and nod. “Let’s go.”
I switch off my emotions as we head into the upscale townhouse. The furniture is different and the place smells a lot better. The girl who greets us this time has a fancy sort of Upper West Side accent and she’s wearing pearls and a pencil skirt.
But the scene is pretty much the same: some idiot wanted to get to outer space, so he injected the goods straight into his arm.
Thankfully, the naloxone works on this one, like it usually does, and we’re able to take him to Betty knowing that he’ll most likely live. Then it’s time to go downtown for a traffic collision call.
But hey, at least I can look on the bright side. At least it’s not another overdose.
When my shift is done and the sun is rising, I ride the elevator up to my apartment and try not to fall asleep as I stagger in. My roommates are sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. Their day is just beginning.
“Is it Halloween?” Zora laughs, eyeing me through her stylish hipster glasses “Because you look like a zombie, girl.” She’s covered in tattoos and works as a graphic designer. She wears fishnets to work. She’s awesome.
Quinny mock-cringes away from me. She’s wearing her construction gear, hi-vis vest and unapologetically short blonde hair, narrowing her eyes with a vicious grin on her face. She’s awesome, too. “You’re right, it’s the zombie apocalypse. We’re doomed.”
“Ha. Ha. I need cereal. Somebody get me cereal. Stat.”
“You heard the woman!” Zora cries, grabbing the box of Cap’n Crunch and filling the bowl they’ve already prepared for me.
“Stat!” Quinny adds, as she pours the milk. “And your spoon, m’lady.”
I take the offered spoon and just about have enough energy for a mouthful. Even chewing makes me sleepy.
“Long night?” Zora asks. “Because, no offense, you look like shit.”
I smile wanly. “That makes sense. I look how I feel.”
Quinny shakes her head and grumbles, “Way to depress the shit out of me before what already promises to be a depressing as hell day, sis. Like, good job.”
I hold my hands up in defeat. “Next time you pull a twelve-hour shift, I’m gonna be waiting right here to welcome you home. Then you’ll get an idea of how few fucks I give right now.”
Zora narrows her eyes in concern. “Seriously, if you wanna talk about it …”
I shake my head. Even that makes me want to collapse into my cereal. “It’s okay. Nothing to worry about.” I stand up and drag myself toward the bedroom. “Have a good day at work, girls. I need to zombify for a few hours before my afternoon shift.”
“They’re working you like a dog, Dani,” Quinny says.
“Yep,” I agree. “But it’s bad out there. If I don’t go in, and they can’t find somebody to cover me, and someone’s sister or son is OD’ing …” I shrug. “G’night—I mean, morning.”
Zora tips an imaginary hat. “This city is forever in your service.”
I barely manage to find my bed before I collapse into it face-first, still fully clothed. The last thing I see when I close my eyes is Wyatt, smiling as he performs a back handspring, winking at me mid-leap.
3
Angelo
The next day, I’m at the hospital with Levi. I can tell that Levi is worried even if he’s trying hard not to show it as we walk down the hallway. We sign into the visitors’ list and then enter his mother’s room.
I hate hospitals, but I like his mother and I’m not about to make Levi visit here alone, even if he’d never outright ask me to come with him.
Madolina is sitting up in bed, knitting. She lays it aside and turns to us.
Her diabetes has given her hypoglycemia, which in turn made her so lightheaded this morning that she collapsed outside and laid for two hours before a pedestrian found her. She almost froze in New York’s autumn ice. It will be December soon, deep winter. If she had fallen then … Levi and I exchange a look. We don’t want to think about that.
She waves a hand, rosary beads clicking. She is thin and old and yet still pretty, with brown eyes and bronzed leathery skin. She always smells like good wine and garlic, even now. “Your worry is deafening,” she mutters.
“It’s hard not to worry, Ma,” Levi says. He adjusts his gold watch and tugs at his wispy mustache. I’ve seen him do that many times: before fights, before deals, before a date with a woman