(Letty's POV)

It was about noon on Monday morning when I stirred awake the morning after I slept with Dominic. The sun was shining brightly and it was hot out. As fucking usual, I thought. California is always hot and bright. I squinted and peered out the window from my warm spot in the bed. The only cars there were Mia's and mine. I sighed and rolled over. I knew Dom wouldn't be there next to me because he liked to be at the DT shop before nine every morning, and he took the rest of the guys with him.

I laid there for a minute or two, thinking about the events of the previous night. I smiled happily, glad that everything was back to normal and hopefully nothing, NOTHING, would change that ever again. Dom was now making money the legal way, with the shop and the grocery store and the occasional street races he bet in on. Mia runs the shop between classes. It's getting busy in there and Mia's glad because before our only customers used to be old people, punk kids who always stiffed her, and Brian O'Connor. I think Mia still hopes he'll come back to her someday, but I personally believe that hope of hers is kinda shady.

I got out of bed and threw on some clean underwear, baggy jeans, and a slutty red tank top with the words Skunk2 Racing on it. I pulled my hair back into a messy ponytail and left our bedroom. After I'd eaten breakfast, I was supposed to go to the garage and help Dom look through the parts books and order more stuff for his little shop. I figured I'd have a bowl of cereal or two and head over there.

When I reached the kitchen, Mia came into view. She was sitting at the kitchen table, arguing with someone on the phone. The L.A. phone directory was lying open in front of her. I stood there and watched her, listening to the conversation. I immediately wished I hadn't put pants on. It was hotter than hell in this damn house.

"No, I would like you guys to come here toDAY and look at the air conditioner!" Mia was exclaiming. "NO, I don't wanna wait until next week! It's so hot in this house that heat waves are coming off the floor! No lie!" I left Mia shouting at the table and went to the refrigerator to get a Corona. I sipped it while their conversation continued.

"There's probly some idiot who's just too lazy to-" she stopped talking. "Hold on, I have another call." Mia pressed a button on the phone and spoke into it. "Hello?" Mia paused. "Leticia? No, this is her friend. I'll get her for you, hold on just a sec." Mia clicked back over to the air conditioning guy. "Listen, this isn't over. My friend has another call waiting. I'll call you back as soon as I can." With that, Mia smashed a slender finger down on the Flash button and hung up on the asshole.

I watched all of this with great interest, wondering what the fuck the person on the other line wanted with me. "Hello? Here she is," Mia said before handing me the phone.

"Yeah, this's Leticia," I said, frowning. I gulped down the last of my Corona.

"Hello, Leticia, this is Maria calling from the Arecibo Police Department," a woman with at thick Spanish accent said to me. Arecibo. Oh, shit. This has to be about my mother. Arecibo is where I was born, a little town in northern Puerto Rico. Where my mother ran off to with her asshole of a lover. My stomach flip-flopped and horrible thoughts ran through my head. Leticia, your mother escaped from a mental institution here and is going to LA to find you. Leticia, your mother married her lover and they want you to move back to Puerto Rico to be a family. I turned pale.

"Who is that?" Mia mouthed. I waved her off.

"Um, hi," I said quietly to Maria.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. I'm very sorry. Your mother was found dead in her apartment this morning. We have a Mr. Jose Ramirez being held in custody, he is a prime suspect in this case."

My heart skipped a beat. My mother was dead. I didn't have to worry about her escaping to find me. She was dead. For a minute, I couldn't speak. So many emotions were running through me and I didn't know which one to feel. Hurt and pain that my mother was gone, shame for hating her, love for my father, hate for that greasy asshole who was suspected of killing her and probably did kill her, grief for her and my father. They were all so overwhelming and draining. I was an orphan. Mia was staring at me, looking very alarmed.

"Leticia, are you there, mamita?"

"Yeah," I grumbled, when I found my voice. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Listen; since you have family here in Arecibo, you don't need to come. But I urge you to at least call your grandmother and go from there, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," I mumbled. I hung up. Mia rushed over to me and took the phone.

"Letty? Letty, what happened?" she asked. I continued to stare at the refrigerator.

"My mom died," I told her. Mia turned pale and her eyes went wide.

"Oh, Letty, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Mia threw her arms around me and rocked me back and forth. She didn't ask any questions, like how or when. She just held me. I appreciated her sympathy, but I needed to be alone at my secret chill spot. I hugged her back and told her so.

"I'll be back later. If Dom calls, tell him I'll look at parts magazines with him some other time, aiight?" Mia brushed a loose strand of hair out of my eyes.

"Sure, Letty, I will." She smiled sadly at me as I turned to grab my keys next to the toaster. As I walked outside, I saw her, through the window, flop down at the table and pick up the phone, probly getting ready to bitch out the air conditioning guys again.

Three and a half hours later, I was driving through L.A. in the 240. My head was clearing, and I felt better about everything. Enough time at my secret chill spot will do that to ya. Even though I loved my mother, I knew that it wasn't my fault that she died. It was HER choice to bail on my dad and run off, back to P.R. with that stupid asshole. She didn't know things would end up like this, no one ever does. She took a chance and she made her decision.

I couldn't be that upset by her death, though. I felt like going up to her dead body and screaming, "I told you so!" right in her cold, blue face. "I told you so, Mom! That's what you get for leaving Papi and running away from your bullshit problems! You're DEAD! See how far that got you? The jerk-off you chose to be with over my loving father KILLED you. I guess he really cared about you, huh? He cared enough to throw you into a fucking grave."

But she's my mother, and at one time I did love her. I laughed to myself as I turned onto my street. She really had it coming, I thought. I wasn't upset or shocked anymore. I was calm and collected. I looked at my mother's death as a lesson. For me to never end up like her, all fucked up and shit. It was just another one of life's doors hitting me in the ass on the way out.