Her HurryIcan Harvey

By Lena Lopez

This young lady, who was in south central Texas at the time, rushed into a marriage with a young man she barely knew. They met online, spent every day together, and married quickly. She never truly got to know him, as she just felt a need to rush things, to justify their living situation. Yet things are never as they seem, and she entered a storm, she never saw coming.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645447962

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Her

HurryIcan

Harvey

Lena Lopez

Copyright © 2019 Lena Lopez

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2019

ISBN 978-1-64544-795-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64544-796-2 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Her Tropical Disturbance

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Her Tropical Depression

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Her Tropical Storm

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Her Hurricane

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Her Tropical Cyclone

Chapter 16

Interlude

She was one of the most modest people she knew. That very morning, she had put on her long skirt and blouse with an undershirt. She felt the latest trends were too see-through and revealing. She never imagined she’d be in front of a female officer that evening, being asked to remove all her clothes in front of the officer, to then turn around with her hands up against the wall, and to cough to make sure she had no hidden drug paraphernalia. Drugs? This was a mom of six kids, who was three months into expecting her seventh. She thought caffeine was a drug. Why in the world was she being treated like a criminal? She’s the one who cried for help and dialed 911.

This was a terrible mistake. She had just been preparing her kids’ dinner about an hour ago.

What happened?

Her Tropical Disturbance

Chapter 1

Their First Encounter

Seven years prior, she thought she met the man of her dreams. She had just turned twenty-one and had already been recently divorced. She was lonely and longing for the companionship she was used to having after she got home from work.

One night, in her desperation, she went online on the new phone she had recently bought herself for Valentine’s Day—a week after her divorce had been finalized. How ironic, she thought she’d use her new RAZR phone to cut through the heartache of being alone and from the recent loss of her grandfather (who had been more like her father). He had died suddenly, of cancer, two weeks before this very night. She got online to the only website she was familiar with and able to get on from her little device—Craigslist. This was the site she went to find awesome deals for cars, never imagining she’d find her next mate. Well, little did she know that was to be her fate. She had responded to a few people’s ads, not really anticipating to really get a reply. She had gone to a car show that day, which had been an hour away, with her best friend’s neighbor. She hadn’t enjoyed it. When she got home that night, she received a message from some guy whom she had apparently sent a message to via Craigslist. She didn’t even remember his ad but decided to go along with it. He seemed nice. It was worth a try. To redeem the day, she agreed to meet him that night.

Despite her usual cautious ways to never give a stranger her address, she asked him to meet her at her apartment. They didn’t know what they had in common yet, but she wanted to show off her mad driving skills. She really did drive crazy, as if she was angry with the world for the hand she was dealt with. It wasn’t a bad one, just things weren’t going the way she had planned, and it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

She drove into the night to their unknown destination. They were both indecisive of where they should go, for fear of making the wrong choice. This was going to be an ongoing cycle for their future life together. Neither thought they were going to have a future together. It was to just to be one-night meeting someone out of the billions of people in the world, to just hang out with. Nothing more. They ended up in a familiar diner. He had a breakfast burger, and she ordered a slice of chocolate cake—a glimpse of what each one was really hoping to find. He had a big appetite, wanting a little of everything. She was hoping she’d find someone who was sweet on her.

The following day, neither exactly knew what they really thought of each other. She thought he was good-looking, and that seemed to be enough of a start for her. She entered this relationship completely trusting that he could be everything she dreamed of. Mostly because he reminded her of her first love. Her high school sweetheart, that was her biggest regret in life for breaking things off with him. This was her chance to redeem that which was lost. She hoped.

Things aren’t always as they seem though. Love is blind, so they say. Suppose it can be or at least being infatuated with someone can make one oblivious to all the signs around them. There were God-given signs, but she was too caught up in the idea that she finally met her prince charming. Either that or she was too busy in the feel-good moments he brought to her to see the truth of what was really in front of her.

Chapter 2

The First Few Months After

The life of chaos began. Two days after their meeting, when returning to her workweek, they soon found out they both were out of jobs. She was a hard worker and wasn’t worried about getting another job quickly. She’d been working since she turned sixteen. She was always goal oriented and had a plan. This job was officially her eighth job in the five years she’d been in the workplace. She started in the food-service industry, then went to retail, teaching preschool, and finally was getting into the automotive field. She was passionate about whatever work she did and always gave her best. She never imagined that other people would have difficulty finding work if they were motivated.

She immediately found work because her roommate was kicking her out. Her roommate didn’t approve of this new relationship she had developed. She was okay with that because she didn’t feel very comfortable living there anymore, anyway. She ended up finding a job close to where her prince charming was living with his dad. At the time, she thought nothing wrong with a twenty-five-year-old man (going on twenty-six that very week) living with his father. Even though, she personally hadn’t lived with her parents since she was eighteen.

For the first time, she had the ability to get an apartment on her very own. She loved being independent but still had a longing for companionship. Before she knew it, he was practically living with her. While she waited to start her new job, she went along with him to try to assist him with finding his new one. Never would she imagine this would be an ongoing activity over the next few years.

One day, in their quest to find him work, they ended up getting pulled over by the cops. He ended up getting cited for four to five violations. He was apparently driving with expired registration, expired inspection, no insurance, and a suspended license. What? Why hadn’t he mentioned this before? She never imagined driving illegally with the exception of her over tinted windows and a car that was lowered too low to the ground (violation of safety because headlights had to reach a certain height in her state).

She was mostly responsible, had established her credit early, already had a credit score in the 700s, and on one card had a credit limit over $8,000. She decided to use that credibility to help him pay off these tickets that added up a little over $500. They weren’t even married yet. Yet this is the type of person she was when she committed to someone. Not to mention that RAZR phone she had, that she had spent $299 to get in the first place, she had already lent it to him because his phone service had been cut off. Another warning sign? Well, she thought she was just being gracious helping someone going through a hard time. He brought her happiness through companionship. Small price to pay, right? She wasn’t very materialistic. If she had what she needed, she was content. Him? Maybe, not so much.

Despite paying off those few tickets, his license was still suspended. He could not get his license reinstated because he had other unpaid tickets that had made his license revoked. What for? Driving a vehicle without auto insurance. The excuse? It wasn’t his vehicle. It was the truck to a guy he worked for. Who was this guy he worked for? Apparently, the father of the mother of his daughter. Daughter? Yes, he had a four-year-old from a previous relationship—not a previous marriage, just a relationship. It was an off-and-on relationship that had gone on for four and a half years, that he had just abandoned ship right before she met him. Possible warning sign? Not to her, just an opportunity to love another human being. She had helped raise her own three siblings from the time she was nine until she left the house at age seventeen because she had grown tired of the responsibility and wanted an opportunity to live her own life. Nevertheless, she continued to help at church nurseries. She loved little ones. She was a little nervous about meeting his daughter. Were they that serious to make this introduction? He didn’t seem to think much of it. They met at his mom’s and had an okay evening. She thought it was a bit awkward and didn’t have peace about it.

She had been raised in a very devout Catholic home setting. Yet at age sixteen, she converted to a nondenominational Christianity. Nevertheless, the rules and values were the same. You don’t live with someone of the opposite gender unless you are married. She had deep convictions about this. For this reason alone, she was anxious to progress things to the next level. She wanted to have peace. She was haunted by guilt every night. As for him, he had no real church life growing up and lived carefree. Warning sign? Probably. Yet she had this savior complex and secretly felt she could save him. She had got him to start going to church with her every Sunday. That was a good sign, right? Again, external appearances don’t always give a glimpse of what’s really going on in someone’s heart and mind.

After just a couple of months, the secret of them living together got the best of her. In turn, what did she do? She asked him to marry her. What? Wait. Isn’t the guy supposed to do the asking? Formally, with a ring and what not? Well, she was always striving to be unique and different from everyone else. Very often, she tended to do many things backward from the way the norm does things. He enjoyed the way things were. He wasn’t ready to make a serious commitment. Yet because of how easygoing he was and not wanting to upset her, he reluctantly agreed.

She’s the type when she’s made up her mind to do something, she goes after it and gets it done. She wasted