Really need a working title for this thing
Monday, Lily slept. She slept like a dead thing. She awoke refreshed and realized that she was deeply relieved. She had hated every minute of what the children called the Baby-Man job. Most nights there was nothing to do. She would clean the apartment quickly and then turn her attention to whatever she had brought in her tote bag to do. She knitted socks and scarves. She did all of her holiday baking and candy making. Shopped online. She did all of her studying at work.
The first few months were brutal. She worked all night, got the kids off to school, and napped between classes using her Blackberry as an alarm clock. She took a tape recorder to lectures just in case she dozed off. Then at night she would listen to her tapes and redo her notes. Even though she was absolutely beat, her grades were surprisingly good. Improved, in fact. At night, she had nothing to do but study.
When Lily graduated everyone assumed she would quit her job. Other jobs she applied for were less money and more hours away from Jared and Anna. So far she gritted her teeth and stayed—until something else turned up.
She thought of the clients and the other employees. The thought of never seeing them again made her smile. The kids got home from school and she took them to a movie. When bedtime came she tucked them in and instead of leaving for work crawled into her queen-sized bed. The new one she’d ordered from IKEA after she and Derek split up. She plumped up her pillows and called, “Hey, who wants to sleep in Mama’s bed?”
Anna came running and pounced. Jared came a few minutes later, shyly carrying his Packer pillow.