Read Online Impossible Dreams by Patricia Rice - Free Book Online

she could usually count on a ride from the last parent to pick their
child up at school.
    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 between the rows of buildings. 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?”
    For a moment, Axell wondered if her mind had wandered. 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.
    “The cat’s probably fine. Only the bricks
collapsed, and they fell outward. I’ll have the cops keep an eye out. Do
you have anywhere else you can go for the night?”
    She stared at him blankly for a minute, then apparently
registering the question, nodded. With that nod, he watched her almost visibly
discard the shroud of defeat, straighten her shoulders, and don the mantle of
blithe vivacity. “We have cots at the school. It’s just...”
She threw a wavering look at the crumbled building and continued bravely,
“We’ll need transportation.”
    “You can’t sleep on a cot,” he said
impatiently. “Besides, that place is way out in the country without
security lights. It’s not safe for a woman alone. How about
family?”
    She shot him a wry look that warned she was recovering from
the shock and told him of the asininity of his question. Her only family was in
jail.
    “All right, let’s walk over to the restaurant
and