Then she pulled the quilt out of her backpack and threw half of it across his lap.
He didn’t say anything.
He didn’t have to.
The next morning, Jade was already awake when a pale gray light started coming through the open sides of the parking structure. Corey was still asleep. She sat with her knees pulled up, watching the city start to move below.
Her mind was already working.
She thought about Corey’s hands the night before when he described washing dishes at a restaurant, carrying crates, fixing a roof once for a man who then refused to pay him.
He wasn’t lazy.
He wasn’t broken in the way she’d expected.
He was just someone who’d been failed by everyone who was supposed to catch him.
I know that feeling, she thought.
When he woke up, she had a plan.
“There’s a distribution warehouse on Kelner Street,” she said. “I walked past it a hundred times. They always have a sign: day labor, cash.”
Corey rubbed his face.
“They won’t hire me. Look at me.”
“You have good hands,” she said. “And you show up. That’s more than half the people they’d hire.”
He looked at her like she was saying something in a language he’d never heard before.
They went.
The hiring manager, a thick man named Dale who had a coffee stain on his shirt and zero patience, took one look at Corey and started shaking his head.
Jade stepped forward.
“3 days,” she said. “Give him 3 days. If he’s not your best worker, I’ll apologize in writing.”
Dale squinted at her.
“Who are you?”
“I’m the one making sure you don’t miss out on someone reliable.”
Dale stared.
Then he pointed at Corey.
“3 days. Don’t be late.”
Outside, Corey stopped walking.
“Why are you doing this?”
Jade kept moving.
“Because someone should have done it for me.”
He stood there for another second, then he followed.
The 3 days turned into a week. The week turned into a month.
Corey showed up every morning before the doors opened. He learned every section of the warehouse. He lifted, sorted, counted, carried. When other workers cut corners, he didn’t. When Dale needed someone to stay late, Corey raised his hand.
At night, Jade taught him things.
