Christine slapped the alarm clock that screeched next to her bed. She rolled over and stretched, then froze.

The house was quiet. Too quiet. Quiet was something she hadn’t heard in over a year. And it terrified her.

She leapt out of bed and rushed across the hall. She threw the door open and half ran across the room.

Then froze again.

Angela, Christine’s 13 month old daughter, was sound asleep.

Christine stood and watched her daughter’s chest rise and fall slowly. She backed out of the room and smiled. She’d almost given up on ever needing to set her alarm again. Angela was definitely an early bird, something that made Christine cringe.

Christine grabbed the monitor and closed the bathroom door, praying she could enjoy her shower, but working fast just in case.

Christine was rinsing herself off when she heard the first whimpers through the monitor. She wrapped her hair in a towel and her body in a bathrobe and went to start her day.

Christine talked to Angela through their morning routine and was actually running a little early when he phone beeped with an incoming text.

Please grab some decorations for the nursery. We took down the Valentine’s Day stuff yesterday and it’s bare in here. 

Christine groaned and thumbed back that she would. The CEO shouldn’t be running errands, but when her mother ran the day care, she didn’t have much of a choice.

“So much for being early,” Christine told Angela with a grimace.