Bring Him Home - Chapter 8

It took me all afternoon but I finally managed to speak to all the owners and CEOs on my client list. As I'd expected most of them hadn't actually seen the video clips and I knew it was a gamble to tell them about it, but I figured they should at least know about it as most had children and partners so it was only a matter of time before they saw the latest clip going viral.

I couldn't help myself as I played the clip again and again to torture myself. It was up to 75,000 hits already so I knew it was going to be massive. The more I watched it the more I focused in on the homeless guy, he had been standing in the rain staring at the main doors of our office block. He seemed to totally miss the fact it was absolutely throwing it down, the rain ran straight down off his matted hair on to his coat and dripped off his nose and beard. He showed no emotion as he stared at the doors and didn't even seem to notice me and my bright pink umbrella as we barrelled towards him. His expression never changed as I barged into him and he just looked down at me as I sat on the floor with a thud. I kept watching it again and again just to see if there was anything I'd missed, but if he hadn't have looked down at me I would have wondered if he was a mime artist or some sort of human statue.

Finally closing the lid of my laptop I looked out to see the sun was beginning to set, I'd missed the afternoon and as my stomach growled I realised I needed to eat. I closed up the conference room and went back towards my own office noticing that most of my staff had left for the evening only Esme and Rose were still around.

"Ladies get off home, I'm just going to close everything down and then I'll be following you out"

"Are you sure boss I've nothing on tonight" Rose said as she closed down her laptop.

"I don't believe that for a moment, so whatever you were planning on putting off go and do" I said as I turned to Esme.

"You can go too, I‘m fine honestly".

I watched as they both finally left and I locked the glass double doors behind them.  I just needed to get my things together and I could leave for the evening, I didn't have much planned, I could see if they needed me at the refuge I helped at or I could just have a very hot very long bubble bath, a big mug of cocoa and curl up on the couch with one of my favourite novels. The bath swung it I think, I‘d do a couple of extra hours at the refuge next time they needed me. I turned the lights off and turned towards the door and let out a huge scream, because there stood in the shadows on the outside of the doors was a man and it took me a couple of seconds to realise it was the homeless guy.

I put down my bags and went to unlock the door, he was stood watching me and as I opened it I expected him to step in but he didn't he just stood there in his spot.

"Would you like to come inside the office?" I asked as I stepped back out of his way.

He looked around as if he was looking who was there, for some reason I was sure that he had waited until he was sure everyone else had gone. The thought didn't frighten me, which was strange, it comforted me that he had sought me out.

"Come in and sit down" I said pointing to the large couch in the reception area. I knew Judy would kill me tomorrow, the new couch was cream leather and his coat was absolutely filthy, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if there were creepy crawly things living in it.

He walked slowly over to the couch and after looking at it for a while he turned round and carefully sat down. The look that flashed across his face fascinated me, my best guess was probably that it had been a while since he'd sat on anything so comfortable. The couch was quite impractical really, it was big and squashy, very comfortable and as you sank into it, it seemed to swallow you up. Judy had had to pull more than one unsuspecting visitor out of it.

I watched as he sank in to the couch, the sheer relief on his face made me want to stroke his face, but the deeply embedded grime made me rethink it.

"Would you like a coffee or tea?" I asked

He nodded and while I wasn't sure which he wanted I just went ahead and started the coffee maker. Looking through the fridge I found some sandwiches someone had left and we had a huge bowl of fruit on the reception desk.

As the coffee brewed I offered him the sandwiches , he took them, nodding his head in thanks. He ate one straight away and put the rest in his pocket. I'm sure he ate is so quickly he didn't even register what the filling was, if he was that hungry I really should get him something warm to eat.

"Would you like some dinner, I can order a take-out pizza, Chinese, Indian or Thai, what do you fancy?" I said but he remained silent.

I passed him a mug of coffee and placed the creamer and sugar on the table in front of him. He loaded the drink with four sugars, someone had a very sweet tooth. I remembered Judy had some chocolate biscuits in her desk drawer, her secret stash she referred to it and I was amazed when I found several different chocolate bars and packets of Twinkies. I scooped everything out and put it on the table in front of him. His face lit up as he saw all the chocolate and when he looked up at me his face was questioning me, "could he really have these?"

I nodded and pushed them towards him and for a second I felt bad, hoping he had access to a toothbrush and tooth paste because he was going to suffer after all that sugar.

"You never answered me would you like some hot food?" I tried again.

I placed all the menus I had in front of him and just hoped he would indicate what he wanted. I turned my back on him to fill my mug and I heard the squeak of the material as he was trying to get out of the couch. I waited to see what he was going to do, I didn't want to startle him but I suppose it was a bit stupid of me to actually turn my back on him.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw his mug before I saw him, it was empty and he was obviously after a refill. I filled up his mug again and passed it back to him and he went back to the couch and sat back down.

"You know I have no idea what your name is or what to call you so how about I introduce myself first. Hi I'm Isabella Swan, but I prefer Bella" I held out my hand to shake his but he just looked at it.

"So do you have a name?" I prompted

He looked at me, those big green eyes flashing as I could see the indecision he was fighting. He didn't know whether to tell me or not, I picked up the menus and started to study them to try and take away any pressure I'd put on him.

"Let's have pizza, everyone loves meat feast pizza" I said as I looked at him. He nodded and I'm sure there was a small smile on his lips as I rang the order through.

"Would you like a hot shower while we are waiting for our food? We have a full bathroom here if you want to use it" I offered the facilities because it looked like it had been a while since he had had one.

He shook his head, I didn't quite understand that but I wasn't going to push. As he put his coffee mug down on the table he sat back on the couch and let his head fall back. Within in two minutes he was fast asleep.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

So he has finally reached out to her but will he let her help him ?

AJG has introduced me to Outlander and I'm hooked, if you haven't seen it go watch the first few episodes I guarantee you'll love it.