Somewhere in His Arms (17 page)

             
Lucy finished unpacking the last of the boxes and stood up, wincing as her back protested painfully. She tried to massage the ache away and swore when her fingers caught a sensitive spot. She didn’t know what was worse, the persistent ache in her back or the one brewing in her skull.

             
The clinic was closing for the day and the skeleton crew of doctor, two nurses, and a medical assistant went from room to room, locking cabinets and filing away papers. Lucy grabbed her jacket and backpack and stayed with Carlos as he locked up. She stood next to him waving to the others as they said goodnight and went to their cars.

             
Oh, how she wished her little car hadn’t upped and died! Independence was a thing not to be taken lightly, and she was beginning to find out the hard way.

             
Carlos pulled the gate down and locked it. “So, when’s sis coming to pick you up?” he asked, smiling. He was shorter than his sister with a stocky build and broad, pleasant features. He wasn’t as jovial as Diane but more than made up for it with his magnanimous nature.

             
Lucy glanced at her watch. “They’re supposed to be here at six.”

             
He nodded. “The reason I ask,” he said quietly, “is that I don’t want to leave you out here by yourself.”

             
“I’ll be all right by myself,” she said bravely, and sneaked another look at her watch. Five-forty five. “I don’t mind waiting.”

             
He was startled by her naiveté. “This is your first time in Skid Row isn’t it?”

             
“No, it isn’t,” she replied defensively. “I did my psyche clinicals down here.”

             
“And that makes you an expert...?”

             
“Geez, Carlos!” she grumbled. “What’s with the third degree?”

             
“Sorry,” he said ruefully. “But Di would never forgive me if I let something happen to you and in your current state,” he added, gesturing toward her protruding belly.

             
“I can take care of myself,” Lucy reassured him with a stubborn tilt of her chin. “One of Viv’s toys was ex-Mossad. He was very proficient at Krav Maga.”

             
“Is that right?’

             
“Uh-huh.”

             
“Well...” he began sheepishly, “since you’re here to protect me, I can stay with you till Di shows up.”

             
“Ha-ha,” she retorted with another glance at her watch. It was getting late and Lucy’s bravado was slowly receding. She really didn’t want to be caught out in Skid Row after dark. She shrugged off her jacket feeling stifled in the lightweight cotton. The warmth of early summer was beginning to rear its ugly head as the concrete and asphalt slowly released the insidious heat into the polluted air. “Can I ask you something?” she ventured cautiously.

             
“Ask away.”

             
“Why can’t Sophie’s mom afford her medicine?”

             
“Because her sister keeps getting pregnant,” he spat out in disgust. “The girl’s a baby factory!”

             
“How old is Marta?”

             
“Sixteen and a half,” he informed her bitterly. “And she’s on baby number three.”

             
Lucy felt sick. “Poor Sophie,” she muttered. “They don’t give her the meds, do they?”

             
“I don’t know,” he sighed in frustration. “I give her the medicine because she needs it and they go and sell some of it. What she has left doesn’t even get her through the month.”

             
“So why even bother?”

             
“I ask myself that same question every morning. Rachel tells me I should get into private practice.”

             
“So why don’t you?”

             
Carlos shrugged. “I’m all they’ve got.”

             
“You’re a saint Dr. Alves,” she smiled.

             
He grinned. “Tell my children! They think I’m the most horrible dad in the world because I can’t afford an iPhone!”

             
“Who
wants
one of those?”

             
“Luz,” he grumbled and shuffled his feet. “All her friends have one!” he said, mimicking the incessant whine of his preteen daughter.

             
“She’s only twelve!” Lucy exclaimed. ‘Don’t give in to her!”

             
“Nah,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “Maybe a Kindle or something for Christmas.”

             
“Yeah,” she agreed and looked up to see Eddie’s trusty red pickup truck rounding the corner. “The prodigal son returns,” she proclaimed with a grin as he rolled to a stop and waved a greeting.

             
“Hola!”
Eddie called as Diane leaped from the truck and ran to greet her brother.

             
“Long time, no see,” she told him with a playful punch on the arm and gave him a hug. “When are you coming to see me?”

             
Carlos looked embarrassed as he extricated himself from his sister’s embrace. “Rachel wanted to go shopping for furniture,” he told her apologetically. “Next time,” he promised.

             
“Uh-huh,” she said, not believing him for a second and turned to Lucy. “Ready?”

             
Lucy nodded and they said goodbye to Carlos who waved as he went to his car parked in front and drove off. “I don’t believe him for one minute!” Diane sputtered angrily, walking Lucy to the truck.

             
“Maybe he was just busy,” Lucy defended him, and climbed in the truck bed.

             
“Busy, my eye! Diane spat as she climbed in after her. “He’s always making excuses!”

             
Lucy rolled her eyes and placed her backpack on her lap. For extra passengers, Eddie had installed bucket seats. “It’s getting late,” she reminded her friend, suddenly overcome with fatigue.

             
“Sorry,” Diane mumbled guiltily as she helped Lucy with the shoulder harness. She felt like a selfish cow as she took in the delicate features now pale and drawn. “You want to ride up front?” she asked worriedly.

             
Lucy shook her head. “I’m good,” she reassured her friend with a faint smile.               Diane nodded and hopped back in beside her husband.

             
“How is she?” he asked as he started the truck.

             
“How do you think?” Diane snapped as she fastened her seatbelt. She turned and tapped on the glass and gave a thumbs-up. Lucy returned the gesture. “Let’s go,” she ordered her husband.

             
Eddie knew that tone of voice. It was safer to keep his mouth firmly shut when his wife was in one of her moods. He merely gazed upwards and prayed for the strength to get him through this evening in one piece. He stomped on the gas and began the long, tiring drive through traffic.

             
Lucy took out her iPod shuffle and popped her ear buds in. She closed her eyes to the haunting strains of Sting’s
Fortress Around Your Heart
and allowed the wind to soothe her weary mind. The muffled sounds of traffic and cloying smell of exhaust were oddly soothing, and she sat back and actually began enjoying the ride.

             
“Turn here,” Diane instructed her husband.

             
Sighing, he did as he was told and pulled into an In-N-Out Burger. He was a little surprised and happy at the thought of getting a juicy burger. Diane had him on a stick and twig diet, and his mother’s endless pots of menudo were making his hemorrhoids rival Mount Vesuvius. But just to be sure he wasn’t being punk’d, he opened his big mouth and was instantly sorry. “Can I have a milkshake?”

             
“It’s not for you,” his wife answered tartly.
“You’re
on a diet, remember?”

             
Grumbling under his breath, he pulled up at the drive-thru and kept his mouth shut as his wife barked her order at the poor girl. “Go easy, will you?” he remonstrated.

             
“I can’t!”

             
“You can’t save everybody, Di,” he said softly. “She’ll be okay.”

             
Diane shook her head on the verge of tears. “She’s just a kid.”

             
He patted his wife’s back in a clumsy attempt to soothe her. It was a relief when the food came and he handed it to her and they drove off to Lucy’s hotel. Every now and then he caught Diane digging into the bag to fish out a French fry and robotically place it in her mouth. He wished he knew what to say, but he wasn’t very good at these things.

             
Lucy nearly nodded off several times and was relieved when the truck jerked to a stop. She climbed down with Diane’s help and was nearly overcome when handed the bag of food. “Oh, Di…you didn’t have to---”

             
“Shh!” Diane shushed her and gave her a hug. “You need to eat!”

             
“I do,” Lucy agreed. “Thank Eddie for me.”

             
Diane wanted to weep as she walked Lucy to the door and watched as she let herself in. “You give me a call, okay?”

             
“I will,” Lucy promised on the verge of crying herself. “Thank you, Di. You’re a good friend.”

             
“Oh, go on with you!” Diane said gruffly, and waved at Lucy once more as she climbed in beside her husband. Diane leaned over and kissed her husband’s cheek.

             
“What was
that
for?” he breathed, both startled and pleased.

             
“For being the teddy bear that you are,” she said, fastening her seatbelt. “Take me home and I’ll bake you a cake.”

             
“Chocolate?” he asked hopefully.

             
“Chocolate, it is,” she agreed and leaned her head back as the truck started up again.

             
Lucy sank against the door, happy to have a moment to herself at last. She kicked off her sneakers and sat down at the table to devour the cheeseburger and fries Diane had bought, washing it all down with a cold shake. Once fortified, she brushed her teeth, and crawled into bed too tired to take off her scrubs.

             
She tugged the cheap bedspread over her exhausted body and fell instantly asleep. Sometime in the night, the cruel tolling of a cellphone rudely awakened Lucy. She groped sleepily in the dark for the evil thing, but it was nowhere to be found. Her befogged brain suddenly remembered it was in her backpack, but she lost her balance as she stood and her feet tangled in the chenille fringe. She swore like a sailor as her butt plopped painfully onto the carpet, and she crawled on all fours to yank her cell phone out, ready to let whomever was on the other end have it with both barrels. “H-Hullo?” she slurred sleepily.

             
“Lucy...” came a familiar voice and one she thought she’d never hear again.

             
She was instantly awake. “Alec...?”

             
“We need to talk.”

Chapter Twelve

Lucy didn’t know why she was so nervous. It was only Alec. But just so he wouldn’t think her a total failure, she washed her face and combed her hair before putting it back into its sloppy bun. She didn’t bother to change her scrubs. Let him see! Let him see that she wasn’t a hopeless basket case…yet.

             
He had wanted her to meet him at a diner, but her car had been towed away to that great junkyard in the sky so he agreed to pick her up. After fussing over her appearance for all of five minutes, she came to the startling conclusion that it was a lost cause. With dull pasty skin, and dark circles haunting her enormous eyes, she looked like the Bride of Dracula! 

             
The only thing she could do was smooth her wrinkled scrubs, drag on her sneakers, and throw on a sweater. Lucy took one last look at her bedraggled reflection before going outside to wait for her husband’s triumphant return.

             
She sat down on the curb and checked her watch; three-thirty in the morning. She wondered what good ole Alec wanted at this ungodly hour. Surely, it wasn’t her?               Heavens, no!