One Day Soon (One Day Soon, #1)(67)

But hands were tied. Resources slim. “Send him to the shelter,” I was told over and over again.

I even broke down and called Tracey Higgins.

“It took you long enough to call me back, Imogen,” Tracey said snidely.

I gritted my teeth. “I know, Tracey. I apologize. But I’m calling now to see if we can coordinate something for Yoss Frazier. He’s due to be discharged from the hospital, possibly today. I’m hoping we can come up with somewhere for him to go.”

“I told you I would hold a bed for him at the shelter,” Tracey interjected sharply.

“Tracey, Yoss doesn’t want to go to the shelter. He is very adamant about that. You know as well as I do that you can’t force someone to go,” I said evenly.

“Look, Imogen, I work my ass off in this community to provide a safe place for the homeless population. I have two security guards on at night and three full-time staff members seeing to over fifty clients a day. I sit at the table and try to do whatever needs done to help these people. Do you know what doesn’t help them?” she snapped.

“I don’t mean to insult your services—”

“What doesn’t help them are people like you, Imogen. You think you’re the only one who can save them. You want to play superhero when what you should be doing is making sure we’re all playing an equal part,” Tracey went on angrily.

I started to lose my patience. My nerves were frayed as it was and Tracey’s moral superiority complex wasn’t helping.

“Tracey, this isn’t about you or me. And this certainly isn’t about your damn pride. This about helping Yoss find a place to go!” I growled into the phone.

“My pride? Seriously? You think you’re going to get any help talking to people like this?” Tracey demanded.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I sincerely apologize,” I told her through clenched teeth.

“Humph. Well, I think you have a lot to learn about being a social worker, Imogen.”

Don’t tell her what you really think of her, Imogen. Play nice.

“Do you have funds to put Yoss in a hotel perhaps? What about transitional housing?” I changed the subject. I wanted to help Yoss, but I wouldn’t be her whipping boy either.

“Our funds are depleted for the year. As for transitional housing, there are no openings in the program currently,” Tracey responded shortly.

“There has to be an option—”

“There is. The shelter. I’m afraid that’s it. So perhaps instead of wasting my time, you should be discussing the benefits of the shelter program with Mr. Frazier. Because that’s all I can offer him at the moment.”

I knew funds were tight, but I wondered if her resistance to helping Yoss had more to do with me than anything else.

Whatever the reason, Tracey Higgins wasn’t going to help.

“Okay. Well thank you for all of your time,” I said a little sarcastically.

“Let me know if he plans to come. Goodbye.” Tracey hung up before I could say anything else.

I slammed the phone down and covered my face with my hands.

I became angry. Infuriated. And finally despondent.

Yoss was dying.

His options were few.

And there was very little I could do for him.

“He’s agreed to stay. For now,” I told Dr. Howell later that day.

“Is he still adamant about not going to a shelter?”

“Yes. I’m trying to find somewhere else for him to go, but I’m not getting a whole lot of help in that department,” I explained, feeling like a failure. Feeling like nothing I was doing would ever be enough.

“He’s lucky to have you on his side, Imogen,” Dr. Howell said and I felt my eyes sting. His words were meant to be a compliment. Why did it feel like a lie?



“Don’t leave. Not yet,” I said to him before I left that evening.

This time Yoss didn’t respond.

“Promise, Yoss,” I pleaded.

My only answer was the beating of an aching heart.

It seemed we were always ending before we had a chance to begin.



My house felt empty. I stood inside the front foyer, not bothering to turn on the lights.

This doesn’t feel right.

I jingled my keys in my hand and couldn’t make myself take another step.

“I can’t stay here. I’m crawling out of my skin.”

I was filled with dread. Yoss would disappear. He would slip quietly out of my life again. Breaking me apart in the way only he could.

I could see the resignation in his eyes. The set of his mouth. He was going to leave.

I gripped my keys so tightly in my palm that they bit into flesh.

My ex-husband’s words seemed to echo through the silent rooms. An accusation. A harsh slap in the face.

“Your heart has never been in this, Imi. I’m not sure why you ever married me in the first place.”

The thought of Yoss going back to the world he came from, the world we had lived in together, made me want to throw things. It made me want to rage and scream and cry.

He held me as the sun set over the horizon. We were so close. I knew that I’d never love like this again. I felt it with the certainty of a young, passionate heart.

“One day soon,” Yoss murmured into my hair.