Providence Read Online Free Page A

When I stood back up, the boy was still standing there smiling at me. I guessed he was waiting for some kind of an excuse or explanation for my running him over on the sidewalk.
    “My mind was on where I was going instead of where I was. We’re new in town and I don’t know the streets,” I explained, hoping I hadn’t said too much.
    “I think the problem was more where your eyes were than where your mind was,” he laughed. He reached out and pulled the slip of paper from my hand. “I know this area.”
    He was giving me directions when music started playing from the phone hanging at his hip. He glanced down at the number and said, “I’d take you there myself, but I’m already late getting back to work.”
    I shook my head. “You’ve already been enough help,” I said. “Sorry again about running into you and making you late for work.”
    “No problem. Maybe it will teach me not to be rushing around all the time. If I hadn’t plowed out of the store and right across the walk, I wouldn’t have been such an easy target,” he said. “Take care now.”
    I watched him climb into a truck with a stallion painted on the side of the bed. Almost like a knight in shining armor, I thought. Luckily, my common sense made an appearance and reminded me of one of the contributing factors to my current troubles. I pushed away any more thoughts of this boy and got back on my way.
    The good news was that both places were within a few blocks of each other. As I walked along, I decided to visit them both and then make up my mind as to what would be best for us. Since waking with the sun that morning, I had made enough rash decisions to last me a month of Sundays. Plus, letting on I had options might make the owner more inclined to let us have the room for only one night too.
    It didn’t take long to reach the first place. A red and white sign declaring a room to let hung in a first floor window. I picked up Baby Girl, carriage and all, and carried her up the porch steps. Before I even knocked, a woman wearing a flowered housecoat and bright red lipstick swung open the front door. “Who are you looking for?” she asked.
    “I came about the room to let,” I said.
    “Speak up,” she said, in a voice loud enough for the neighbors to hear.
    “I came about the room to let,” I repeated.
    She stepped closer, took a good look at the baby in the carriage, and scowled. “How old is that baby?” she asked.
    “She’s just a couple of days old,” I answered.
    “A baby that young shouldn’t be out in this heat,” she said. She stared at me a moment and said, “There is no room.”
    “But the sign,” I said, nodding toward the window.
    She threw her shoulders back and placed her hands on her hips. “I said there is no room to rent,” she said. “I was just going to take the sign out of the window.”
    She turned her back to us and went inside, closing the door tight behind her. I lifted the carriage down the steps, then turned and looked back at the window. The sign was still there.
    When I reached the second house, I saw a man aiming a hose at a rabbit that had invaded his garden. He had the poor thing trapped between the stream of water and the fence. The old man seemed to be enjoying the rabbit’s dilemma. Taking notice of me standing there staring at him, he turned off the water. Dropping the hose, he walked toward us as the rabbit made its escape. He stuck his cigar between his teeth, wiped his hand on his dirty T-shirt, and grabbed my hand and shook it. “Are you here about the room?” he asked, looking me up and down with a smile.
    I crossed my arms and moved so that the carriage separated us. He looked at the carriage as if he was noticing it for the first time. “Does this baby belong to you?” he asked.
    I nodded.
    “Well, I’m not set up here for babies. Plus, the price is per person not per room. I’ll have to charge you at least double the rent, maybe more if she’s a noisy one,” he said, rolling