Getting to work early meant being able to run to the gas station across the street and pick up a drink to brace herself through her shift. It hurt every time she spent money, but she’d set aside some of her tips from the night before specifically for this purpose. The drink was a necessary purchase to get through her shift.

  Armed with a cold aluminum can in one hand and a packet of sour gummy worms in the other—they were on sale—Luc stepped through the front door of Lucky Penny’s Diner. Tension filled her shoulders before the door finished closing, the air inside the store so thick it was almost visible.

  What’s wrong this time?

  Grip tightening around her drink, Luc forced herself to move further into the cafe. At a quick glance, everything looked okay. A lone man sat at a table in the back, drinking a mug of coffee and working on his computer. Amy, the singular waitress her mother employed, checked in on him, handing off a glass of water and taking away an empty soup bowl. The space was quiet. The cafe corner, tucked into one side of the restaurant with comfy chairs and low coffee tables, had been tidied up, books and magazines stacked carefully to one side. The rest of the dining tables had been reset, with empty baskets waiting for bread, all of the condiments perfectly stocked and lined up.

  The day must have been slow, but that wasn’t unusual. The restaurant was usually slow, and that could make her mother tense, but it shouldn’t have been this bad.

  When Amy turned around and a flash of relief darted across her face at the sight of Luc, she knew immediately what sort of day it was going to be.

  “Thank god,” Amy said, reaching behind her and untying her apron. “Tony over in the corner is paid out, just check on him every so often to see if he needs any more coffee or water. Everything is stocked and cleaned. I’m getting out of here.”

  She shoved the apron and order pad into Luc’s hands, already making a break for the door.

  “Wait, hold on.” Luc spun after her, eyebrows drawn together with the question she could speak aloud but hoped Amy would answer anyway.

  Amy paused in the open doorway, both feet already outside on the pavement. “Sorry, Luc, but I cannot stay tonight.”

  The bell above the door jingled as Amy made her escape, leaving Luc staring after her as she climbed into her car and drove away.

  A sigh slipped free of Luc’s lips and she had to resist the urge to follow her. Of course, she couldn’t follow Amy, but fuck, she wanted to. Dealing with her mom wasn’t something she wanted to do today, not after everything. It wasn’t that any of it was bad, really, but she’d been around more people today than she had in months, and she was exhausted.

  But of course she couldn’t leave. Leaving would mean hell to pay later, and wouldn’t even give her any peace in the meantime. If she didn’t show up for her shift, Penny would start calling her, and maybe even come home to see why Luc hadn’t come in. That was worse than just having to deal with her mom’s usual, frantic state, so she would suck it up and clock in.

  That didn’t mean she had to deal with it right away.

  Locking herself in the bathroom, Luc changed into her uniform, a matter as simple as changing her t-shirt. She hid inside as she nursed her energy drink and ate an unhealthy amount of sour gummy worms, until her mouth felt odd and her stomach a little queasy.

  I can’t keep hiding in there.

  Several deep breaths later, Luc emerged from the bathroom. The dining room was still empty, the kitchen quiet.

  She clocked in before making her way over to the expo window, well aware of who would be there. Leaning against the faux brick wall beside it, she made eye contact with Malachi through the hazy light of the heat lamp.

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  “Gummy worms?” Luc held the bag up, tilting the opening toward the window. It was the least she could offer him, after he’d dealt with her mother all day. He was probably the singular other person who dealt with Penny as much as she did, maybe even more so these days, and that wasn’t an easy thing. Honestly, if Luc had to deal with her own mother as much as he did, she’d probably go insane.

  Malachi dropped his rag and made his way over to the window, reaching a hand through a snagging a few of the offered treats.

  Aside from Luc herself, who didn’t really count, Malachi was Penny’s longest lasting employee. Luc wasn’t sure if he actually enjoyed the job, or if he stuck around just because he couldn’t get something better after dropping out of high school, but he was always here. Even willing to come in on short notice if needed. Even on the bad days.

  “You’re late,” Malachi said, leaning casually against the counter on the other side. His hair was greasy, either because of the amount of oil and grease in the kitchen or because he just didn’t watch it, but he had better skin than Luc. It was unfair.

  “Not late,” she said, eating another gummy worm despite her stomach’s protests. “Just hiding in the bathroom.”

  “Ah. Good strat. Maybe I should do that.”

  “I wouldn’t stop you,” she said with a shrug. “How’s today been?”

  That wasn’t her question, it was just code for how is my mom?

  “Well, it’s been quiet,” Malachi said, reaching through for another gummy worm. “We’re down a fryer too. Thing broke, or something. We’ve checked every breaker and fuse in the building, just to be sure it’s not that. Probably dead.”

  Luc let out a breath. That explained it. “Why didn’t you call me?”

  He shrugged. “Not my department.”

  “So helpful. Where is she?”

  “Office. Can I have the rest of those?”

  “No.” Luc folded up the bag of gummies, shoving it into the pocket of her jeans, a pair she’d thrifted from the men’s section purely for its massive pockets. “Watch the front.”

  “Not my department!”

  She ignored him, knowing he’d at least greet anyone coming inside even if he didn’t have a single customer service bone in his body. Besides, it wasn’t like anyone was likely to come in until closer to dinner anyway.

  Her mother’s office sat at the back of the building, one doorway away from the exit/delivery door. The door was shut, locked when she twisted the handle.

  She rapped her knuckles against the door. “Mom? Let me in.”

  Through the tinted window on the office door, Luc could make out her mother’s movements on the other side before she came to the door.

  Luc was met by a mess of a woman, her face swollen and eyes red. She looked like she hadn’t showered or slept in days, circles so dark under her eyes they might have been bruises, a sickly, greenish tint to the rest of her skin. Like this, she looked ten years older than she actually was, as though she was in her mid forties, not only halfway through her thirties.

  It struck her like a hammer, a hit to the stomach as she stared at the woman who’d become her mother before she’d had a chance to fully realize her life and what it could be. This was what she would become if she didn’t get out of this town, if she didn’t get away from this place. Even if that meant leaving the woman whose life she’d ruined just by being born.

  She couldn’t get stuck here, pouring every dime and moment of time into a failed dream because she’d never had a chance to do anything else.

  Penny swiped at her face, smearing tears and bleeding mascara across her cheek. “What?”

  “Malachi told me the fryer broke,” Luc said. Keeping her voice soft took effort, but she managed it.

  For a blink, her face contorted, expression twisted by rage before she let out a small, choking sob. Tears rolled anew down her face. “I can’t afford to fix it, and without the fryer—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Luc said, cutting her mother off. “Do you want me to fix it?”

  Confusion. That was what she was met with. As if the idea of Luc fixing the fryer was unfathomable, as if Luc hadn’t been fixing things all her life. Even before getting magical powers, she’d been fixing things. The DVD player. Her mother’s phone. The dishwasher. A dozen other things that Penny would always forget.

  “Just… get cleaned up and go deal with customers,” Luc said, brushing past her as she stepped into the office and retrieved the tool set she always used. “I’ll get the fryer fixed, all right?”

  Penny nodded, swiping at her face again as Luc passed her, tool bag in hand.

  Luc moved into the kitchen without ceremony, ignoring Malachi as he built himself a sandwich, the same way she ignored the layer of grease on the floor. She pulled the fryer away from the wall, giving the back of it a once over before picking out a screwdriver to open up the front panel. It might take a bit, but she’d get the fryer up and running again, and her mother would be okay until the next disaster struck.

  Propped up on one elbow, Luc twisted around to meet Malachi’s eyes.

  “Next time, call me first, and I’ll fix it before she even knows.”