Chapter Three
Danica flipped desperately through the finance book, going between pages before pulling up her banking app on her phone and looking at that. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t find any extra money, let along enough to save the orphanage.
“Leo, I’m already giving the max I can,” she admitted softly.
Leo leaned against the wall, watching Danica flip through the pages, knowing exactly what she was seeing. After all, he’d already looked through the book himself in an attempt to find more money. No matter how they looked at it, there wasn’t anything there. Danica already donated her extra to the orphanage and lived modestly for it to be possible. She couldn’t donate any more money without running the business into the ground. It just wasn’t possible.
“I know,” Leo replied, his voice gentle in the small office. It held a world of pain, both for Danica’s desperation and for the kids he had grown to care for.
Danica ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I can probably spare more of my salary—”
“You need to eat, Danica.” Leo shook his head. “You’re already living in that RV so you can give more money to them. If you give any more, you won’t be able to eat.”
“I can eat less—”
“Danica.” The sadness in Leo’s voice made Danica pause and meet his eyes. “I don’t think it’s going to happen. You saw how much they owe. The bank wants it by the end of next month. I don’t even understand how they allowed the debt to get so high before they stepped in.”
Six hundred thousand dollars. There wasn’t any valid reason they should have allowed it to get so high, but perhaps because it was a nonprofit, there were rules about waiting. Maybe it was simpler than that. Maybe Mrs. White down at the bank understood what Polly was trying to do and kept them open as long as she possibly could. Either way, they were in a bind now. There was no way to find so much money, not in three weeks. Even if Danica sold everything she owned, even if she sold her dad’s car, it wouldn’t be enough to cover it. There was no way to save the orphanage. Despite her successful business, she didn’t have that kind of money sitting around. No one did.
For the first time since her dad died, she regretted her decision to quit racing. If she was still in the circuit, maybe she could have raised the money, but then again, would she have even met the kids if she’d never settled back down?
The screech of tires. Flames. Screams. Where were the screams coming from?
Danica blinked and Leo came into focus in front of her again. The reality of the situation slammed into her, and she dropped her head into her hands and rubbed.
“You’re right,” she admitted. Her voice was barely above a whisper, as if that were all she could muster. “I feel so helpless.”
“I get it.” Leo straightened from his spot and moved around to wrap his arms around her. “The guys and I were talking about trying to adopt as many of the kids as we could get approved for, but there isn’t enough of us. And they’ll never approve it because a lot of us are single men. The system is fucking stupid in some ways. Who says we have to be married to be able to raise and love a child like our own?”
“It’s absolute bullshit,” Danica agreed. They made it difficult for people who actually cared about the kids to adopt them and yet every day, kids were placed in abusive foster homes and orphanages rather than allowing caring people to take them in. “Did you ever hear Stephanie’s story?”
Leo nodded, his face twisting with anger. “I heard and it’s taken everything in me not to go find that foster home she was in and deliver some justice for the girl, but that isn’t helpful for anyone. It’s a fucked up situation, but the most we can do is try to help Polly find good homes for them before the state comes and randomly starts placing them. Hell, I’d consider marrying Kyle if I thought we’d have any better chances, but you know how that goes.”
Danica snorted at the thought of her very straight friends marrying for a better chance of adoption but the thought that it probably wouldn’t even help make the amusement fade quickly. “I know,” Danica admitted. “Meanwhile, I’ll keep trying to find ways to raise money. It’s a long shot, but it’s the best we can do.”
“We’ll figure it out, boss. Don’t worry,” Leo reassured her, but there was no way he could truly make her feel better.
Danica knew they wouldn’t figure it out. The adoption process could take years. There were classes that needed to be taken, paperwork to be processed slowly through the system, court appearances that needed to be made. There was no way they could adopt the kids in two months. Polly had already submitted the paperwork for Danica to adopt Stephanie, but despite her putting ‘URGENT’ in large letters across the top, they would move slowly, and they would deny her. She didn’t fit the profile as a fit mother, not when she was a single working mom without even a house. Her income was high, but that was the only thing in her favor.
Even if they all tried, by the time any orders came through, the kids would be lost somewhere in the system.
“Thanks, Leo. I’ll see what else I can do.”
Leo nodded and left her in the shop alone, heading home to his girlfriend. With everything going on, he deserved a night off. They all did. Danica had closed the shop for the day and given everyone leave with pay. Anyone who came up with a good idea for raising money would get a bonus from the pot reserved for moments like these.
Leaving the office to walk through the dimly lit mechanic shop, she found herself in the corner where a car sat covered by a blue tarp. She ran her hands along the quarter panel but didn’t move the tarp, couldn’t look at what machine laid beneath.
“Dad, I could really use your advice right about now,” she said softly.
But he never answered, just as always. He’d stopped talking to her the day he’d died.
So, Danica turned out the lights in the shop and left her ghosts for another time.