Oh no. Not today.
“Jacob,” she yelled. “We’re late. Get up. Brenda!”
“I’m up, Mom!” Brenda’s perky voice sang from the kitchen. “I’ve been up like forever.”
“Well, you could have woken me up too!” Only after saying it did she realize how ridiculous it sounded, having your eight-year-old daughter wake you up for work.
Alice jumped out of bed and shook her head. She’d never been great at getting up in the morning anyway, and since Garrett had left her to be with that other woman it had only gotten worse. Trouble sleeping. Bad dreams. And now waking up late for her second day on the job at the bank. Not good.
The law office thing just hadn’t been going anywhere. The pay at the bank was better and so were the hours. She could spend more time with the kids. Also, she’d started taking business classes, and the bank gave her Mondays off to go back to school-but none of that would matter now if she showed up late and lost her job.
Alice decided to go without a shower, tossed off her nightgown, and yanked open her underwear drawer. “Jacob, are you up?”
“Yeah,” came the sleepy reply from across the hall.
“You don’t sound like it.”
The creak of his bed.
“I’m up.”
Clinking of a spoon and a cereal bowl from the kitchen. “Are we gonna be late for school, Mom?” Brenda had her mouth full.
“I’ll write you a note.”
“Oh,” said Brenda. “OK. I don’t want to miss library time.”
Alice pulled on some stockings. “Are you getting dressed, Jacob?”
“Yeah, Mom! I’m up, OK?”
“OK, OK.”
Alice flew to the closet, grabbed a dress, slipped it on. Shoes. Which shoes? It doesn’t matter. Just hurry. Anything. Black. No. Brown pumps. OK.
She stepped into the bathroom, held a washcloth under the faucet, rubbed it across her face, smeared on some lipstick. “Get your backpacks, kids. We need to go.”
Then back to the dresser. Hair is a mess. A mess! OK, where is it? She scanned the dresser. Where is that brush?
“Brenda, did you take my hairbrush?”
“No, Mom.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Alice shoved her jewelry box aside, opened up the top drawer to see if she’d tossed it in there, scanned the floor. Nothing.