Page 126 of Home With You

Rob got away with a lot over the years. It's amazing he never got caught. But his luck ran out the day fate brought us together in the alley.

Turns out Rob wasn't in town to see Levi that day. He was there to go after some guy who was trying to set up his own drug business using Rob's name. He knew Rob had moved away and he was using his name and reputation to recruit guys to sell for him. Rob found out about it and went there that day to catch the guy. It was the same guy who stabbed Levi. He stabbed him because he thought Levi ratted him out to Rob. Poor Levi had no idea what was going on. He'd never actually met Rob, the real one or the fake one. Some other homeless guy got Levi into the business and said Rob was his boss. So Levi knew his name but that's it.

Apparently Rob had been following the fake Rob that day and saw him go into the alley where he stabbed Levi. When Rob got there moments later, the guy was gone. Rob was going to question Levi about what he knew but I got there before he could. It had to be fate at work, bringing us together at that exact moment.

As for Levi, he recovered from his injuries and is back living on the streets. Miles and I offered to help him find a place to live but he turned us down. He said life on the streets is all he knows and he's not ready to change that. I don't get it but if that's what he wants, it's his choice. I gave him my tent and the blankets but he didn't use them. He sold them. That's Levi. Always the businessman. But he's done selling drugs. After what happened, he's never doing that again.

"You want to order some food?" Miles asks.

"Not right now. Maybe later." I yawn. "Sometimes that still feels strange to me."

"What?"

"Ordering food and having someone bring it here. I used to spend my entire day searching trash cans for food and now I can just order it and have an entire meal here in minutes."

"You won't be eating out of a trash ever again."

"You never know. It could happen. I didn't think I'd ever have to survive that way but then I lost everything and didn't have a choice."

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen. And if it did, I'd be the one finding food. You'd stay in the tent."

"So I'd be Gladys?" I tease.

"Yeah. We'll get you some green pants and a purple sweater."

I reach up and kiss him. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I lay my head on his chest and breathe in his familiar scent. "I finally have a home."

He chuckles. "This place isn't much but it'll do for now. We'll eventually get someplace better."

"I wasn't talking about the apartment." I look at him. "I was talking about you."

Miles is my home. That realization hit me the night Miles stayed with me in the tent. Up until then, I'd never felt safe in the alley. I was always on edge. I couldn't sleep. Even though I'd lived there for six months, it wasn't my home. That's the last place anyone would call home. But that night Miles was there, I felt like it was. It actually felt like home. And the next night? When we went back to his apartment and stayed there? It felt like home too. And that's when I realized it wasn't the place making me feel that way. It was Miles.

Thinking of it that way, I was homeless much longer than six months. But then I found Miles. And as long as I have him, no matter where we live, I'll always have a home.