Courtship

Part 47

"Hey Rina." A slightly worse for wear woman called cheerily from one of the doorways. Startled Rafe lifted his head and glanced toward the sound of the unexpected voice. This proved his point. There were nooks and crannies in this alley that made the place far from safe. He hadn't even noticed the doorway, let alone the woman lurking there, before. But then, he did have other matters on his mind.

Rafe was even more surprised when Marina addressed the woman, who was leaning against the wall as if she needed help to stand, and Marina seemed familiar with the woman. In shock it dawned on him that the prostitute knew Marina! Knew her on first name, friend terms. What the hell would these two women have in common?

"Hey Roxy." Marina arched back from Rafe and smiled at the woman who was watching them with open curiousity. Rafe's bafflement increased in leaps and bounds. Marina had just spoken to the woman casually, as one would address a friend. Friend? A Sojour D'Sa had a hooker for a friend? He was pretty sure he wasn't hallucinating. But at the same time, the last few seconds registered in his mind with concrete incredulity.

Roxy grinned, and said just loudly enough for both Marina and Rafe to hear, "He's worth something." The woman eyed him up and down, and cackled, "A keeper, that one!"

Marina laughed. Roxy was harmless. Her bluntness might not be to Rafe's taste, but he'd have to get used to it! For Roxy was a regular around here. "You take care Roxy!"

"Always." Came the reply. Rafe continued to watch and listen to the interaction with growing unease.

"Anyway, Isabelle dropped out." Marina blithely continued with her explanation as if that fleeting interlude of communication with a prostitute was the norm for her. Rafe's brain was scrambling to make sense of the last few minutes.

"Hang on, I'm still at your family were in debt." He arched back slightly so that he could look at Marina as he pointed out, "And that woman knows you?" He wasn't sure which bit of information was more alarming. Finding out the family were broke or finding out Marina knew prostitutes by their first name! Was there a connection between the two? He used his index finger and tapped Marina on the nose as he said, "How do you know her?"

"She works here." She stated blithely and then resumed her own story! "Now where was I? Oh, yeah, we were flat broke." She confirmed, somewhat relieved to find that he hadn't flipped out when she had spoken to Roxy. But then the man was practically unflappable. She knew that. It took a lot to rattle him, unless of course it was her wayward ability to speak her mind. Though to be fair he had been getting used to that over the last couple of months. That brought a smile to her lips as she savoured the fact he hadn't tried to change her, and if anything, seemed to like her directness!

"I didn't hear anything about the D'Sa's being broke." And if she thought he was going to let her get away with explaining how she knew that woman by simply saying 'Roxy' worked here, then she was sadly mistaken! "How did you manage to keep it quiet?"

"That was down to Isabelle. What she can do with a credit card is amazing."

"So not serious debt then?" Rafe queried. A young girl, still at University could hardly pay off real debts with a credit card. In any case anything major would have made the rounds in their social circle.

"Does the house being nearly repossessed count as serious? All we had was close to being taken. Everything. To pay off debts." Marina dumped that load of information on him with all the grace of a beached whale!

He looked concerned, but he also knew Marina well enough to know that dwelling on the fact her family had hit the rocks back then would not be a good thing. So he focused on practical implications. "I'd have thought the papers would have had a field day and you would have been caught up in that." He told her, again showing her just how unflappable he was. The fact she had just told him they were down and out and not a word got out might have rattled him, but his question was about the wider impact.

"We managed to stop the debt agencies from leaking that information."

"Yes. Clearly."

"We got probate, paid the debts and handled the fact we were flat broke." She gestured toward a doorway. "Through here. In you go." She waited for him to take the first step. She could see he looked apprehensive, and she could tell he was still questioning why she had brought him here. But what she found particularly endearing, is that he trusted her. He did not know why he was here, he did not know what this was about, but he was doing what she asked without any fuss. He was asking questions but he wasn't making a fuss. That made her want to throw her arms around him and give him a hug. That blind faith and trust in her, was exactly what she needed to help her tell him everything.

"So, where are we going now?" He asked as they began to walk up the stairs. That had her lips twitching, ok, so maybe that little interaction with Roxy had sent his radar into alert mode. He'd accompanied her automatically into the building, and still had a few questions regarding their earlier meeting with that prostitute. "And you still haven't told me how you know that woman in the alleyway."

"This is where I work. Some of the time." Marina announced. It was odd, how liberating it was being able to talk to him about this side of her life. From now on she wouldn't have to worry about revealing too much, or revealing anything at all. He'd know all there was to know.

"Here? You work in this part of town?" Rafe looked around. The streets they'd walked were far from clean, and there was a certain stench to the air just outside this particular building that was difficult to place. Urine and?