Chapter 1

"Why did we have to move?" sixteen year old Tyler Dillard asked his mother. "Couldn't you have taken a job in Philly?"

"Tyler," his mother, Sandy, sighed, "we have been through this over and over. I couldn't pass up this opportunity. Sure, we had to come to Texas, but it's is a step up for both of us. I've been trying to get us out of the projects since your father died, not that I wanted to end up there in the first place. And now we are finally free of that God awful place."

"But we don't know anyone here," Tyler whined.

"Not yet," Sandy agreed. "But we will. And the school you're going to will no doubt be far better than the one in Philadelphia. You probably won't be in classes with a bunch of thugs. And look at this building! It's far better than what we came from, yes?"

"I suppose."

"Oh come on, Tyler, buck up," Sandy smiled, handing him a box. "Here, take this in the apartment."

She then grabbed another box, carrying it inside, not resisting the urge to glance around.

Mike would have loved this place, Sandy thought. I am sure Tyler and I will have some wonderful times here.

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Not that Sandy Dillard had grown up poor; as the daughter of a veterinarian, though the family wasn't wealthy, she had come from a comfortable, stable home and she, her two brothers and mother had wanted for very little.

Sandy Lacroix had had a happy, normal childhood and enjoyed being around the animals in her father's office where she would work every summer during high school.

It had been one of those summer when she had met Michael Dillard, a junior at Temple, when Mike had brought his cat to Dr. Lacroix for its shots when his own vet had retired from practice.

Sandy couldn't take her eyes off of him. He had to have been at least almost a foot taller than she, with the kind of skin that tanned easily, dark hair, hazel-green eyes, and a great body.

Mike too had been taken with eighteen year old Sandy, admiring the 5'1 pretty brunette as she zipped around her father's office and helped Dr. Lacroix care for Mike's cat with as much compassion and efficiency as possible.

After dating for nearly a year, Mike and Sandy were married, and Tyler came along a year after that.

They had moved into a house in one of the nicer areas of Philadelphia that Mike had inherited from his parents; unlike the majority of their neighbors, they didn't have a mortgage to worry about. Mike had kept up the yard and house himself when he wasn't working in the human resources department of one of the major hospitals.

Sandy had trained as an executive secretary, but hadn't worked since Tyler was born, refusing to have her son being cared for by strangers. She loved her son and enjoyed being part of his life and activities.

But when Tyler was ten, Mike had become ill. He had had swollen lymph nodes and some occasional fevers, but he had blown it off as being some kind of flu that he would overcome like anyone did. However, by the time Mike had seen a doctor during one of his "sick spells," he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's and it was too late.

When he died not long after, Sandy and Tyler's lives began to change. Whereas that Mike did have life insurance, it hadn't been enough to pay for both his funeral and the final bills Mike had left behind. Sandy had to sell the house to satisfy the creditors and little was left over once everyone had been paid.

She did get a job, but not one she had been trained in. She worked as a receptionist for a hair styling salon, but had to take a cashier's job in the evenings and move into a subsidized apartment in the Philadelphia projects; the only good thing about the move was that Sandy's mother was only half an hour away and she could watch Tyler while Sandy worked.

Sandy despised the neighborhood even though she was careful not to show the neighbors her distaste. She worried about the types of kids that went to school with Tyler, wondering with all the violence she read and heard about, if her son would make it to and from school alive and unharmed. So far, they had been lucky.

During this time, she also decided to enroll in college; one way or another, Sandy was determined to get both herself and her son out of the projects, no matter what it took (within legal reason). By the time Tyler was fourteen, she had gotten her degree and with both it and her secretarial skills, was able to get a full time position in the area school district.

It didn't pay much, but it beat dealing with cranky customers at the hair salon all day and then punching a cash register at night. And she would be home with her son after school and on the weekends.

It had been shortly after Tyler had turned sixteen when Sandy's Aunt Virginia called from Texas, telling her about the "great job openings" that were there. Some of them were in Sandy's field of study and experience, her aunt added.

For some reason, even if it meant possibly moving thousands of miles from home, Sandy flew to Austin to try for a hospital administration position. What did she have to lose, really? She figured she couldn't sink lower than she already was since Mike's death.

Fate must have been smiling on her, because the hospital had contacted her several days later with a job offer. Elated, Sandy flew down the following week during the school's two-week holiday break and completed the necessary paperwork, and then searched for an apartment with her aunt.

It had been during that time that she had found the perfect place in the Austin suburbs, not far from where her new job would be. Sandy wrote a check for the deposit and first month's rent from the money Virginia had loaned her, then flew back home to prepare for the move.

While Sandy had been looking forward to the move down south, Tyler had not been as enthusiastic. He had friends in Philadelphia and it had been bad enough they had moved from their house to the tiny apartment. Now they were going far away where they didn't really know anyone?

She had to explain about the new job and how she couldn't pass it up. Yes, it was going to be a big move, but didn't it beat being being in a cramped apartment in the projects, where they had to worry about being everything from robbed to killed seven days a week? It was Texas, yes, but it was a considerable step up from where they had been.

And now as Sandy and Tyler hauled boxes into the unit while waiting for the furniture to arrive, she couldn't help but think about what her their new life would be like and what adventure it would bring. She would be starting her new job and Tyler his new school on the following Monday.