Rescue Me (Sidney Crosby)

Chapter Three

“Oh sweetie, I love those jeans on you!” Mildred said as I walked out of the changing room and spun around, “And that top is gorgeous!”

“Thank you, but it’s probably too much.”

“Nonsense! This shopping trip is on me! You both need clothes!” she said and then looked down towards Josh.

It’s been about a month since I started to live in Pittsburgh and things have been going pretty good. Everything is pretty much walking distance, so I didn't have to worry about using money to pay for gas; although, I made sure that the car had a full tank in case we needed to run. Mildred and Harold are taking good care of Josh and I and they asked me if Josh could call them Gram and Pop. This is the first time that I've gotten close to someone, other than Josh, for seven years. I've helped them with their shop, and I must say, they did get a lot of customers, well not only was it an antique shop, it was also a little bakery as well. I helped with everything in exchange for letting me stay in the apartment. Josh was put in school, and they were surprised that for him never being in school, he was so smart. Josh was placed in first grade, luckily the same class that Conner, his new best friend, was in and things were going good. I've been blessed.

"Come on, let's get some coffee," Mildred said as we left the little clothing store and walked down the streets of Pittsburgh.

"Grammy, what's that building over there?" Josh asked as I looked to see that it was a dome shaped and had a big parking lot.

"That's the Consol Energy Center, that's the hockey arena," she said and he looked up and smiled.

"Hockey?"

"Yup, Harold and I use to have season tickets for the Penguins, but we got too old, and they got too expensive," she said and I nodded my head.

We walked into the coffee shop on the corner, right down the street from our home, and I felt the warmness and smelled all of the delicious aromas. Mildred ordered her coffee then when I said I didn't want anything, she ordered some kind of cappuccino for me and then a small hot chocolate for Josh and Conner. We sat at a table and waited for our name to be called. When they were I said that I would get them and then walked over towards the counter. The girl put them in a cup holder and then I walked over towards the table.

"Oh let me grab some napkins," I said and Mildred nodded her head because I knew that the boys were going to make some sort of mess. As I grabbed the napkins I turned around too fast and bumped into someone, "Oh I'm sorry."

"It's no big deal, I wasn't watching where I was going," he said and I looked up to see that he was smiling towards me. I smiled back and then nodded my head and walked away heading back to the table.

"Who was that?" Mildred asked as she looked at the man that I had bumped into.

"Nobody, I just bumped into him."

"He's cute."

"He's also like thirty years younger than you," I said and she laughed.

"I could climb him like a tree," she said quoting the line from Bridesmaids, a movie that we had only just watched the night before. I was laughing and then shook my head and took a drink of my coffee.

I looked up to see that the guy had a coffee in his hand and was walking towards the door, he looked at me and then smiled towards me and waved and I smiled back, '...He is cute...'

Once we finished with our coffees we left heading back down towards the shop and walked in to see Harold making a sale to a husband and wife. I looked to see that they had bought the old grandfather clock that has been stuck in the shop from what Mildred told me, three years. I walked up the stairs and then went into the apartment with Josh and Conner behind me.

"Sweetie, do you have and homework?" I asked and he nodded his head, "Do you want to start it?"

"Can Conner and I do it together?" he asked and I nodded my head.

"Bring it to the table and I'll help you two," I said and Josh ran over towards his Cars backpack that Mildred bought him and then came over, "Conner, why don't you go and get your homework too?"

"All right," he said and then ran across the hall to his apartment that he shared with Mildred and Harold to grab his Power Ranger backpack.

I decided that I was going to finish painting the apartment as I helped Josh and Conner with their homework. When we moved in, the apartment already had a two full mattresses in the rooms, the kitchen was stocked with plates and cups, because the last person to live here was another old lady and she died, and no one came to collect her things. So we got lucky and all we had to do was get a couch, because the one that was here, that was what the lady died on. I went out and got a new couch and bought some paint and some stuff to make the apartment more of a home. I found a picture in my bag of my mom, dad, sister and I and Mildred had it blown up and framed for me and I smiled. I was enjoying Pittsburgh a lot and it was all thanks to Mildred and Harold.

"Oh this place looks amazing!"

I turned around and saw Mildred walk in with a smile on her face. I smiled towards her and nodded towards her, "When I was in high school, I always wanted to be an interior designer."

"Well this place is beautiful, and you got the boys to do their homework!" she said and I laughed, "Oh sweetie, Mary called, she would love for you to bake her another cake, the one that you made was delicious."

"All right," I said and smiled because I had made a customer happy, "Um, what kind of cake did I make her?" I laughed.

"It's downstairs in the files, we'll look later, but I took and order, and she says that she needs it for Tuesday," Mildred said and I nodded my head, "And Janis called and saw that she needs fifty cupcakes for Wednesday, and we need some chocolate covered strawberries made for Valentine's day this Thursday," she said and I nodded my head.

"Let me finish up here and I'll come down and start on the making everything," I said and Mildred smiled.

"Just call me when you're ready to start and I'll help you," she said and I nodded my head.

About an hour later I had finished painting my living room and cleaned everything up. I headed down to the baking kitchen and looked to see the orders that we needed in the tiny office next to the kitchen. Josh and Conner had finished doing their homework and were now across the hall in Mildred's apartment watching TV.

"Oh sweetie did you start yet?"

"No not yet," I said not looking up from the book, "I'm just looking to see what I have to do."

"All right, well the strawberries for Valentine's Day are coming Tuesday, so we'll start then for that," Mildred said and I nodded my head.

"We're busy this week."

"Well it is Valentine's Day, we usually are."

"So many hearts, I think I'm gunna barf," I whined and Mildred laughed.

"Don't forget about all the red and pink too!"

"Oh, how could it!" I said and we went on, "So where is Harold taking you for Valentine's Day?"

"We usually go to the same restaurant every year and have a wonderful dinner."

"Which one?"

"The Plaza, it's about a half hour away from here."

"Oh that sounds nice," I said as I scanned the book again to make sure that I saw everything.

"Sorry I'm late, I needed coffee!"

"Hi Allie!" I said and she placed a coffee in front of me and Mildred, "Thank you."

"Mom called and told me that we had some intense baking to do," Allie said and I laughed.

Allie was only about five years older than me and she was Mildred's youngest child. She helps Mildred out around the shop and she lives in the apartment above me. Allie works as a manager at a restaurant about a fifteen minute drive from here, she's always bringing home leftover food and most of it is really good, naturally we became friends really fast.

"We do," I said and then grabbed some bowls and started to look to see how much ingredients I was going to need.

"Janis called and saw that she needed a hundred cupcakes now, half chocolate, half white and David called-"

"What does he want?" Allie groaned and I smiled because David was her older brother.

"He saying that he had a party at work and needed three of Julie's red velvet cakes for tomorrow."

"Oh boy!" I said and then laughed.

"Julie, I think you were destined to be a baker, everyone loves your baking!" Allie said and I laughed.

That day was spent baking the cakes that were needed for tomorrow and Tuesday. Allie started on making the cupcakes, while Mildred worked on the icing that was going to be used for the cupcakes and cakes.

"Milly, Greg called, he needs some of those iced cookies for work for Thursdays, I think he said about two hundred," Harold said as he called into the kitchen.

We all groaned and then continued with our work.

"We might need another coffee run," Allie said and I laughed.

Yup, this was definitely feeling like a home.