 3

The next morning Ben was up and he was trying to decide whether to do renovations himself or to hire someone. But he still wasn't sure of all that he wanted to change so for now he would just do things himself.

Ben was headed out the door to go to Lowe's when he say a young, short, black woman pushing the cart he saw from around the other house. They made eye contact for a moment then she quickly looked away.

"Hey, good morning," he called out as he walked towards his car.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have been—I'm sorry," she shouted as she rushed away with her cart.

Ben continued to watch her feeling concerned and sad for her. She was actually pretty but he could tell she was troubled. He wondered what happened to cause her to become like this.

Miranda felt nervous knowing that the man saw her and knew that she had been in the abandoned house. What if he called the police on her for trespassing she wondered. 

Ben had been inspecting the house all day to see what needed replacing and getting ideas about how he wanted to renovate. But he kept thinking of the woman he saw this morning. He felt weird being so concerned for her. It was 4pm and he hadn't heard the sound of the cart she was pushing.

He decided to be nosey and go over to the abandoned house. He went to the back and saw that the door was slightly misaligned so it was easy to just push it open. When he walked in he saw that there were nonperishable foods in the kitchen. He walked through the living room and into the bedroom to see a palette of old comforters on the floor with a newer blanket. Ben swung around when he heard a noise but it was just the cat he'd met yesterday.

"Well hello again," Ben said as she walked up to him and he picked her up.

"Do you live here with that lady I saw earlier?"

Ben wanted to do something to help but he wasn't sure what. Maybe I could just get her some more nonperishable items he thought to himself. Ben went to the store and bought two weeks worth of nonperishable items. He came back and sat them on the back doorstep where she would see the items.

Miranda was afraid to go back to the house. The man spoke to her but he probably wanted to scold her for being in that house. She decided to just try to get a bed at the shelter and maybe go back and get her stuff when she thought he wouldn't be home.

Ben had replaced all the toilets in the house. And did other simple repairs like smoothing out cracks in the walls. He scraped down the bubble ceiling to make it flat then painted the ceilings white. He decided he wanted to turn the extra dining room into an office. He decided on a navy blue accent wall. For his bedroom he was just going to get a new bed, repaint and decorate it with a cozy, modern feel.

Throughout all this he thought about the homeless woman. It had been a week and the items that he bought for her were still on the steps. Since she hadn't come back he decided to start feeding the cat.

Miranda laid in her bed at the shelter struggling to go to sleep. She had been having nightmares severely all this week. She never liked staying at the shelter because people were mean and it made her have to defend herself a lot.

"Hey girl, you better act right tonight. I'm tired of you waking me up because of your nightmares. Shaking the damn bunk bed and shit, get it together," the woman on the top bunk said.

Miranda didn't respond she just rolled her eyes.

"Do you hear me you little bitch, don't wake me up tonight because if you do we're fighting," she said and Miranda still didn't respond.

The tall and stout caucasian lady jumped down from the top bed and stood over Miranda.

"Hey, leave her alone. We all have issues or we wouldn't be here," an older Latina lady said.