Chapter One
Sunlight shimmered across the smooth shiny surfaces of the tall buildings and peeked its way down the long city streets. On Green Street, the sound of creaking hinges filled the air, and the aroma of delicious food had already begun to overcome the fumes of the city traffic. Like modern mammoths, trucks of different colors lined the street from beginning to end. In their bellies, delicious breakfast foods cooked and summoned the hunger of everyone within a two-mile radius. Businessmen and women on their way to work in the surrounding buildings would soon arrive in droves to pick up their favorite breakfast burritos, coffees, and donuts. But for the moment, only the vendors bustled up and down the street, opening their trucks and preparing the first meals of the day.
Brenda smiled to herself as she dipped the freshly fried donuts into the sugar and cinnamon mixture. It was a classic donut that was still popular amongst the breakfast crowd. She put the completed donuts aside and grabbed the bowl of dough. She carefully filled a donut pan with the dough, then slid the pan into the oven. The sound of the metal pan as it slid inside gave her a sense of excitement. No matter how often she baked, it always felt like an experiment to her. One ingredient change could create a completely different taste sensation. No matter how many compliments she received on her baking, she was always nervous about whether the customer would like it. It was still new to her to be baking as a profession.
“Good morning, Brenda. I don’t know how you beat me here every morning!” Joyce laughed as she climbed the steps into the truck. Her petite frame didn’t take up much space, but her boisterous attitude always made her presence known.
“I’ve already been here for a couple of hours. I just love to get started first thing.
There’s something about baking in the morning that invigorates me.”
“I do like to get up early in the morning, but I am a bit of a slow starter. I enjoy drinking some coffee and waiting until my toes warm up.”
“Until your toes warm up?” Brenda looked over at her with a broad smile.
“Yes, I can’t stand to sleep in socks, and my feet always end up sticking out from under the blanket. So, when I wake up in the morning, I have cold feet. After I have my shower, I pour my coffee, and I don’t move from the couch until my toes feel warm. Strange, but it’s my habit.” Joyce laughed as she shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I have built a few of those unbreakable rituals over the years.”
“I don’t think it’s strange, I think it’s sweet.” Brenda smoothed her shoulder-length brown hair back from her face and wrapped a hair tie around it to create a ponytail. No matter how many times she put it up, it was always slipping free. “I can’t stand to sleep in socks either. My husband does, and to be honest, I find it a little creepy. When his feet touch me in the middle of the night, it always wakes me up.”
“Ah, the little things we tolerate for love,” Joyce said teasingly.
“Yes, if that’s all I have to complain about, then I think we’re doing pretty good.” The oven dinged and Brenda bent over to pull the donuts out of it.
“Oh my, those smell delicious.” Joyce took a deep breath of the heavily scented air. “How did the oven warm this morning?”
“It’s doing fine so far. I think whatever problems it had have worked themselves out.” Brenda gave the door of the oven a light pat. “It’s going to do just fine.”
“Great. I got such a good deal on it, but I was a little worried. Hopefully, we’ll soon be making enough that we can afford to have two ovens in case there’s ever a problem with one.” Joyce took another deep breath, then laughed. “I’m still so nervous about all of this.”
“So far, so good.” Brenda set the donuts on the counter to cool. “I’m a little nervous, too, but mostly I’m just so excited to be here, to be honest. I never expected this. It’s still sinking in for me. I know it’s been a month, but I’m still wrapping my head around it. If it wasn’t for you, I never would have had this opportunity.” She looked into Joyce’s eyes. “Thank you so much.”
“No need to thank me, it was your baking skills that drew my attention. When I tasted one of your donuts, I knew without a doubt that you would make the perfect partner in my adventure. I don’t say this much about many things, but I do believe it was fate.” Joyce’s eyes shone as she leaned down to smell the delicious aroma that wafted off the donuts.
“I do, too.” Brenda smiled as she shooed her away from the donuts. “They’re not ready yet. They need to be glazed.”
“It’s so hard to resist!” Joyce grinned. To distract herself, she turned to the serving window of the truck.
Cinnamon, coffee, and a variety of tantalizing smells continued to waft up and down the street as all of the early morning trucks prepared their food for the first onslaught of customers. It was still sinking in for Joyce, too, that she’d decided to take such a leap of faith, and she did not regret it for one second. As she opened the register, she was distracted by a strange sound outside the truck. At first she didn’t think it was anything, just a subtle knocking, but then it got louder. It sounded like a fist being slammed into metal.
“What is that?” Joyce poked her head out through the serving window and saw a man beside the hot dog truck. He slammed his fist against the door over and over.
Because he wore a hooded sweatshirt, she couldn’t tell much about him other than his muscular body type.
“We need to talk, Adam!” The roar of one of the nearby truck engines turning on distorted his voice. When Adam didn’t come to the door right away, he started pounding. Finally, Adam opened it and stepped off the truck. He glanced around for a moment, then shoved his hands in his pockets.
“I told you we’d meet later.”
“It can’t wait until later. I need to know how many pounds.”
“Sh!” Adam glanced around and caught sight of Joyce looking out of her truck. “Not here, there are too many people listening. Come inside.” He gestured to the truck. As the man turned towards the truck, Joyce got a better view of his features, and she recognized him as Vince Marritelli. Vince stepped inside, then Adam followed after him with another look over his shoulder. Joyce frowned as she ducked her head back inside and looked over at Brenda.
“It looks like Adam’s up to something.”
“Like what?” Brenda arranged the donuts on a display case.
“I don’t know.” Joyce sighed and looked back out through the window. Her voice grew heavy as she continued. “I hope it’s not what I think it is.”
“What would that be?” Brenda wiped her hands and turned to look at Joyce. “Maybe something to do with drugs?” Joyce winced at the thought.
“That’s a big conclusion to jump to. Why would you think that?”
“He’s got Vince Marritelli in there with him, and apparently there was once a problem with drugs in the area. It was one of the reasons I hesitated to set up shop here. When I did my due diligence, I found out they conducted a sting here almost two years ago. Some of the trucks were using the food as a cover for selling drugs. Since the police cleared all of that up, I thought it wouldn’t be an issue anymore.” Joyce frowned and folded her arms across her stomach. “Maybe I should have looked into it more.”
“Maybe it’s not a problem. We don’t know for sure that it is,” Brenda reasoned. “I hope that it isn’t.”
“You’re right, I may be overreacting. Vince is a seedy character, but he might have nothing to do with drug dealing. They might have been talking about something else. But we should be extra cautious just in case. I don’t want either of us to be at risk. Let’s keep our eyes and ears open, all right?” Joyce asked.
“You’ve got it.” Brenda smiled and shrugged. “With Charlie’s job, I’ve gotten used to doing that. He doesn’t like to admit how much danger he’s in at times when investigating his stories, but it can be nerve-wracking.”
“It must be fun to be married to a journalist. I bet you get some of the inside story before anyone else hears about it.” Joyce grinned, relieved to change the subject. “You’ll have to keep me up-to-date.”
“In some ways it is fun, his schedule is quite flexible, and he is passionate about his work, but in other ways it’s not. When he gets caught up in a story, it’s hard to get his attention on anything else. But I understand it, he loves his work.”
“My Davey was like that when he worked as a police officer. I never expected him home at any specific time, because he always put his all into a case and if a shift needed covering, he’d be the one to take it. He believed he was helping people by wearing that badge.”
“And you? What did you think, was he helping people?” Brenda asked.
“I believed that he believed it, and that was all that mattered to me. But it wasn’t easy to think of him putting himself at risk, especially when our kids were young. I’m sure you worry about Charlie, too.”
“I do. Most of the time he works on financial stories, but often that involves corruption, and that’s where things can get a little dangerous. Sometimes he has to upset the wrong people in order to be a great journalist, but that puts him at risk of negative consequences, too. We’ve talked about it a few times, and he’s agreed to be cautious about the stories he investigates. Still, like you said, he’s passionate about it and feels like he’s making a difference. I don’t want to put a stop to that.”
“Ah, men and their passions. Lucky for us, our passions are a bit sweeter and far less violent, hmm?” Joyce laughed.
“Ouch!” Brenda exclaimed as she nursed a burn from the side of a pan. “Sometimes less violent.”
Soon they were swept up in the rush of customers. By the time they closed up for the day, the register was full and they were both exhausted.
“That was a busy one.” Joyce stifled a yawn.
“Yes, it was. Is there anything I can do to help?” Brenda folded up her apron and tucked it into a drawer.
“I’ll do the bank drop. If you can take the garbage to the dumpster for me that would be great, but remember, be careful.”
“I will be, and you be careful, too.”
“No worries, I’ve got protection.” Joyce patted her purse.
Brenda laughed and shook her head. “A can of air freshener is not protection.” “Anything that hits the eyes at the right moment will do just fine.” Joyce nodded,
then stepped out of the truck. She kept her purse tight against her body as she hurried to her car in the parking lot across the street. Brenda watched from the truck until she knew that Joyce was safe in her car, then she began to gather the trash for the dumpster. It amounted to a small bag. She made sure everything was turned off in the truck, and that all supplies were put away, then she locked up for the night.
When Brenda walked towards the dumpster, she noticed that Adam’s truck was still lit up. Sometimes he stayed open late to catch the people who worked longer shifts. She stopped beside the truck to say hello, but when she looked inside, it was empty. However, the metal lids on the hot dog bins were still open. She guessed he might have gone somewhere to dump the liquid from the bins. With a shrug, she headed for the dumpster. Once she tossed the bag inside, she turned around and almost bumped into a man in a hooded sweatshirt.
“Oh, excuse me.” She took a swift step back as her heart lurched with fear. “Watch it!” His eyes were dark and sharp as they focused in on her. “Brenda,
right?”
“Yes.” She swallowed hard when she recognized him. Vince often hung out with Adam and Pete, the owner of the hamburger truck. She was not surprised that Joyce thought he might be involved in criminal activities like dealing drugs as he was an intimidating character, with a long scar on his cheek and a permanent sneer on his lips.
“What are you doing out here all alone? You should know better. It’s dark.” He frowned, then glanced over his shoulder.
“It’s perfectly safe, usually.” She gripped the strap of her purse and watched him closely.
“Not tonight though, is it?” He chuckled. “You didn’t expect company, I can tell.” “I’m just closing up the truck for the night, Joyce already took the money to the
bank.”
“Did you think I was going to rob you?” He shook his head and laughed harder. “Careful how quick you judge, Brenda, you might not know as much as you think.”
“I’m just going home.” She forced herself to move past him and away from the
dumpster. With every step she took, she wondered if he would grab her. When she reached the parking lot, she looked back over her shoulder and saw Vince with Adam beside the dumpster. They seemed deep in conversation. Maybe Vince was right, maybe she did judge too fast, but it was hard not to with how he presented himself. She shuddered at the thought of being alone with him, then climbed into her car.
On the drive home, Brenda received a text from Joyce confirming that the deposit had been made, but that she’d forgotten her tablet in the truck and was going back to pick it up. Once she was parked in her driveway, Brenda texted Joyce back to warn her about Vince hanging out late with Adam. As she stepped out of the car, she tried to leave her worries behind. She opened the front door, and her cheerful six-year-old daughter bounded forward to hug her.
“Oh Sophie, I’m so happy to see you.” Brenda hugged her tight. “Did you bring me donut holes, Mommy?” Sophie grinned.
“Of course.”
“What about me?” Charlie stepped into the living room from the kitchen, with a dishtowel in one hand and a bottle of her favorite water in the other. The moment she saw him, she felt as if she was exactly where she wanted to be.
“Yes, I’m happy to see you, too.”
“No, I meant did you bring me any donuts? Did you?” He wrapped his arms around her and playfully frisked her in search of the donuts.
“Yes, I did.” She laughed as he tickled her, then kissed him. All worries about Vince were erased from her mind as she was embraced by her loving family.
* * *
Joyce made her way back to the truck. Annoyed with herself for forgetting her tablet, she focused on getting in and out while she still had some of her evening left. Most of the time, she had a pretty strict routine. There wasn’t anything special about it, but she did enjoy keeping to it. As she passed by the dumpster, she heard voices. To avoid being noticed, she hurried to the truck and stepped inside. However, when she glanced out the window and spotted Adam engaged in an animated conversation with Vince, her curiosity overtook her. She wanted to know what exactly they were talking about.
Through the window, she could see them both as they stood directly under a streetlight. She couldn’t hear their voices, but she didn’t need to. Growing up with three older brothers, they often plotted against her. As the much smaller and younger sibling, she rarely had a way to defend herself. In order to protect herself, she taught herself to lip read. This allowed her to find out their plans and prank them before they even had the chance to act. It took them a long time to figure out how she always knew exactly what they were up to. As she grew older, she got better and better at it. When she was in college, she took some classes after school to hone her skills and found she was the best in the class. She had found her skills useful throughout the years. Now that she was in her sixties, she still relied on the skill to give her the upper hand when she needed it.
As Joyce stood at the window she could clearly see Adam’s lips, but it was harder to see Vince’s. It seemed to her that they were discussing merchandise and prices. Her jaw clenched. Had her suspicions been confirmed? Vince was one of the people caught in the net of dealers a couple of years before, however he’d managed to dodge all of the charges. She didn’t trust him one bit, and the fact that he was discussing merchandise with Adam concerned her. Adam was a young guy, in his twenties, and seemed to be a decent person, but if he was going to bring drugs on to Green Street again, then she was going to have to do something about it. As the two men parted ways, she grabbed her tablet but waited a few minutes before she stepped out of the truck. She didn’t want to risk running into Adam or Vince on the way to her car. Once she thought they were gone, she locked up the truck and walked to the lot.
The entire drive home, her mind was weighed down with what to do about Adam and Vince. Since she was one of the oldest truck owners on the street, she felt a certain sense of protectiveness over the rest of the owners. Although her truck was the new one on the block, everyone seemed to respond to her well. She considered having a meeting to discuss street safety and the need to keep criminal elements away from their location. If the area was deemed dangerous, they would get less and less customers and would be forced to move to another location. As it was, she was certain that Green Street was the best place for her truck. When she stepped into her house, a fluffy ball of fur bounced up to her. She grinned and scooped her up.
“Hey Molly, what are you up to?”
The bunny flicked her ears and stared into Joyce’s eyes with that curious gleam that won her over the moment she saw her. “Mmhm, you’ve gotten into the hay, haven’t you? Let’s take a look.” Joyce stepped into the kitchen to find hay scattered across the floor. “Oh, you naughty bunny, I’m going to have to get you a sitter.” She laughed and grabbed the broom to sweep it up. Not long after her husband died, Joyce was introduced to Molly at a local rescue. She’d gone there to pick out a cat or a small dog to keep her company, but the moment she saw the long-eared rabbit, she’d fallen in love.
After Joyce was done cleaning up, she and Molly watched their favorite television show, then she headed to bed. The moment her head hit the pillow, she thought about Adam and Vince and just how she was going to handle the problem. She gazed at the framed photograph of her husband on the nightstand beside the bed. Though it wasn’t something she confessed to many people, she still talked to him in the evenings when she couldn’t sleep. This night was no different, and soon after she finished telling him about her day, she fell asleep.
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