by Natalie Dean
“Yeah, well it don’t feel like it most of the time. You know Malia’s grandma died yesterday? Her insulin was so expensive that she stopped taking it so she wouldn’t be a burden anymore.”
Teddy’s stomach sank as she continued to work. She hadn’t heard that. Malia and her weren’t close, but she remembered them praying for her family after her father was deported and her mother had to take on extra jobs. He’d overstayed his visa from Russia.
Antonio continued, “And those rich guys are sending more and more of their saps. Rumor is they’re getting their fingers involved on the streets.”
Teddy scoffed outright at that. “Please. Getting involved means they have to acknowledge us as people.”
He smiled, but it was bitter, and the huff that left his lips was toned with pain. “I mean, you may have a point there.”
Teddy thought back to the handsome, incredibly well-dressed man who showed up in the shop and it made her heart sink further. She didn’t want to talk about any of that. It was erasing the warm safety and comfort that she always found when the day ended and it was dinnertime with her family.
“Sit still and let me see your knuckles. I bet they’re busted again.”
“Your powers of recognizing patterns continue to be the best, Mami.”
“Teddy.”
“Whatever you say.”
He did settle, and Teddy absently heard her two coworkers eventually exit and both Andre and Roman settle down for the night. She finished up tending to Antonio, and when she was satisfied, she ruffled his unkempt hair.
“Come on, let’s go get you fed.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “That depends. Whose night was it?”
She ruffled his hair a bit harder. “You know that you’ve been over way too much when you know about our cooking schedule. And it was Andre, just so you know.”
“Ah, your daddy? Yeah, gimme some of that.” Antonio gave her a charming smile.
Teddy laughed and led Antonio up the stairs.
“Hey, why do you call him your dad but also by his first name?”
Teddy shrugged, opening up the door to the apartment. “I dunno really. I suppose it might be because, when I first met him, he was just Andre. He wasn’t really my dad until three years later. I guess I kinda use them interchangeably.”
“Huh. Sounds confusing. But it’s cool he adopted you and all that.”
Teddy sent him a shocked expression. “What? How did you know I’m adopted?”
For a singular moment, Antonio looked so surprised his face paled. But then the moment passed, and he gave her an unappreciative look. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?”
“What? You don’t think a redheaded ghost could come from Andre? You never know what’s in someone’s genetic history.”
“Yeah, yeah, you think you’re real funny.”
She did chuckle lightly. Andre clearly knew from the moment the buzzer sounded that she would end up feeding someone, and a plate was already sitting in the microwave. Heating it up for half a minute, she grabbed some juice and set a place for Antonio at the table.
“Thanks, Mami.”
“You keep up with that and I’m gonna stop feeding you.”
“Yeah, you say that, but I’ll believe it when I see it, Mother Teresa.”
Teddy rolled her eyes and went about getting herself a glass of water then washing some more dishes while Antonio forked his food down. It didn’t seem possible, but he devoured it even quicker than she had, and soon he was staring regretfully down at his empty plate.
“I need to wash up and get to bed soon, but I’ll pack you something to go. How does that sound?”
“You always treat me so well, Mami. When you gonna let me take you out and do something special for you?”
He sent her a look that almost for certain was supposed to be a smolder, but it just made her laugh. “Call me if you suddenly age ten years in a day.”
“Ten years? You’re not that much older than me.”
“I’m twenty-four and what are you… thirteen?”
Oooh, the glare that she earned from that was gold. “You know I turned seventeen last month. You baked me a cake.”
“No, Andre baked you a cake. I frosted it because his hands hurt a lot. I’m sure there are plenty of girls your age you can take on a date if you ever stop getting the tar beaten out of your face.”
“Aw, but I ain’t interested in girls my age. I’m interested in—”
Teddy knew that Antonio was just being a heartbreaker teen, and if she was around his age, maybe she would have been affected. But instead she held out the doggie bag that she had made. “If you don’t stop with that, you’re gonna have to eat this off the alley outside.”
“Ay, you know it’s a sin to waste this good food like that, right?”
“Uh-huh, well don’t make me waste it then. Behave yourself.”
He held out his hands, and she pushed the container into it. Once he was done chugging his juice, she escorted him back down and gave him a hug before seeing him out the door. Despite all the slick game he tried to spit, he kept the hug exactly as it was supposed to be, an act of comfort between two people who cared for each other. Because she did care for him. She cared about so many in her community, even if she tended to seal herself away in the shop for days on end.
She stood at the door until he disappeared down the alleyway, hopefully back home and not into more trouble, then headed back inside. She did make triple sure to lock everything up; then it was up the stairs and into the apartment.
Teddy didn’t expect to see Andre standing there, looking over the empty plate and cup. It was strange to see him up, as usually once he settled into his room, he would pass out in either his bed or his chair after reading a good book.
“Ya need something?” she asked, standing on tiptoe to give him a peck on the cheek. But the look that he gave her made her pause, and she tilted her head to the side.
“I know I may not be the most verbose man, but I wanted you to know that I couldn’t be prouder of the woman you’ve become. And your mother would be too.”
Oh.
That was… she hadn’t been expecting that.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Of course, sweet pea. You have a good night now. I’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”
As it always did, her heart swelled in her chest. With all the terrible things that were happening in the world, she would always have Andre and Roman. Her family. “Love you too.”
4
Silas
“Did you want to stop for a soda?”
Silas paused for a moment, looking up from some of the power grid specs he was looking at to think about it. “I… you know what, no. I just want to get to my car. If I get a sugar craving, I’ll pick up one on my way back home.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Thanks again for driving me. I appreciate it.”
Solomon shrugged. “I was heading into the city to visit with Frenchie anyway. It’s no skin off my back.”
“Right. Your girl.”
“Don’t say it like that.”
Silas affixed his second oldest brother with a plain look. “Like what?”
“I dunno. Just… like that.”
“Alright then, I’ll try not to say it ‘like that,’ whatever ‘like that’ is.”
Solomon narrowed his eyes at him, but the look wasn’t nearly that withering because he quickly had to return his gaze to the road. Besides, Solomon was pretty used to the ribbing, considering that was Silas’ main method of showing affection. Which was slightly better than Sterling’s outright teasing that could sometimes go too far. His brother was really doing him a solid by giving him a ride. Dad would have no doubt been confused and far too curious as to why Silas had chosen to let a run-down shop in the city take care of his car. Especially since he didn’t really know himself.
Clearly, he hadn’t made a bad choice because the car was ready a whole day earlier than they
had quoted him. He just hoped they did good work. But when he thought about the woman he met there and the intense way she’d studied his car before telling him off, he couldn’t help but feel like he had left his vehicle in good hands. And maybe he was naive for thinking that considering the way she had talked to him, but she struck him as the type of woman who was proud of her work.
He and Solomon drove along in relative quiet after that, leaving Silas to his thoughts. Which he had a lot of. His brother had been… different ever since he met the girl in the city. Silas didn’t mind it, but it certainly was causing tension back home.
Funny, how his family was considered to have some of the most eligible bachelors in the state, but none of them really dated. Sure, all of them had tried once or twice, but it usually didn’t end up working out. Between being busy, dodging gold diggers, and focusing on helping Dad build his empire, there wasn’t room for much else. Sometimes Silas felt like they forgot what it was like to even be ranchers.
That thought unsettled him, not leaving even when his brother dropped him off at the shop and zoomed away, anxious to go see his mysterious city girl.
Shoving his phone into his pocket, he headed into the shop. The same young man was at the reception desk, but this time he didn’t ignore Silas. No, instead he looked startled.
“What are you doing here?” It wasn’t maliciously said, but it certainly gave him pause.
“I was called? For my car.”
“You shouldn’t have been called. Not yet.” The young man looked frustrated. “Hold on. Lemme go talk to Jamal. He watched the desk for the first two hours of the day.”
“Alright. You do that.”
Why did it feel like stepping into the shop was the same as being transported to an entirely different world with unknown rules?
The young man came back out, looking even more stressed. “Apologies for having you come here too early. Your car was supposed to be finished, but there was an emergency with the Munch buses and both our owner and his daughter went to go take care of it. They have to sign off on your car before we can release it.”
“Munch buses?” Silas asked dubiously, wondering if the young man was putting one over on him.
“The local charity meal delivery program. They have a couple trucks that take meals to the elderly, disabled or in need.” The young man gave him a borderline scathing look. “I suppose you don’t have any of those in your neck of the woods.”
“No, we definitely don’t.”
“Right. Well your ride’s a pretty nice one, and since we ordered the part from one of those expensive suppliers, only the owner or his children can sign off on it.”
“You said the owner and his daughter are out. What about his other child?”
“This is his only day off. We can call him, but he might not answer right away.”
Silas felt his irritation rising. He didn’t want to be stranded again at the shop, but he felt like complaining about them helping a charity would be particularly selfish.
“I guess I’ll… go for a walk. Call me when you get in touch with him? Or if there’s an update?”
“Yeah, of course we’ll do that. For what it’s worth, sir, I am sorry. This shouldn’t have happened.”
The apology seemed genuine, and the young man was still wearing that stressed expression. Silas again got the impression that the shop prided itself on customer service, despite their frosty reception of him.
“Life happens. Just let me know.”
“Of course, sir. Thank you for your understanding.”
Sir. Interesting. That was certainly a change from the previous time. Silas gave him a nod then headed out, figuring that he could at least get some more investigation in while he was stuck in town.
He headed the opposite way he had started, meaning to scan buildings, look at foundations, examine traffic points that seemed important. Except the buildings kept drifting to the background as he noticed the people of the small community.
There was a particularly old woman sitting in a folding chair next to a cart full of flowers. Her skin was wrinkled and like tanned leather, wizened from her years. A few moments later, a young girl with large, large hair and long nails walked up to her, handing her a steaming cup of what looked like either tea or coffee and pressing a kiss to the older woman’s cheek.
It was a sweet scene, and then the girl was walking off and the woman was waving at her. Silas couldn’t tell if they were related—they certainly didn’t look like each other at all—but he figured if he stared any longer it would be creepy, so he kept on walking.
He thought then maybe he could pull his thoughts together and concentrate, but he was distracted again. There was a couple dancing in front of a restaurant, someone playing drums as well. A small crowd was gathered around them, clapping and laughing and generally seeming to be having a great time. Silas couldn’t tell if they all knew each other, or if it was impromptu, but that didn’t seem to matter. They were all so in the moment. And it was only just before lunch. What did they have to dance about or celebrate?
He didn’t know, and it didn’t seem right to walk up to them and demand an explanation when he was already so clearly an outsider. So he kept on.
But the more he walked, the more he looked around, the more he felt like he saw the starts of stories. People unlike what he was used to. People who clearly had their own lives and journeys. It was so unlike anything he’d experienced before in his evaluations. It wasn’t like him to be so… distracted.
And yet, that was exactly what he was.
In fact, he was so distracted that he hadn’t even realized how much time had passed until his phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulled from his revelry, he realized that it was close to dusk. How long had he been walking?
He blinked at his phone and saw two missed calls from the shop. Well that certainly wasn’t great. Cursing to himself, he looked around and realized he had no idea where he was. He really had been in his head, hadn’t he?
It was probably the whole situation throwing him off. Plugging the shop address into his GPS, he headed back. Quickly, with his head tucked down, he found a slither of apprehension up his spine. He was acutely aware that he was a well-dressed man in an unknown area who stuck out like a sore thumb. That was… that was risky. How many times had his dad told him about needing protection on the wrong side of town? There was a reason they all had kidnapping insurance and life insurance policies.
It would draw too much attention to run, so he just settled for walking very quickly, just on the cusp of maybe sprinting. He thought he vaguely recognized where he was going, but it wasn’t until the GPS told him to walk down a brick alley that he killed his momentum.
There was no way he was going through an alley to get to his destination. Why was the GPS even leading him to what must be the back way? He would just keep walking around and find the front. It wouldn’t be that hard.
He stepped back and looked to the left. But there wasn’t a street there. No, the block kept on what looked like a good way. Well… there were worse puzzles he’d solved.
He headed that way, but as he reached the corner, the GPS kept yelling at him that he was adding time to reach his destination. Silas saw that the street was a diagonal that went nowhere in the direction he needed to go. Zooming in on the map, he realized that taking it would lead him to the front of the shop, but if he wanted to stick to the main streets, it was going to add a solid fifteen minutes to his walk.
Normally that was small beans. He’d been walking for hours, after all. But it was growing increasingly darker by the second and his stomach was twisting harshly. Silas just wanted to get to familiar territory as soon as possible.
It would be a bad decision. He shouldn’t go down that alley.
But it was so close, only five minutes if he went that way. That was it. What could happen in five minutes?
With one last look at the diagonal row of run-down buildings, he turned and headed toward the alley.
Hi
s shoulders were up by his ears as he walked along, and he swore every sound of the city had him jumping. He felt like there should have been more people around, and he also felt like he heard them, but when he looked around, he didn’t see anyone. Where were the food delivery folks, the miscreants? The ragamuffins? It was ominously vacant.
Finally, the back of the mechanic’s shop loomed at the point where two alleys met. A kind of odd layout, but they were in the older, run-down part of the city that had been made long before the founders knew it would one day be a sprawling metropolis in the desert.
Well, kinda desert.
He hadn’t noticed before, but there was a tall fence cutting about half of the backyard from view, the other half containing the two large shutter doors. They certainly had a large plot for being in the city, even if it was the older part. Maybe there had been another building there, long ago? Obviously, it hadn’t been a mechanic’s shop forever considering when the area started to grow and when cars were invented.
The sight of the building flooded him with relief, and then he did start jogging forward. He was pretty sure he could cut up the driveway and then be around to the front. Hopefully there was still someone in the shop. It wasn’t that late.
…was it?
He supposed he would find out.
He was almost there, a building away or so, when the sound of a small motor filled the alley and a group of five or so young men were coming toward him too fast to be on regular bikes but too slow to be on motorcycles.
That… that couldn’t be good.
“You lost, man?” one of them said. He looked like the kind one might expect to run into in an alley on the wrong side of town.
“Nope, just heading to the mechanic shop. They have my car.”
“Ay, he’s that man who’s been walking around. Casing the place,” another said. Not too much different from the first.
“We got something you want, huh?”
Silas straightened and looked around. They outnumbered him; they probably had weapons. While his fists were curling at his sides, he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against them. Maybe Sal would, maybe, but not Silas.