If it wasn’t for needing to take Lily to school, she’d catch the train. The office was just a stone’s throw from Britomart, the huge downtown station. Taking public transport made sense, especially on mornings like this. One moment’s inattention on the part of a complete stranger led to utter chaos. But right now, Lily was still too young to walk to school alone, despite what her mother thought. You mollycoddle her. Her mother’s accusations rang in her ears. She’s six. She’s not a baby anymore. And maybe her mother was right. Maybe Lily wasn’t a baby. But already, they were separated all day long. From 8.30 in the morning until 5.30 at night. Jilly refused to believe it was wrong to insist on dropping her daughter safely off to school every morning. Especially while she was still so little. She wanted all the time with her daughter that he could get.
“Finally!” Jilly breathed a sigh of relief as traffic started moving again. She glanced at her watch. It was a light pink plastic digital model that she’d bought on sale at The Warehouse a couple of years ago when money was so tight her budget didn’t stretch to decent watches. Surprisingly, it was still going strong, and while it was still working she was reluctant to spend the money on a nice one. Not when this one told the time perfectly well.
She crossed her fingers on the steering wheel. If the traffic kept moving like this, she might just make it on time. If she ran from the carpark to the office, anyway.
The traffic stopped again. Then returned to a crawl, before slowly speeding up.
“Come on, come on,” she urged under her breath. Surely it was about time something went right? So far, today was one of those days where she really should have stayed in bed. It had been going wrong since she first woke up, starting with the frustrating discovery that she had no coffee, then compounded by Lily refusing to go to school. She’d been firm though; Lily was going. So, despite the tears and protestations that nearly broke her heart, she’d shepherded the little girl off to school, kissing her goodbye at the school gate, just as she did every morning, feeling like the worst mother in the world as she looked at her daughter’s tearstained, pouty face. Why didn’t Lily want to go to school? She’d have to find out.
It had started to drizzle just as Lily had disappeared out of sight, and she hadn’t brought an umbrella. Nor did she have time to go home and grab one. She’d just have to get wet walking from the carpark to work, she was already late. And being late to Hutchings & Associates was a cardinal sin.
A few minutes down the road, right over on the left hand shoulder, sitting in a puddle of broken glass, was a very sad-looking hatchback, the back crumpled, the bonnet completely caved in. At least her morning was going better than whoever had been behind the wheel of that poor car.
Glancing in the rear-view mirror she could see a tow truck slowly wending its way through the thick line of traffic, probably to assist the little car. In the lane beside her, the woman driver held a takeaway coffee cup to her lips, took a sip. Jilly groaned. What she wouldn’t give for a cup of coffee right now!
She glanced at her watch again, hopefully. Did she have time to pull off and grab a coffee? She knew the answer without even looking at her watch. There definitely wasn’t time to stop for coffee.
Already, her head was pounding. Lack of sleep compounded with the stress of the morning. She needed caffeine. It would help.
“Come on!” she yelled at the traffic, frustrated now. This was ridiculous. They were past the scene of the accident, what was the hold-up? She was going to lose her job at this rate.
The rain was getting heavier as she drove up the ramp to the fourth floor of the parking building where the spot that went with her job was reserved. She could see it pelting down outside, coming in through the open-sided walls between the concrete frame. She’d have to try to remember to put an umbrella into her car. She was going to get soaked.
She stepped out of the carpark lift directly into a puddle. The entryway sloped down from the street and the water accumulated there, pooling out, spreading across the footpath onto the road where the wheels from the passing cars sprayed it up, saturating her completely. All Jilly could do was sigh in resignation as she looked down at her sopping dress, dripping muddy water into the puddle at her feet, her white blouse clinging to her already.
Gathering her handbag tighter against her body, she ran, doing her best to dodge the falling raindrops, wobbling precariously in her heels.
The footpath was slippery, slick with muck from the road and the thousands of shoes that had already tramped this way this morning. Her smooth-soled high heels weren’t designed for running in and as she misjudged the step leading up to the foyer of her building, her feet went out from under her, her foot twisted, and she fell down in a heap on the wet concrete right outside the door.
“Are you okay, babe?” Vanessa asked.
Jilly groaned, both in pain and embarrassment. Trust Vanessa to be right there, witness to the whole sorry thing. How could she ever look her friend in the eye again? She didn’t exactly look glamorous with her skirt rucked up around her thighs, drenched right through, scrabbling around on the footpath, trying to find purchase on the slippery, wet ground.
“Owwwwww.” She hadn’t meant to moan in such an agonised manner
