Homeless

Chapter 30

Derek's POV

I slam open the front door of the bakery as I make my way outside into the cold New York City air. I cannot believe Danielle even had the audacity to believe I would steal from her. It's absolutely infuriating.

"Derek, wait!!" Danielle is chasing behind me. As much as I want to keep walking, something in me tells me to stop.

"What?" I say as I turn around. "What the hell do you want?"

"I want you to stay." Danielle reaches up and places a hand on my shoulder. "At least until I get to the bottom of this."

I snort. "Until you get to the bottom of this," I repeat sarcastically. I shrug her hand off my shoulder. "The fact that you even have to suggest that is disgusting to me. You've made your choice Dani. You've made it clear that you don't trust me. If you don't trust me, then there's no reason to keep me around. I do have to say that I am genuinely surprised that you would even think I would steal from you. But I'm done. I don't want to have anything to do with you."

Danielle's eyes fill with water. A small part of me wants to stop her from crying and try and work this out but a bigger part of me is blinded with anger. She chose to believe the first words out of Lizzy's mouth.

I turn away from her and walk down the street. I'm thankful that Danielle does not chase after me.

I keep walking until I get to a small park. It's a park that's familiar to me. I used to hang out here when I was in my late teens.

Taking a seat on a bench, I start to realize the repercussions of my walking out of the bakery today. I just lost not only my job but also my housing and the only person I really had in my life. It all weighs heavy on me and before I know it, there's tears coming down my eyes.

I lie down on the park bench and close my eyes as I try to make a game plan.

When I wake up, I am covered in snow and absolutely freezing. I stand up and shake the snow off of my coat. It has got to be around 20 degrees right now and it is definitely getting late in the evening. I need a place to stay for the night so I head to the one place where I know I might be able to get shelter.

When I get to the Adam J Black shelter, the front door is closed and there is a closed sign posted. I bang on the door a few times before a gentleman comes to the door.

"We're at capacity," he says. He attempts to close the door and I stick my foot in the frame.

"Please," I say. "I really need a place to stay for tonight. It's snowing out here and I have nowhere to sleep. Please."

The guy looks me up and down. "Are you clean?"

"Yeah, went to rehab when I was 20. Been clean 8 years."

"Alright," the guy nods. "There's an empty bed in room 4. Dinner ended an hour ago but there might be some leftovers in the pantry. You gotta be out by 7am tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you."

I start to walk in the door and the guy holds his hand up.

"I'll warn you... you look pretty clean to be coming to a place like this. We get a pretty rough crowd around here."

I roll my eyes internally. Thanks to Danielle, I look like a stereotypical New York Business man on his day off. I'm clean shaven, wearing a J. Crew t-shirt and black pants. But little does this guy know, this is my old home. "Thanks for the heads up," I say, attempting to make my way in.

"Your wife kick you out the house?"

"Something like that," I mumble.

I first make my way to the pantry to find that there are in fact some leftovers from dinner. There's lasagna, salad and some pineapple. I load some lasagna onto a plate before setting it in the microwave. Next I make myself a plate of salad and fruit. When the lasagna is done, I take all my food and have a seat in the cafeteria.

As I'm eating, I pull out my phone to see that there are 7 missed calls from Danielle as well as 5 text messages.

Derek, are you okay?

Are you coming home tonight?

I'm so sorry for how I handled things. Can we please talk?

Can you at least let me know that you're safe?

I'm really worried about you Derek. Please just let me know that you're okay.

The last text is from less than an hour ago. I delete all the texts before shoving the phone back in my pocket. Danielle is the last person I want to talk to right now.

When I'm done with my food, I head over to the clothing to see if there is anything I can sleep in for the night. There isn't much left but I grab some clean boxers, a pack of white tees and some socks. It will work.

Danielle's POV

I blow my nose into yet another tissue and toss it in the waste basket next to my bed.

I screwed up. I really did. I basically accused Derek of stealing when I knew in my heart he would never do something like that. It was a knee-jerk reaction and now I'm paying the price for it.

I have been calling and texting Derek all afternoon and evening with no response. I know he can hold his own but I'm so worried about him. My thoughts go to the snow outside and the near 0 temperatures that are expected for tonight. I wish he were back here.

I roll over in bed and grab my phone. Of course he hasn't responded but I'm still hoping he will. My eyelids get heavy as a hold my phone to my chest with the hopes that I'm awakened by Derek's response.

Monday morning rolls around and the first thing I do is look at my phone. My heart sinks when there are still no calls from Derek. I sigh before getting out of bed and hopping in the shower. As much as I would like to know that Derek is okay, life also has to go on. It's 5am and I want to get to the bakery by 6.

After my shower, I quickly get dressed then head out the front door and make my way towards the bakery.

"Hey," Lizzy says when I walk in. "How was your night?"

"I really don't want to talk about it," I mumble. If it wasn't Derek who stole from me, then it was definitely Lizzy. I don't want to say anything until I can prove it for sure.

I head back to the kitchen and get started on the recipes for this week. I move slower than usual as a heavy depression takes over me. By the time the bakery opens, I have only made half as many cupcakes as usual.

"You okay?" Anna asks as she helps me load the display case.

"I'm fine," I say quietly.

"No you're not," Anna says, resting her hand on my arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," I say. I've learned that talking about it with these girls only leads to trouble. Instead, I finish stocking the display case then head to the front door to let the first customer in for the day.

An hour later, we are sold out and cleaning up the shop.

"No more Derek?" Lizzy asks.

"I hope you're joking," I say as I side eye her.

"No, I mean, you guys were together. I figured he would come clean about the $400 and you guys would be back together. You were actually kinda cute together."

Lizzy's words make my blood boil and I have to step away.

By the time we are done cleaning up and counting the till, it's around noon and I let the girls go home. I double check the till and am relieved to see that the total matches the receipts. I put the money into the safe before locking up the safe and heading back to my empty home.

It's a long shot but I send another text to Derek.

Thinking about you, I write. I hope you are okay