Lost Memories

Ch. 3

The following day Nola had a trouble getting one of her regular jobs to hire her. She'd accidentally slept in and missed the chance for temporary employment. The weather had turned bitter cold and not wanting to wonder with her thin jacket, Nola headed to the library. The building would be warm and if she was lucky, Ms. Patty would put out some hot chocolate.

Walking into the grand two story brick building, Nola headed back to the info desk. Ms. Patty, an older lady in her sixties with thick glasses stung around her neck, sat filling a cup with warm dark liquid. She smiled bright when she caught sight of Nola.

"Nola! It's so good to see you dear. I had a feeling I'd see you today." Ms. Patty took another cup from her desk and filled it with hot chocolate and added a few marshmallows. "Here, I know it's a bit frigid outside."

"Thank you" Nola held the cup close to her, enjoying the warmth on her numb fingers. Ms. Patty had figured out a few years back that Nola was living on the streets. The older lady would have gladly taken Nola in but her husband, Herold didn't want his wife bring home strangers. Nola had understood and didn't want to cause trouble between the two but that didn't stop Ms. Patty from helping her whenever she saw her. "Do you still have my notebooks? I figured I could spend the day studying."

"Of course, if you need anything I'm here."

Ms. Patty handed her the faded green note books. Nola walked up to the second floor to a small table in the back that had a great view of the city. The first couple months after Nola left the hospital, she hated spending her days doing nothing. She had no money and she had no luck finding her family. Nola felt as though she had to do something, so she started studying the business books the library had. At first she carried the notebooks with her to the shelter but a few days later someone had taken them along with a few dollars she had stuffed in the pages. After that she didn't trust anyone at the shelter and learned that was better off on her own. Ms. Patty had graciously bought her new notebooks and let Nola keep them locked in her desk.

In the beginning, Nola wasn't sure where to start. Many of the books she read were boring and the others she didn't understand. Browsing the shelves, she found a book on policy that she found interesting. Since then she's been going over the different types of services offered to the homeless and having experienced some of those services, Nola knew they were lacking, so she spent most of her time researching ways to try to make it better.

Morning turned to afternoon as Nola's stomach rumbled. She checked her pockets to find a few dollars, just enough to grab a hot dog at one of the vendors down the street. Leaving her books with Ms. Patty, she headed outside to find the sun high in the sky but little warmth reached down. Two blocks later she reached Vinny's cart. Vinny was one of the nicer cart vendors who occasionally let Nola have the hot dogs that he didn't sell.

"Hey girly, what'cha doing 'round here?" Vinny smiled as he handed a pretzel to customer.

"Hey Vinny, I was just in the neighborhood. Couldn't resist one the best dogs in town."

"Trying to butter me up huh?" He smirk as he gave her a hot dog load with mustered and relish.

"I would never Vinny. Thank you. How's Gracie?" Gracie was Vinny's two-year-old daughter. She had golden blonde hair like her mother Valentina and dark blue eyes similar to Vinny's. The last time Nola had seen chubby cheeked baby, she had just started teething.

"Ugh, they don't call it the terrible two for nothing. When she's not crying, she's running around give Val and I hell. We just found out that Val's pregnant, so I'm trying to help out when I can."

"Congratulations. I'm sure Gracie will love to have a little brother or sister."

"I don't think I could handle another girl, Lord help me."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Finished, she threw away her trash. "I'll see you around Vinny." Before she walks away she heard someone call out her name.

"Nola?"

Turing around she found the guy from the diner. He had on a thick black coat with a dark blue suite with a blue and red striped tie underneath and brown leather shoes. He looked at her with disbelief. "Oh hey". She gave him a small smile.

"Hey? That's all you can to me is hey?"

Nola was taken aback at the anger in his voice. She had only met the guy a few days ago, what could she have done to upset him. "Excuse me?"

"Nola you alright? This guy bothering you?" Vinny stepped away from his cart, ready to intervene if she asked.

"I'm fine Vinny."

The guy let out an angry sigh "You're just going to stand there and pretend like you don't know me? Where the hell have you been all this time?"

"What are you talking about? I just met you yesterday. I didn't think one conversation meant I had to tell everywhere I went?" Nola wasn't going to let some jerk yell at her. She saw shift his stance and place a hand on his hip. It then that a light went off in her head. She knew where she had seen it before, it was the position that every homeless person hated and avoided at all costs.

"You're a cop. Look I haven't done anything and I've been staying at the shelter-" She backed away hoping to escape trouble. She had run into a few cops in the past and they were never the best experiences.

"Nola wait. I'm not talking about yesterday. It's Ryan. You really don't remember?"

"Look you must still have me confused with that other friend of yours. I'm not her. I'd appreciate it if you left me alone." She knew talking back to cop like that could land her in trouble but the guy was freaking her out. She turned around ready to dart down the street when he said something that stopped her cold.

"You're Nola AnnSterling born January 24th from Clearwater Florida." He hadperfectly stated everything off her license.