“Things are never as bad as they seem,” she said. Then she scrunched her nose. “I don’t know why I said that. Sometimes things are even worse than they seem.”

That made me laugh—and remember. There was something shadowy about this Alice person. I tried to ignore rumors because this town had so many of them, but she definitely had a story. And I got the feeling that Alice knew all about things being worse than they seemed. But I didn’t have time to sit around and share sob stories. I had to figure out my next move.

“Okay, well… I think I’ll call the Shores Shuttle and head back to the hotel now. Maybe yell at an unsuspecting waiter.” I was trying to lighten the mood. I knew I was lucky that the town offered a public transportation system that I could call for pickup, but I was dreading waiting in the parking lot for it to come. I was dreading going back to the modest hotel that I could afford for two more weeks. Then what?

Just a few weeks ago, I had been ignorant about the lack of affordable housing here. I had also taken the basic, simple amazingness of car ownership completely for granted.

“I’ll drive you,” Alice said.

I gestured toward the teller. “Don’t you have banking to do?”

Alice shrugged. “It’s okay. I can come back later.”

I was about to protest, but then I thought better of it. I was used to having enough money and agency that I didn’t need anyone else. I was going to have to depend on other people if I was going to make it through. So I said, “I would appreciate that so much, Alice. That’s very kind of you.”

We walked outside, Alice hit the unlock button on her key fob, and I got into the passenger side while she slid into the driver’s seat. She pushed the start button. “Charlotte,” she said. She looked at me, and I found myself locked in her cool, appraising gray stare. I saw something there. It wasn’t pity, wasn’t sadness. It was something more like determination. “I can help you.”

I had always been leery of people who wanted to help other people. I knew that said something unflattering about me. Yet now I was surprised to find that those words out of Alice’s mouth made every tense and tightened muscle in my body and jaw relax just a squidge. “Why would you do that?” I asked.

“Let me rephrase that,” Alice said. “Charlotte, I think maybe we can help each other.”

Now, that was more like it. Pity was hard; transactional relationships I could manage. “I like the sound of that, Alice,” I said, feeling a smile grow across my face. “What did you have in mind?”

Charlotte The Mommune