The moment that changed her life wasn't her lover suddenly deciding to eliminate her from his life. No messages, no calls. She'd been cut off and couldn't understand why. Why did someone who meant so much to her value her so little?
The moment that changed her life happened as she stared at the street light indicating it was safe to go. Was it really safe? You were always trusting that everyone else played by the same rules. But that didn't mean they would.
"Hey, sweetie, I just can't stand seeing you look so sad. Here, have a cookie coupon on me," said a kindly looking woman interrupting her morbid thoughts. Aside from the slight bulge of her belly, appearing pregnant, there was nothing about the woman in jeans and a plain white t-shirt that looked out of the ordinary. And then she was gone.
Zibi looked at the piece of paper curiously. It was a free cookie at a nearby coffee shop and bakery. "Thank," she swallowed through her dry throat, "Thank you." She called to the kind woman's back. The woman blew a kiss back at her.
She didn't act on it until the next day. Waking up, staring at her empty messages and emails, she acknowledged, "I'm being ghosted." As she readied for work, she muttered, "What did I do?" "He never said anything." "Why me?" "I'm not a mind reader." "He said he loved me." "Am I a sucker?" "What's wrong with me?"
That last thought echoed through her head all the way to the shop. The bakery smelled everything wonderful as she entered, sweet and rich with bread. As she handed over the coupon, the man behind the counter greeted her, "Hi beautiful, just one sec."
Zibi blinked in surprise. At least someone considered her beautiful.
"Here you go," he handed her a chocolate chocolate chip cookie, "And stay to enjoy some coffee with it." He lifted his chin at the dispensers in the back. He had a masculine confidence about him that had her automatically following his directions.
All the mugs were ceramic, so there was no taking a cup for the road. Deciding that being late for this moment of peace was worth it, Zibi took a seat in the corner and for the first time in days forgot about her troubles. A pamphlet lay on the table for some church, soft warm tunes added to the sense of peace. And the cookie. As she bit into it, it was perfect. Perfect in texture and taste. Zibi didn't smile, but she decided to come back to bakery.
It was around a week later that Zibi met the woman who had been so kind to her at the bakery. "Sweetie! I'm so glad to see you here!" she slid into the seat across the table from Zibi.
Zibi smiled at her, a real smile, "I'm glad to meet you at last; my name's Zibi."
"And I'm Miccaela or just call me Mic," she answered, smiling back. "So what do you do, Zibi?"
Zibi shrugged, "I process invoices and the like. Inventory." She blew out her breath, "Inventory's the worst."
"I do marketing for my church," Mic shrugged. "This is kind of our store here. I'm glad you like it."
Zibi nodded, "Yes, I'd noticed the literature." She tapped one of the pamphlets on the table.
"Gosh, it was the best thing in my life..." Mic briefly shared a story about her ex-husband cheating on her and then with a vague hand waving gesture taking in the shop, finished with, "The wonderful folks here helped me heal."
Zibi couldn't help the wistful look that crossed her face. Curiously, she picked up one of the pamphlets for the first time and looked inside. It was filled with messages of love and a calendar of events. Hesitantly, Zibi thought out loud, "I'd be curious to go to one of these, but I'm uncomfortable going alone."
"Just give me a call, sweetie," Mic replied with a smile. She wrote her number down on the pamphlet.
While riding the bus, Zibi pulled out the pamphlet and checked events against her own schedule. It was depressingly unoccupied when her dating life ghosted. Suddenly, the pamphlet was snatched out of her hands. Gasping, she looked up into the face of a man in a suit who looked furious. He had a hard edge to him that reminded her of a friend's father, an abuser. On instinct she threw up her hand to block the slap that the man would have delivered while looking like that. Flesh hit flesh, but it wasn't hers. A body, vigorously fighting, moved between her and the threatening stranger. Two more hits were delivered as the bus came to a sudden stop.
Then all was briefly quiet. "Miss?" inquired a familiar voice. Zibi looked up to discover it was the man from the bakery who had been her rescuer. "Are you okay?"
Zibi nodded, thoroughly unable to react any further.
The police arrived, and she had to give a statement as she watched the bus pull away, leaving her desperately late for work. The attacker was slowly coming back to consciousness in the an ambulance nearby and was incessantly mumbling something. She couldn't understand any of it. Her rescuer from the bakery sat in the back of a police car talking to another officer. The police officer she spoke to paused when the subject of the pamphlet came up. "Love Church?"
"Yes."
"Are you a member?" she scribbled into her notebook.
Zibi said, "I'm checking it out. I just really like the people I've met there so far." She tilted her head towards the police car.
The woman nodded. "Alright, Ms. Wassili," she sighed, "You're free to go."
Zibi nodded and picked up her bag.
"Just a word of caution," the officer continued. Her voice dropped so that no one could hear. "I've investigated a number of women who joined that church." She paused.
Zibi waited.
The officer was no longer looking at her, rather over her shoulder at something in the distance, and closed her notebook as if that was the end of it. Zibi looked in the direction the woman was gazing and saw her Captain watching them. Shrugging, Zibi started walking to the nearest bus stop to get back on her commute.
When she got a few blocks away, a taxi pulled up next to her. "Miss Wassili? I've been paid to take you to work."
Surprised, Zibi walked up to the open window. "Really?"
"Yes, please get in. It's about to start raining, and I don't like mold," the driver irritably replied.
Her shell-shocked mood lightened somewhat, and Zibi climbed in asking, "Who's paying?"
The driver shrugged, "Some church. Where to?"
Miraculously, she managed to arrive on time. But she had lost her pamphlet with Mic's number. Sighing, figuring she'd ask if the bakery had it when she thanked her rescuer, Zibi got to work.
When she got home after work, she found a surprise. Slipped into the letter door to her apartment was the pamphlet. Smiling at the thoughtfulness, she called Mic's number.
"Hello?" her sweet voice answered.
Zibi said, "Hi Mic, it's me, Zibi."
"Zibi!" her voice raised slightly, "I heard you had some excitement..."
"Yeah, you could say that..." and Zibi told her about the incident on the bus. "I'm wondering, do you know how the guy from the bakery..."
"Paolo," she interrupted.
"...Paolo. How did Paolo happen to be there? I thought he was working."
Mic dropped her voice a bit, "Well, the guy that attacked you, he attacked another woman near our shop, so Paolo was keeping an eye out and followed him."
Zibi breathed a little easier. She wasn't being followed. The officer's cryptic warning had made her concerned. The next thing she knew, she had dinner cooked and ready, and she and Mic had been on the phone chatting for over an hour.
"So you think tomorrow's good?" Zibi asked Mic about upcoming meetings.
Mic was excited, "Oh, yeah, I'll pick you up!"
"See you then!" Zibi hung up.
The next day, Zibi hurried to the bakery. As soon as she saw Paolo, she cringed at his bruised visage, "I didn't get a chance to thank you."
Paolo gave her a little salute. "Glad I was there," he answered with a rueful grin.
"Mic and I are going to the meeting tonight. Will you be there?"
Paolo's eyes twinkled. "Unfortunately not tonight, but if you make a Saturday meeting, I won't miss it. You'll find out about those later." As he handed her her breakfast sandwich, he added, "It would be really exciting if you decided to go to one."
Zibi smiled back at him friendly. "I'm almost certain I'll make it."
After work, Zibi looked in her closet. Mic said she should dress comfortable and relaxed, like going out to a dance club. Shrugging at the odd attire for a church, Zibi picked her black simple dress. Then she picked out lacy black panties to go with it. Unfortunately, previous experience had taught her that if she wasn't careful, the wrong chair in a certain location could give someone an eyeful. The bra was part of the dress, and she adjusted her breasts comfortably to fill it as she zipped herself up.
When she climbed into Mic's transport, Zibi asked, "So what sort of meetings are on Saturday?"