“No, I’m not in trouble.” Danica tried not to sound as annoyed as it made her that it’d be the first thing her sister would ask.
“Good, ’cause I’m done bailing you out of jail. I’m not doing it anymore.”
“I know you aren’t, and it’s been over two years since you had to bail me out last. When are you gonna stop throwing that in my face?”
“When you stop hanging around those low-life friends of yours, Danica. Mom always said, ‘Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.’ Was she lying?”
“I get it, okay!” Danica dropped her bags, pissed at the angry tears that were already betraying her and blurring her sight. “That was a long time ago. Can you cut me some fucking slack?”
“Get out!” Her sister opened the door again. “I won’t have you disrespecting me in my own home and upsetting Dominic.”
“It’s my house too,” Danica argued, choking back the emotion.
“Mom left me as sole executor of the will, which means I can do whatever I want with this place.”
“Nicah! Nicah! Nicah!”
Just hearing his voice, even the way he said her name, was enough to have Danica smiling. She turned to her brother, who stood by the hallway door, one hand leaning on his walker, the other reaching out to her. “Hey, Boo Boo.” She rushed to him and hugged him hard as he tapped her back in response. When she pulled back, she smiled, despite having to wipe tears away still. “How’s my big brother?”
He nodded but pointed at his own eyes. “Cry?” He tilted his head, searching her eyes. “Nicah sad?”
She shook her head and wiped more tears away, kissing his chubby little cheek. “I’m not sad.” She smiled even bigger. “These are happy tears because I’m moving back in. I’m gonna live here with you and La again.”
Dominic’s eyes widened, and he smiled big, glancing at Delia then back at Danica. “Nicah here?” He pointed at the floor, doing a little jiggle. “Nicah iv here?”
Nodding, she glanced back at her sister, who was shaking her head with a smirk, as if to say dirty trick. Danica knew her sister well. Seeing Dominic smile so big was enough to have Delia overlooking her younger sister’s outburst earlier. “You’re right, Dani. This house is just as much yours as it is mine and Dominic’s, and you’re welcome to live here forever if you so well please.” She sat down on the sofa as if she’d already given into the idea. “I just need you to promise you won’t bring any of those friends of yours around here. I don’t even wanna hear about them if they’re still a part of your life. Is that understood?”
Danica walked over to the sofa, and Dominic followed, pushing his walker along. “You act like I had a ton. It was just Angie and Juanita.”
“A topless waitress and an escort.” Feeling the anger warm her insides, Danica bit her tongue before she went off on her sister again, but Delia knew her too well.
“She wasn’t a topless waitress. She was a bartender at a topless bar. But she never went topless.”
“Look. I get it,” Delia said, crossing her arms in front of her. “I’m not even judging them on their chosen occupations. They’re just trying to get by, and they’re not hurting anyone, but they’re addicts, Dani, and you’ve seen what drugs can do to people. Good people. People like you.”
Grinding her teeth, Danica swallowed the emotion back. “I never did drugs.”
“Doesn’t matter. They still landed your ass in jail, right?” Danica had too much to feel happy about. She refused to get pulled into this conversation and get down again. Plus, her sister was right, so why bother arguing?
Willing away the heartache this topic brought on, Danica exhaled. “I promise.” She plopped down, tapping the sofa for Dominic to sit down next to her. “You won’t be hearing of me around either of them again.”
Delia eyed her, not looking totally convinced, but Danica couldn’t fault her for that. Danica had let her down too many times in the past. “You don’t work today?”
“I gave my shift up so I could move out while Ted was out having breakfast with his kids.”
Danica exhaled at the reminder of the only drawback about breaking things off with Ted. His son Blaine was a defense lawyer who’d agreed to represent Danica and help get the felony reduced to a misdemeanor. Even with these two new jobs, there was no way Danica could afford to retain her own lawyer. Court-appointed defense lawyers were only for when you were being charged with something, not for when you’d already been convicted and were trying to get charges reduced after the fact. Ted refused to tell her how much he’d paid his son. All he said was he’d, of course, given him a good deal. But Danica had done some research before he offered to take care of it for her, and the least she’d been quoted was five grand, just to retain someone. If things got complicated, it could be more. Danica had some rethinking to do. That perk had been one of the biggest reasons why Danica had tolerated Ted this long. That was obviously out the window now.
“What happened with Ted?” her sister asked.
Leaning her head against Dominic’s shoulder, Danica took a deep breath. “You were right. He’s a control freak and he’s only getting worse.”
Delia shook her head. “I don’t know how you didn’t see it before. I saw it the very first night you introduced him to me when we met you for dinner, from his telling you what to order to the way he wouldn’t let you out of sight when you went to the ladies’ room. He watched you the whole time you walked there and back as if, God forbid, you might be social with anyone along the way.”
Danica shrugged. “He wasn’t that obvious in front of me and, for a long time, was really good about hiding his control issues. That day I just thought he was trying to help me choose since I’d never been to that restaurant, but little by little, his true colors have started coming out, and I just didn’t want to stick around and see how bad he could really get.”
Delia stood up. “You have breakfast yet?”
“No.” Danica shook her head, lifting it away from Dominic’s shoulder.
“Good, you can tell me what finally made you come to your senses over breakfast. I made chorizo and eggs. You know me. I always make too much, so there’s plenty.”
Turning to Dominic, Danica opened her eyes wide and smiled. “Ready for some papas? Chorizo!”
“Izo. Izo. Izo.”
“Let’s go!” They got up, and Danica took in Dominic from behind as he made himself to the dining room table. He’d been dragging one foot for years, but it appeared to be getting worse. Danica decided she’d wait until he wasn’t around to ask Delia about it. Technically, Dominic was their older brother, since he was older than both. But as each sister past his mental age, which was that of a roughly four-year-old child according to the doctors, he’d become their baby brother. It helped that the Down Syndrome stunted his growth. So, between him being dependent on them and his being a little shorty, they’d forever see him as their baby brother. It’s why Delia had felt compelled to go into the line of work she was in. She was the licensed children’s therapist and even had a whole set-up out back and in the family room for the clients who came over regularly. Danica had assisted her plenty of times, and she had a lifetime of experience with Dominic. She, along with Delia, had a huge hand in helping raise him. More than most sisters would. Their father had suffered a stroke at an early age and had become completely dependent on their mother. Thus, their mom had also had her hands full dealing with him. By then, Danica and her sister were old enough to step in and take over Dominic duty. But Danica didn’t care what those doctors said. Dominic was extremely intelligent when it came to many things. Even though his vocabulary was limited, he still picked up on a lot. Like today when he asked her if she was sad, despite her cheery greeting. Even though she never actually told him she’d moved out when Delia kicked her out, whenever she came by to visit, he was always so sad when she’d leave. He’d point at her room and say, “Nicah sleep.”
Dominic took his place at the dining room table while Danica and De
lia brought everything out from the kitchen. Their mother had always insisted they eat their meals together like a family. And unlike many people who rarely used their formal dining rooms, this family used it almost three times each day. Though because of work they skipped lunch a lot. But not Dominic. He even had his snacks in there at his place at the table. Once the whole spread was out on the dining table, Danica and Delia took their places. Danica made her brother his plate, reminding him before handing it to him, “Little bites, okay?”
Eating was one of his favorite things to do, but he was often too eager and would start to choke. She dug into her own food and began telling Delia about the Starbucks card and how that had just been the last straw. She left out anything about his insensitive ass since her sister didn’t know the whole truth about the baby either. Delia had met Baby Orlando a few times, but Danica had told her she’d picked up a babysitting gig to help supplement the few hours she was getting at ShopMart. Delia had even watched him a few times for Danica when she hadn’t wanted to give up her shift. She’d always been terrified about even attempting to leave him with Angie, and she refused to leave him with Ted. Not that the idiot ever offered to help with him, but even if he had, she didn’t trust him. She’d sooner have had Dominic help keep an eye on him than she would’ve Ted. Delia didn’t mind since, for the most part, the baby slept through Danica’s short shifts.
They discussed Ted’s controlling ways as they ate and finished their breakfast and then cleaned up after. Once done with breakfast and the cleanup, Danica headed out to her car to grab the rest of her stuff. On the second and last trip back to her trunk, Ted pulled up, skidding to a stop just behind her car in the driveway.
He got out, looking incensed. “Who is he?”
Danica peered at him, lost by what he may mean, but ready to tell him off. “What?”
“Don’t act stupid, Danica.” He grabbed her roughly by the arm and got in her face. “You’ve barely let me touch you since you gave up that kid. You show up late and all cheery last night when you’ve been nothing but a downer for months. Then you lie about not having gone anywhere else yesterday when I knew you had. Now you just up and move out without so much as a good-bye?” He squeezed her arm so tight Danica couldn’t even move and her heart beat erratically. “You fucking someone else, you ingrate? After everything I’ve done for you?”
“Let go of me.” Danica tried in vain to come loose.
“You going back to being a loser hood rat, Danica? Is that what you’re doing? Because without me that’s all you’ll ever be.”
“I left your ass because of this.” She hissed in his face. “I’d be insane not to.”
“Get in the car.” He shoved her toward his car, still holding her arm tightly. Danica yanked at her arm, shocked that he was acting like this. She knew he was a control freak and a heartless asshole, but this was an entirely different and terrifying side of him she was seeing now. For a moment, she came loose, but he grabbed her other arm.
“Get your fucking paws off my sister before I shoot your dick off, asshole!”
Ted froze at the sight of Delia just a few feet away pointing her gun at him. He was distracted just long enough for Danica to come free. Grabbing his crotch, she squeezed as hard as she could and twisted with everything she had. With a wail, Ted hunched over just as Danica let go, and he fell all the way down, holding his crotch area in agony. “Don’t you ever put your hands on me again, you bastard!” She kicked him in the ribs despite her hands still shaking from the terror of it all. “You have two minutes to get off our property or we’ll call the cops.”
“Or?” Delia looked at her like she was crazy even as she still stood there pointing the gun at Ted. “I already did.”
“Oh my God,” Danica gasped. “Then put that thing away, will you?” She grabbed her sister’s free hand, glancing around at some of the neighbors looking through their windows and cracks in their doors. “We’ll wait inside.”
Taking deep breaths before she hyperventilated, Danica wondered if she should leave but thought better of it. Just because she was still on felony probation didn’t mean they would haul her ass back to jail. Ted was not coming back. Of that she was sure. Knowing the cops were on their way, he would realize this could make for a scandal in his perfect life. As long as her sister put the gun away and it wasn’t mentioned, Danica should be fine. She reminded herself she had no warrants and she had nothing to hide—that the police might catch wind of anyway.
Chapter 7
Orlando
Why the hell hadn’t he made sure to get Danica’s phone number? It’d been over a week since her stop at the shop, and Nine hadn’t heard from her either. Orlando could only pray she hadn’t been offered a better gig or just changed her mind about his impromptu proposal. He walked around as Baby O wailed away and nothing he did helped calm him. Not even the pacifier was cutting it this time. The fever was gone now, but he was still crying and had been for what felt like forever. Googling how to stop a baby from crying wasn’t helping either. Orlando had to have some idea why he was crying. He still didn’t know what had brought on the fever either. At least he had baby aspirin to help in that aspect, but aside from that, he was at a complete loss. His mom was at an appointment with his grandparents, so she wasn’t answering either. Beast still hadn’t called him back, and Felicia was at work and unavailable. She didn’t have kids, but maternal instincts might come naturally to her, right? At least that’s what she’d said when she offered to watch Baby O once, maybe twice, a week for him until he could get the childcare thing squared away. Orlando was getting so desperate he was considering calling Nine to see if maybe his wife Drew, who was a mom and soon to-be for the second time around, might be of some help. Just as he picked up the phone, it rang with a number he didn’t recognize. He almost sent it to voicemail but then remembered Danica and prayed to God it might be her.
Please, please, please. He hit the button and answered.
“Orlando?”
He smiled when he heard the godsent voice he recognized, despite the agitation he’d been feeling for the past half hour. “Danica?”
She was quiet for a moment before clearing her throat. “Yes, is the baby okay? Why’s he crying like that?”
“I don’t know. He had a fever earlier, but that’s gone now, and I’ve tried feeding him, giving him juice, his diaper’s fresh, and he keeps spitting out the pacifier.”
“Where is he at right now? His crib?”
“No, in my arms. I’m walking around, trying to calm him.”
“Is he in that thing you were wearing the day I was at the shop?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, try taking him out and sitting down and laying him across your lap on his belly.” Orlando worked diligently to do as he was told and got Baby O out of the sling. Unbelievably, the baby calmed, but it was fleeting. He’d been distracted by the change in position, but within a few moments, he was back to crying.
“Oh, I know,” she said when the crying started up again. “You said he had a fever, right?”
“Yeah. Not a very high one, just over a hundred. Highest it went was one hundred point two.”
“He’s probably teething then. You have teething rings.” There was a pause before she added, “Right? I’m assuming because he looks about that age.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He jumped up and headed toward the kitchen where he had a couple that had been put in the bag he’d been delivered with. They were in the baby bottle sanitizer that had also been in there. Grabbing one, he rinsed it, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear. “I just give it to him?”
“No, put it in the freezer for a few minutes so it’ll get cold. Then wash your hands and rub his gums with your finger and lulu him.”
“Lulu?”
She was quiet again before responding. “He . . . uh, babies . . . they like soothing luluing. Most do anyway. You rock him and then lulu softly.” She started doing this sort of humming thing, but instead of just hummin
g, she said luuuluuu luuuu luuu luuu, over and over.
Once again, Orlando did as he was told, started rubbing the baby’s gums as he rocked and mimicked Danica’s lulus to the same tune she used. All the while he held the phone between his ear and shoulder. The baby calmed almost immediately, staring at Orlando as he listened to the luluing. “Holy shit,” he whispered between lulus. “It’s working.”
“It is?” She sounded almost as excited as Orlando felt. “Has he been drooling a lot?”
“Yeah, I keep having to change his bib. Sometimes even his little shirt because it soaks through the bib and wets his shirt too.”
“Well, then for sure it’s his teething that has him so cranky. Keep several teething rings in the freezer or even just the refrigerator so you can rotate them. They make over-the-counter ointments you can also rub on his gums, but I’d use those sparingly. It’s better to try and use natural stuff and stay away from the meds whenever possible.”
Orlando continued to lulu softly even as she spoke. He stared down at the baby, who amazingly began to doze off. “He’s falling asleep,” he whispered, feeling completely relieved. “I can’t believe how easy that was.”
“Once you get a better hang of this, you’ll start to narrow down what the issue might be faster. If it’s anything not too serious like this, there’s usually one or two specific things that’ll fix it pretty fast.”
Waiting until the baby had completely knocked out, Orlando continued to lulu softly, appreciating that she stayed on the line until he put him down. Once he was down in his crib, Orlando turned on the baby monitor and camera and tiptoed out the room. “He’s out.” He smiled big but felt drained. “Jesus, where do I sign? We need you in our lives like yesterday.” He heard her laugh softly—nervously—and immediately regretted his choice of words, so he went on speaking quickly. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean for that to sound weird or anything. I just couldn’t get ahold of my mom or anyone that might point me in the right direction. So, you calling when you did was perfect timing. I’d begun to worry we might never hear from you again. I knew he’d been teething, but the fever threw me. I thought maybe he was coming down with something. When I get anxious, my head goes completely somewhere else.”
Orlando: Boyle Heights #4 Page 7