Wiping the dust off her hands with a towel she kept for the purpose, she emerged from behind the counter. Not wishing to encounter the unpleasant sight of her customer's mouth hanging open in shock, Maya simply took Matty's hand and swept out the door. Burning bridges was her specialty.
* * *
They found a practically new pair of padded athletic shoes at the Salvation Army store around the corner from the shop. Matty displayed them proudly to Selene and anyone else who expressed interest after they arrived at school. At one point during the afternoon he wore one dragon shoe and one new shoe. A five-year-old's ability to take pleasure in simple things warmed Maya's scarred and jaded heart.
It didn't, however, warm her wallet, she thought as they headed home to an empty refrigerator. She'd spent her last five-dollar bill on the shoes. She hated to ask Selene for an advance on her salary. She'd been trying to use the proceeds from the shop to slowly pay off the mountain of bills in Cleo's mail, but if it came down to a choice between borrowing from the till or feeding Matty, she'd have to choose the latter, she decided as their ride stopped the car at their street corner.
Trying to remember how many eggs remained in the apartment's little refrigerator and wondering if a withered bell pepper and a piece of onion counted as vegetables, Maya wearily helped Matty from the back seat and waved farewell to the mother of one of her students.
Her back ached, her feet hurt, and her empty stomach demanded more than an egg for supper. She couldn't deny the child inside her womb any more than she could deny Matty. She'd have to raid the day's profits and go to the grocery. If Teresa had pulled off the crystal ball sale, there should actually be money in the till for a change, but it was probably in the form of credit card paper. She couldn't count on too many customers paying cash.
Wishing for the luxury of a decadent Big Mac as they walked the final block between the highway and home, Maya wrinkled her nose at the flash of blue lights reflecting off store windows and bouncing off brick walls. She had nothing against the police, but the anarchy of her growing-up years had inevitably painted those blue lights as symbols of turmoil in her mind. Matty's hand tightening around her fingers as he huddled closer warned he wasn't immune to them either.
She hated that. She wanted him to grow up secure in his surroundings, not terrified of every new occurrence. Somehow, she would have to teach him to trust in her ability to protect him against the world's unpleasantness.
Glancing down at her distended belly, Maya snorted in derision. Like, right, she'd done such a good job of protecting herself.
Not until they turned the corner did she understand the full extent of the disaster she'd been handed this time.
The entire front facade of Cleo's shop lay in tumbled heaps of old brick spilling across the street and sidewalk. Yellow police tape blocked all access to their home.
* * *
If he hadn't been watching for her, Axell might not have noticed Maya in the growing dusk. As it was, he caught a glimpse of orange-red in the halo of a street lamp, and hastened to catch up with her. She had a kid with her. He hadn't realized she had a son. Both of them were so pale in the glow of the street light he feared they'd faint.
"There's nothing you can do right now." Axell caught Maya's elbow, and felt her shivering through the cloth of her thin blouse. The temperature dropped quickly once the sun set. "They can't let anyone past the police line until inspectors assess the damage. It's just the brick facade that fell, but they don't know if there's underlying structural damage."
"Muldoon?"
Her voice trembled, and she hastily bit her bottom lip, but he could see her chin quivering in a battle to fight tears. In a flash of some insane leap of logic, he caught the connection. "The cat?" The black and white cat. Muldoon had driven a black and white police car in some ancient TV show.
She nodded. The boy merely stared in wide-eyed silence at the remains of his home. Unable to tolerate the vacuum of helplessness, Axell pulled off his suit jacket and wrapped it around Maya's shoulders. She didn't even seem aware that he'd done it.