Page 7 of The Lost and the Found

“Someone from my work told me about this bar and I thought I would check it out,” he said with a shrug.

I couldn’t decide if he was lying or not. But if he was, he was damn good at it. Besides the fact that the bar was located in the worst part of town, why would a man who wore what looked to be a thousand-dollar suit drive all the way to this end of town for a beer? It didn’t seem likely.

I nodded, because what else could I do at that point?

“What would you like to drink?” I asked.

“Scotch. Neat,” he said, his eyes never once leaving mine. It was as if he was studying me. I squirmed under his attention, suddenly self-conscious.

“Can I help you with anything?” A high-pitched feminine voice came from the right of the man. I turned my attention away from him to the owner of the voice.Isabel stood as close to the man as possible, running her long fingernail across his bicep.

“Thanks, but I have all the help I need here.” The man seemed bored when he answered her, until he turned his attention back to me, and then I could see curiosity returning to them. Suddenly feeling hot, I turned my back and made his drink.

I set it down in front of him, and he handed over a bill, telling me to keep the change. I walked away and looked down at what he just handed me. It was a hundred dollars, which meant the tip was about six times what his drink cost him.

I didn’t dare look back, knowing I would find his eyes on me once again. I didn’t think he ever looked away.

I limited contact with the man as much as possible throughout the night, still not sure of how he made me feel.The only time I went near him was to refill his scotch. And that wasn’t often. He obviously didn’t come here to get drunk. Four hours had gone by, and he was still here, still watching me.

I caught some of the waitresses looking over to the man, checking him out. Some were even brave enough to approach him.And it wasn’t just the girls that worked here. He was approached by women all night long.

He turned every single one of them down.

I let out a sigh of relief when it was five minutes to closing. Dave was making a few phone calls to have cabs come to pick up some of the customers. I quickly closed all the accounts I had on tabs and sent everyone on their merry way, except for the man, who hadn’t moved from his seat all night.

“We’re closing soon,” I said. “Is there anything else you need?” I asked him, staring down at his drink. It was still full. And it was his third.

He shook his head, pulled out a wad of cash and handed it over to me. “Keep the change.”

With that, he stood up and walked out the door. I stared at him, wondering why he sat here for so long. I wanted to say it was because of me, but I quickly dismissed the idea. I was being way too paranoid.

I finished my closing duties and cleaned up around me. It took me about an hour before I was finally able to get out of there, with a little more than five hundred dollars in tips for the night, most of it from the strange man.

I zipped up my sweater, waved to Dave, ignored Isabel, and walked out into the frigid night. I decided then that I was going to spend a good chunk my tip money on a good winter coat—anything to replace the thin sweater I had on. Especially since I was always walking home at night.

It was fine during the summer, but now, the weather was almost unbearable.

I used to have a jacket. A nice, expensive, dusky pink jacket. It was a little too bubbly for my taste, but then, so was the girl who had given it to me four years ago, when I had been living on the street at the time.

To this day, I still didn’t know why she had thought to chase me down the street to give me the jacket right off her back, or the three hundred dollars she had on her, but it had been, and still was, one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for me.

I thought about the girl often, though I had long forgotten what she looked like. She appeared at a time in my life I wanted to forget. And about two years ago, I had that jacket stolen from me. I still didn’t know who had taken it, only that I had worn it to work, and by the time my shift ended, it was gone.

It had been my most prized possession.

So focused on my thoughts, I hadn’t realized there were two guys huddled against one another until I was a few yards away. They stopped talking and looked at me when I got close. The only type of men that hung out at this time of night were bad men. Nothing good could come from them.

I faltered in my steps.

I was usually so careful, so sure, of my surroundings. I couldn’t believe I had let my safety slip my mind, and I hoped I wouldn’t be paying for it.

We were mostly in the shadows; the closest light came from a streetlight probably forty feet from where we stood.But it was enough that I could make out their faces and saw their eyes as they took in my body in a predatory way.

I couldn’t move. Everything in me told me to move, to either walk past them or turn back around to the bar where Dave was.

My mind screamed at me, but I still couldn’t move. I caught sight of their smiles as they walked over to me.

I shook my head and opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

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