Her Destiny by Monica Murphy Page A

knows who she is. Unbelievable.
    “Finished work early, Ed,” she says with a little wave as she stands. I stand too, confused. What is she doing? Is she actually going to get on that bus? No way. She wouldn’t leave me. She couldn’t.
    Ed frowns as I follow her to the open doors. “This guy giving you trouble?” He flicks his chin in my direction.
    She glances back at me, offering a little closed-lipped smile before she turns and—yep—jumps onto the bus. “He’s no trouble, Ed. None at all.” My mouth drops open as she pays her bus fare with a wave of a plastic card and she walks into the bus, settling in a seat.
    The doors close, locking her inside, and I watch in disbelief as the bus pulls away from the curb and onto the street. She doesn’t even look in my direction. Just stares straight ahead as if I don’t even exist.
    What the ever-loving fuck?
    Spurring into action, I run across the street toward the parking lot where I left my truck. I can only hope that traffic isn’t too bad at this hour so I can keep up with that damn bus. And I freaking hope it doesn’t have too many damn stops. It’s a miracle I even figured out where she works, though I haven’t a clue where she lives.
    I’m going to find out tonight though, I swear. She’s going to listen to me. She has to. It wasn’t easy for me to find her after everything that happened to her family. Both she and Evan seemed to go into hiding when the scandal broke out. She got rid of her cell phone so I sure as hell couldn’t call or text her. Never had her email address and couldn’t reach out to her that way. Tried sending her a message on Facebook but that didn’t work either since she never replied.
    So what the hell was I supposed to do? Not like I have a lot of money to make the trek to Southern California. Not sure if my truck is the most dependable mode of transportation but I finally had to say fuck it and leave. Took a few days off from work, however painful that was, and hit the freeway, headed to Los Angeles. Positive she would greet me with open arms.
    That did not happen.
    If she’s going to reject me as outright as I’m afraid she is, then I’ll be stuck getting a motel room and I sure as hell don’t have the extra cash to afford that. I’ll have to find the most rundown joint I can stand and stay the night there. Or crash out in my truck.
    Neither option is a good one.
    Hopping into my truck, I crank the engine and pull out of the lot, driving like a stupid ass in search of the bus, my balding tires screeching on the newly slick with rain roads. I tap the brake, telling myself to get my shit together and calm down. Wouldn’t do me any good to get into a car accident without finding the bus, right?
    And if I lose her tonight, that’s fine. I can hang out around her work again tomorrow night. I’ll hang out there every night until I can get her to talk to me, if that’s what it takes.
    She’s worth it. After being without her for far too long, I realized I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to see her. I needed her.
    So I went in search of her. And as if a guardian angel was smiling down upon me, I found her easily. I remembered vaguely the name of the school she went to and went there first. Watched as she hopped a city bus about an hour after school let out, cute as hell in her uniform. I followed the bus like some sort of stalker, pulling across the street when she exited the bus and walked into the restaurant named Seville’s.
    And she never walked back out of it. That’s when it hit me. My girl was actually working for a living like me, as a waitress. Unbelievable. Today has been full of revelations. Not all of them particularly good.
    The traffic light gods must be on my side because I cruise through an endless amount of green lights, coming upon the very bus I watched Reverie disappear into. I pull alongside it, staring into the dimly lit interior and I see her sitting near the window. We stop at a traffic light and