Different people, had varying things that gave them comfort when times were tough. For some it was a loved one, others had pets, others childhood toys, and others had places that they liked to visit in order to calm themselves.
Ariel's comfort was food.
Food had a way of making Ariel forget about every hardship that she was facing. Whether she was eating something, or preparing a meal for others, food always manage to make her feel better.
While making a simple dish for Tristan Asher, and then eating with him, Ariel had allowed herself to forget for a bit. But as soon as their food was finished, and the CEO had been sure to remind her of her situation, it had all come crushing down on her.
Now, long after he had left, Ariel was still on the park bench.
She was well aware of the fact that it was getting darker and colder and that all around her people were heading home, those who had come out to enjoy the evening, now deciding that it was time to go and rest. But Ariel could not find it in herself to move. Suddenly she was just so very tired, and no matter how much she tried to convince herself that it was all in her head, that she could just get to her feet and head to her food truck, her body would not obey. Since the previous day, heck, for weeks now, she had been pushing herself one hundred and ten percent all twenty four hours of the day, trying to find a solution to her problem. But now, she had hit a brick wall. Everything was too much, and she was so very tired.
For a moment, Evelyn did not want to be herself. She wanted to be somebody else. Some other woman with a perfect life somewhere, whose brother was not missing. Who was not struggling to come up with money to pay a loan shark. Someone who had not been crazy enough to barge into a CEO's office and beg him for money. Whoever that other lady was, Ariel wanted to be her, but unfortunately she could not be anybody but herself. She was just plain old Ariel Jones, and the life that she was living was hers and hers alone.
Had her brother been there, maybe they could have shared the burden together. Never mind that he was the reason for most of their problems. It would have been nice to have company. But she was alone on that park bench. And for the first time since everything had begun, Ariel felt tears flowing down her face.
"Stop it. Stop crying. You are alright. This is nothing but a minor setback. Sure a million sounds like a lot. But money is nothing more than glorified toilet paper. You can do this," She tried to tell herself in between sobs. But hearing her own broken voice just made the whole thing worse. Until in the end she just gave up and started crying in earnest. Normally she would have waited to fall apart in the comfort of her own home.
But she was too overwhelmed to keep it all bottled in any longer. And so, sitting alone in the park, Ariel let herself cry, grateful that the bench was far enough away from people. It afforded her a bit of privacy, letting her fall apart without the eyes of strangers looking at her with worry and pity. She was going through enough already. She would not be able to take it if people saw her being anything but the strong woman that she often portrayed to the world.
She had no idea how long she sat there crying. But the moment that she stopped, Ariel was well aware. What finally managed to stem the flow of her tears was the low buzz of a phone ringing. As the phone continued to vibrate,
Ariel hastily wiped away her tears. Then she cleared her throat a few times, trying to get her voice to sound somewhat human instead of like she had been giggling hot stones for fun. That done, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Then she stared at it quizzically, not understanding what was going on.
Her phone was not ringing. It was completely silent.
But unless she'd lost her mind since sitting on the bench, she was not imagining things. There was definitely a phone ringing nearby. Looking behind the bench and then beneath it, Ariel tried to locate the source of the low vibrations, but she could not. Then she noticed that one of the plates from earlier was moving slightly, so she picked it up. Just as she had suspected there was a phone beneath it.
She flipped. "Oh," She breathed. Her heart suddenly in her throat.
She was pretty certain that when they had sat there, earlier that evening, the phone had not been there. So that meant only one thing.
Tristan Asher had left his phone behind when the conversation had ended.
Of course, of course.
Letting out a pained moan, Ariel squeezed her hands into fists. Then she opened them up, and rubbed them over the top of her thighs, trying to calm herself down. What even was her life? She had literally just escaped by the skin of her teeth.
The man had forgiven her. He had told her that so long as she kept her mouth shut, there would be no trouble for him. And Ariel had been set on doing just that, making sure that she no longer had to have any more encounters with Tristan Asher. But now, it seemed that the universe really had it out for her. There was no way he would believe that he was the one who'd forgotten his phone. That would just be too convenient. So there she was, sitting on a park bench all alone, CEO Tristan Asher's phone, ringing away next to her.
As she stared at the buzzing device, Ariel realized she had three options. Either she left the phone where it was and pretended like she had not noticed it, or she took it, threw it in the nearest bin and faked like somebody else must have done it. Or option three, she returned it to its rightful owner as soon as possible.
Option one and two would have helped her stay out of Tristan Asher's way for much longer. But even as she'd thought them, she'd known that she would not be taking them. At the end of the day, it was Tristan's phone and she had to take it back to him, no matter what the consequences of that would be for her.
Even if he thought her a thief after she returned it, she could endure that. At least her heart would be at peace, knowing that she'd done the right thing. Her mind more settled now that she had made a decision, Ariel grabbed the phone and put it in her other pocket. Then she took the disposable plates and spoons, and deposited them in the nearest trash can.
If she was going to be called a thief when she went back to Asher Industries headquarters the following morning, then she might as well get a good night's rest.
Blades thrown away, both phones in her pockets, Ariel made her way to the food truck, started it up and headed home. Whatever the morning brought she would deal with it then. Hopefully it would not be too catastrophic.