Ace had grown up an only child in a mansion with both of his parents and a small army of servants and 2 full time nannies. He was usually not alone for long and although his parents made him tidy up after himself to make the servants jobs easier, he never had to do much hard work in his life. 

He was not built for this type of work. 

In the courtyard of the apartment complex, a little girl was playing with her doll. 

She jumped up when a woman walked out of Mr. Wilson’s apartment, she held out her doll to the woman who was covering her mouth and bent over.

“Mommy! Mommy! Look at -”.

Ace didn’t know how to deal with people. Or kids. Especially kids. He always played with his mother and saw other kids in passing, mostly. Anytime he had been placed in a room with other kids, his mother came running when he held out his hands for her. She never went too far from him. 

2 weeks later and Mr. Wilson’s family was still clearing out his apartment. Ace had watched them in passing when he went out to collect his mail. He was struggling to find the resolve to and simply talk to them.  

The little girl held her doll close to her chest with one hand and put the other hand out to caress her mother’s hair. 

A man coming in from the parking lot picked up the little girl, carrying her way from her mother into the house. 

Ace tears himself away, forcefully putting the curtain back in place. 

He takes a deep breath.

No matter what I’m going through, they’re going through worse. Maman left-was taken years ago, get over it. 

It takes 10 minutes of pep talk before he goes to grab his shoes before he can lose his nerve. He throws open the door before putting them on for extra resolve. He couldn't bear the embarrassment of someone seeing him and him closing his door to avoid them.

He makes it halfway down the stairs before he realizes he doesn’t have anything planned to say to them. This makes him freeze. 

It’s not enough to completely stop him, he continues on his way, going over small talk openings in his head. 

Sorry about your grandpa dying-

Sorry for your loss, I didn't know him well but-

He didn’t deserve to die like that- 

No one deserves to lose a grandpa-

Why can’t I just be normal for once!? 

He stopped in his tracks when he saw just how close he was. 

Of the few people outside, no one paid him any attention however, too busy reminiscing over things or moving things.

The only one to notice him was the little girl, watching everything from the doorway with her doll held tight close to her chest.

She nearly dropped her doll as she bounced over to him.

“Hello Mister, what’s your name?”.

He stared at her for a second too long. He forced himself to look away. 

“My Mom called me Ace”, he mumbled.

She tilted her body to the side.

“I can’t hear you”.

He looked up, “Ace is my name”.

She smiled at him, her front two teeth were missing.

“My name is Allie but my grandpa calls me Al, he says it’s after his bestest friend in the whole wide world”.

“Yeah?”.

“Mhm. Mommy says Grandpa had to go away to heaven so I won’t get to see him anymore but I don’t get why he would leave without saying goodbye”, she crosses her arms with a frown, her doll's head flopping to the side, “it's not fair”.

Ace is reminded of when his mother was taken from him. He had sat by the door for her to come back, even staying up late. 

His Papa was angry at the display, drilling into him, “she left William, she is never coming back. That cursed woman will never show her face around here again if she knows what’s good for her”.

Hopefully she’s in a better place without him. 

“I don’t think he wanted to leave you. He was taken away”.

“Taken?”, her face falls, “by my Daddy?”.

“Allie! Get away from him!”.

Ace looks up to see the man from before barreling at him with full force. He doesn’t try to deescalate the anger, paralyzed in place by it. By the time the man is within swing distance, he still doesn’t lift his arms. He gets tackled to the ground and pummeled.

His only attempt at defense is turning his head to the side, though it doesn’t do much. Allie’s screams attract more attention. Ace isn’t too badly beat up by the time someone pulls the man off him. 

“Jimmy, what the hell are you doing!?”.

Jimmy, has a hand suspended in the air, not looking away from Ace as he shouts. 

“That asshat was talking to Allie! Some asshole just killed Dad and some creep wants to talk to Allie, not on my watch!”.

Ace’s head sways in the air, his vision going blurry. 

“I wasn’t-”, his small voice is drowned out by the louder voices.

The woman who pulled Jimmy up points an accusing finger at Allie’s mother, “what the hell were you doing!? He could have taken her and walked away and she could have been dead!”.

“Don’t say that about her!”, the Mom got up in the woman’s face.

“Then keep an eye on her! You’re no better than her drunk for a father!”.

The little girl’s mother throws a fist into the woman’s face. The woman stayed on her feet, shoving the mother to the ground.

“You’re the one who had sex with a drunk, drug addicted asshole. Don’t get mad at me”.

“He’s your brother!”.

“And he should’ve died in prison! Dad wasted time and money on him, he stole from his daughter. Someone needs to find him and beat the shit out of him, maybe it’ll rattle his brain just right”.

Jimmy gets up off Ace to help the mother up from the ground as people all around them stand on the sidelines just watching. Some people are peering out their windows while others are standing in their doorways. 

An old lady walks out from inside the house, all of the three calm down upon seeing her. She picks up Allie, groaning as she does, gives her a hug and hands her over to a young man who looks about the same age as Ace. 

The elderly lady turns her attention to the two women.

“Alina, you know better. Cali is the mother of your niece”.

She turns to Cali.

“Cali, Alina is your daughter’s aunt”.

She looks at both of them.

“We’re all a little frazzled right now”. 

She turns to Jimmy.

“We don’t go around hitting people, James”.

She turns to Ace, distrust all over her face, though it doesn't reach her tone.

“Did you need something young man?”.

He gets to his feet, holding his nose with his hand. He makes sure to keep his eyes down the whole time, not wanting to be misunderstood again. 

“I’m not a creep, M'am”, he keeps shifting his eyes as he looks at the ground, “I just wanted to … I don’t know really.  … I didn’t know Mr Wilson well but he always said good morning and good night to me. I’m sorry he’s gone … but you’ve probably heard that from other people already”. 

He stops talking, not knowing what else to say. He looked up when a handkerchief came into his field of vision. 

He looked at the old lady with wide eyes and looked behind her at Jimmy who had his arms crossed. She sighed sadly, taking his hand down and quickly covering his nose with the handkerchief. He holds it up to his nose, thanking her.

Without turning around she chastised her son.

“Jimmy, he seems like a nice young man. Why did you attack him?”.

There’s a slight pause before he spoke up.

“He was talking to Allie, Ma. And he’s not a kid”.

“Maybe because there was no one else to talk to!”, she sasses.

“Your poor boy. I’m terribly sorry for my son. We’re just on edge with everything”.

“It’s fine. I should have known better. I’m sorry”.

“James, come say sorry!”.

Jimmy stuttered out a response.

Alina speaks up, “Jimmy had a point Mama, even if he overreacted. He was just looking out for Allie”.

The old lady rounds on her, “you apologize too! Cali is the mother of your niece! And you too Cali. By God I am going to keep this family together”.

All she gets is three adults staring at the ground. 

“I am waiting!”, she puts her hands on her hips.

They begrudgingly do. 

Misunderstandings aside, the old lady, who introduces herself as Gemma, takes Ace inside the home and shows him around. Mr. Wilson’s beer can collection, his extensive album collection, his baseball card collection and other things he liked.

By the time it was over, she was treating him like a long lost member of the family. 

She was recounting old stories on the couch to him. Her children and grandchildren, keeping a bit of distance, were wary of him, but adding into the conversation every now and then. He was glad they weren’t saying anything outright as he felt the same way they did. He didn’t belong here. This was supposed to be an intimate moment among family. But no one dared to break this old woman’s heart. 

“- he couldn’t fix up tires well because of his fall during the championship game but he never let that stop him. Even in icy cold weather, when your lips would turn blue after a short while or in smoldering hot weather when all you could do was stay still to avoid melting into a pile of sweat. If any of our girls called with car troubles he was out the door before they could say ‘I’ll call a tow truck’. He just wouldn’t allow it”.

She drifts off, smiling at a picture in her hands warmly.

“He was a good man”.

She doesn’t say this to him, rather out loud.

He finally looks at her. Not glances to keep up the appearance he was paying attention, no, really at her. Ignoring the others who don’t want him there. 

“I just want to help”, he starts, gathering all eyes on him.

“I didn’t know him personally but he was always nice to me. … he didn’t deserve this. And I want to- I’m going to help in any way that I can”.

He locks eyes with her, full of youthful determination. 

She’s silent for a moment, in awe.

She thinks back to a moment in her life. Late at night, sitting at the kitchen table going over money with her husband, making a list of what they could sell to buy food.

Flashback

“I’ll sell my wedding dress”, she grabbed his arm.

He looked up with his mouth scrunched up, like he ate something sour.

“No you won't, woman. I’d rather die 10 times over before you have to sacrifice anything. I’ll figure it out”.

It wasn’t until months later when they had more money and she wanted to fix up some things she found out he had sold an old family heirloom that day. Some cufflinks that were commissioned by Stan’s great - great- grandfather took a fine woman for his wife.

“Your great- great grandfather died in that thing! It kept him safe all his life. And all the men after him except your grandfather, remember, your grandma said if he would have worn them during the war maybe he would have made it home. Rest his soul. And it’s kept you too!”.

He had listened to her rant in silence. He didn’t look at her, busy fixing up a leaky sink.

“Me and now my family. What good is some good luck charm if it can’t bless us”.

At that moment, she had never been more sure he was the man for her.

And the look on the young man before her, she was reminded of her husband and his determination.