She made just enough at the clinic to pay her rent and utilities. As for food, she just barely qualified for assistance so she could keep herself and her kids fed. Her mom helped with childcare or Luci never could have made it—after school care cost a crazy amount, especially with three kids. She would have had to stay with Tony without her mom’s help.
But Luci’s mom was barely scraping by herself. She was undocumented so she didn’t dare to apply for any assistance. Instead, she worked at a fashionable Mexican restaurant in South Tampa where she made the handmade tortillas they were famous for. Every morning she got up at the crack of dawn and went to The Blue Mesa to work for a pittance because they were willing to pay her under the table and not ask questions.
Her mom got off work just in time to drive her rusted out Chrysler Cordoba to the kid’s school and pick them all up. Then, after her shift was over, Luci would come and get them. They usually ate dinner together and then she took the kids home, gave them a bath, read them a bedtime story, and put them to bed.
Then she got up the next day and did it all over again.
Only how am I going to do it without a car? Luci wondered worriedly. How am I going to get the kids to school tomorrow?
She supposed she would have to get everyone up when her mom got up and drop her mom off at work before she borrowed her mom’s car to take the kids to school. Then she could bring the car back to her mom and take a bus to her own work. After work, she would take the bus to her mom’s house to collect the kids. But without a car, she would have to drag them all home on public transport and what would they do the next day? And the next and the next—without a car, her life became about a hundred times more complicated.
What was she going to do?
Luci sighed and put her head in her hands. Despite the hardships of living below the poverty line, she usually thought her divorce from Tony had been worth it. Frannie was starting to lose the timid, frightened look she’d worn all the time and the twins no longer started howling when someone walked into the room. Her children were happier and emotionally healthier and so was she. Also, none of them were walking on eggshells anymore, afraid that any little thing they did or said would set Tony off.
Another good thing was that Luci got to work with animals, as she had always wanted to—and keep pets too, which Tony had never allowed, except for Lady, which her mom had gotten for the kids when he was gone on a business trip. He had flown into a rage when he’d seen the puppy but Luci had managed to sell him on the idea of the dog as a protector—to keep them all safe from burglars whenever he was out of town.
Her ex had always hated the dog though, a feeling which Lady returned with a vengeance. She was one reason Luci had felt safe enough to tell Tony she was divorcing him in the first place. Though Lady was supposed to be the kids’ pet, she was fiercely protective of Luci herself. She had growled menacingly and wouldn’t allow Tony to lay a hand on Luci during the heated conversation when she told him she was leaving for good.
But despite the good things that had come out of leaving her abusive ex, right at that moment, Luci couldn’t help wishing she was back at the neat little house in Carrollwood where she had lived when she was still married. After all, when Tony was away on one of his frequent business trips, the little house had been a place of peace and love.
Her mom had come over to help with the babies and they had laughed and played and baked together, filling the air with the warm smell of her mom’s menudo and tamales. She had told Frannie and the twins stories of their abuelo, who they had never gotten to know, since he had died before Luci had gotten married.
Back then, Luci had never had to worry about whether she would have enough money to feed herself and her kids and the pets, or if her car would last for a few more years so she could keep getting herself to work and the kids to school. She hadn’t had to worry about anything except…
Except when Tony was going to hit you or shout at you or scream at the kids, Luci reminded herself firmly. Stop wishing for the past and look to the future, Lucia! Things will work out somehow.
Though she had no idea how.
When the bus came to her stop, Luci left with a sigh. She knew she would be getting right back on in a few minutes, as soon as she had gotten a change of scrubs for herself and clothes for the kids. They would have to stay at her mom’s place tonight, which meant Luci would be sleeping on the lumpy living room couch while the kids slept with her mom in her big double bed.
Of course, she could have asked her mom to bring the kids and stay at her place tonight, but her mother didn’t like to drive at night—it made her really nervous. Luci suspected she might be getting glaucoma but again, there was no way to tell since her mom didn’t have access to any medical care.
As she trudged down the sidewalk to her apartment building, she considered her options. If she couldn’t get the car fixed, she supposed she would have to move back in with her mom for a while, which felt like a real step backwards. And how would she ever scrape together enough cash for another down payment to move out again? How could she—
Suddenly there was a dark figure blocking her path.
Luci looked up, her heart suddenly beating in her throat. The figure was tall—professional basketball player tall—and immensely broad through the shoulders. There was no doubt he was male.
Also, he had glowing eyes.
The figure said something but his voice was a deep rumble and Luci’s heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t understand him. All she could think was that her bad day had suddenly gotten much, much worse. Forget about getting her car fixed or moving back in with her mom…
Now she was just hoping not to be killed.
Two
Luci looked frantically around for help—for anyone at all she could shout to. But the street was deserted. She was still about half a block from her apartment building in an area where two of the street lamps had burned out, leaving a dense patch of shadows. Of course on this end of town, the lights and the roads never got fixed, so the dangerous area was likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Only right at that moment, Luci couldn’t see any future for herself—none at all.
The huge, shadowy figure with glowing eyes was looming over her in the blackness and she was sure that at any minute he was going to strike. She wanted to run but his legs were so much longer than hers, he was sure to catch her. As for fighting—she would try, but she had no illusions about how much stronger than her the man was.
Dios mio, she thought, feeling sick. I’m going to die tonight. Right here and now, I’m going to die!
Then he spoke again in that deep, rumbling voice. This time, somehow, Luci understood him.
“Please,” he said. “You work at a place for sick animals, don’t you? Please—help me.”
His words startled her so much that Luci uttered a little gasp and put a hand to her pounding heart.
“Wh-what?” she somehow managed to say. “Help you with what?”
“With these.”
The enormous man leaned forward and held out his hands—which looked as big as baseball mitts to Luci. Lying in his cupped palms were three tiny kittens. They were crying and mewing loudly and it occurred to Luci that she would have heard them before if she hadn’t been so horribly frightened.