A Good Man is Hard to Find

Chapter Two

I settle into my plastic half broken seat in the rundown canteen of the hospital and wait for this mystery guy to bring us our coffee's. I offered to pay, but he insisted that it was all on him and anything else that I wanted. I look over at him in the queue and I'm completely mesmerised by his presence and the kindness that he has shown me so far. Is he attracted to me, no he surely can't be? My old insecurities are creeping in and I'm starting to get paranoid, I'm crazy to even think that this could turn into something. Once this guy hears my story he will be running for the hills and God knows where I will end up tonight. I must be a couple of years older than him, I'm no oil painting, my hair is a mess piled into a heap on the top of my head and if I was to straddle him, I would probably end up crushing him to death. That said, the thought of having sex with this handsome, sexy stranger is making me feel all hot and bothered. I hope I'm not blushing; I don't want him to return to the table, to the sight of me as the colour of a beetroot. Out of all the men waiting to be served he is the best looking by far and I can see other women are checking him out too, once he sees that he's got their attention he will probably forget all about me and move on to one of them. I can see him fumbling in his pocket for change to pay the cashier, it doesn't look as though he has a lot of money, so why is he here spending what he has left on me? It's not very often that people show me any sort of kindness, I've been practically incarcerated with Nathan for over ten years and when I haven't been with him I've been in hospital with wounds that he's inflicted on me. Our neighbors don't give me the time of day unless they want something or they're calling the police when they can hear us arguing. It would have been nice if someone had come to help me, instead I've been on my own all these years. I must have drifted off into my own little world as my guy has come back to the table with our coffees and two double chocolate doughnuts. "Here you go girl, enjoy," he says as he slides my black coffee over to me. I take it from him and let the heat of the mug warm up my cold swollen hands. He places my doughnut next to it and proceeds to bite into his one whilst looking me dead in the eye. I feel like such a fat bitch as it is, I don't think I can eat mine in front of him so I just sip my bitter coffee instead. "I'm on a diet," I announce as I slide the doughnut over to him and he promptly picks it up and places it next to my coffee again. "You don't need to diet, you're gorgeous the way you are," he says with a grin. You could hear a pin drop, he continues to stare at me and I can't help but feel compelled to stare back. "So, tell me your story," he says breaking the heavy awkward silence. It comes across like it's an order rather than him just being curious. If I want this guy to help me, then I've got to lay all my cards on the table and be completely honest with him. I take a deep breath in and start to relay every detail of the past ten years.

Over an hour later I have replayed every event right through from when I met Nathan, my miscarriage and losing our baby son to social services. The constant violence in our relationship and my non-stop visits to hospital every year. Hearing myself talk about this makes me realise what a horrific life I have been living for all these years. I should have escaped years ago, lived on the streets if I had to. It would have been a thousand times better than putting up with the constant beatings and belittling's from that monster. "Sweetheart, I am so sorry that you've had to go through that. You do realise that is the end of it now, don't you? You're never going back to live with that piece of shit ever again and once I'm finished with him, he won't ever lay a single finger on you or any other woman again!" He says with so much venom in his eyes, he truly despises this man who I have described even though he's never set eyes on him before in his life. "Why do you want to help me?" I ask sheepishly. He places his soft hand on top of mine and slowly strokes it with his thumb, "I might be a lot of things but one thing I won't put up with is a woman being battered by a man. My mama who is in this hospital right now went through the same shit years ago and I saw everything that she endured. So I swore to myself that if I saw another lady going through the same that I would find the motherfucker and teach him a lesson he will never forget," he says proudly like he is Batman swooping in and saving the damsel in distress from the villain. I place my other hand on top of his trying to stop myself from flinching in pain from my wound. I feel so safe with this guy even though I've only known him for a matter of hours, there's something about him that I trust and truth be told anyone is better than Nathan. He takes my hand and kisses it tenderly, "As long as I'm here no one can hurt you," he says softly and I can feel myself welling up. "Don't cry beautiful, you're safe now and I promise that he will never ever hurt you again." This day has completely saved my life, one moment I am laying in a hospital bed scared, alone and the next I've met this Knight in shining armour who is going to help me escape the monster I've been living with. I have to take this opportunity with both hands and run with it. "What is your name?" He asks me as he finishes the last drop of his coffee. May Robinson is my real name, but it's not the one I want to live by anymore. If I'm going to move forward, then I need a fresh start with a new identity. I've always liked Constance, my unique middle name, my mother added in a piece of my grandmother there, so I'm going to use it even though I'm shortening it. "Connie, what's yours?" I ask him simply. He gives me a toothy grin and replies, "Felix Kendrickson, it's a pleasure to meet you Connie." The butterflies have swarmed into a frenzy in my stomach but that's fine with me, this is the happiest and most confident I have felt in a really long time.