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Not allowing myself to sink into the blackness that threatened to engulf my soul took a lot out of me, though, and by the time I reached home, I was drained and ready to collapse.
Once I got into the apartment, I set my alarm and crashed on the bed, exhausted. I closed my eyes and allowed the world around me to fizzle out of existence…for just a little while.
CHAPTER 1
GRACIE JAMIESON
FRIDAY MORNING - LATE AGAIN
BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP!
“Ugh!” I grunted, buried my head under the pillow, and blindly grappled for the alarm clock to hit the button on top and stop the god-awful sound. I’d get up in a minute…or maybe five…
Mr tall, dark, and dreamy was just about to lean in for a kiss, his lips a mere breath away from mine, when there was a loud pounding sound, and his face disappeared. My eyes flew open.
“What the hell?” I shouted, annoyed and a little disorientated before I realised; I was in bed, and Mr Tall, dark and dreamy, was a dream; damn it! But the pounding was real…Damn it again!
“Gracie, it’s Friday morning. You need to haul your ass out of bed and get to work, or you will be late again, and you know your boss said he’d sack you if you were late one more time!” my cousin Claire shouted, pounding on my bedroom door.
“Oh god!” I groaned.
I checked the clock. It was eight a.m., an hour after I’d turned off my alarm. Shit, I was going to be late for work again. I needed to stop reading so late.
“I’ll run you to the station if you can be ready in ten minutes,” Claire shouted from the kitchen.
Christ, I needed to get ready super quick. I jumped out of bed and grabbed some underwear on my way into the bathroom.
I didn’t have time for a shower and needed to multi-task if I had any hope of being ready in ten minutes. I peed and brushed my teeth with one hand and sprayed body mist under my arms with the other. Ugh! After that, I sprayed my feet and private area, hoping things weren’t too whiffy down there. I’d had a bath before bed, so fingers crossed! My mother would be appalled, but thankfully, she would never know.
Unfortunately, she passed away from cancer when I was twelve, and as she had been a single parent, I was sent to live with my aunt Carole and my big cousin Claire, who was fifteen at the time. Claire became like a big sister to me, and my aunt Carole was a kind and caring woman, so I was lucky to have them.
Sadly, my aunt Carole died almost six months ago, in January. She was a police officer on her way home during a snowstorm when her car skidded off the road and went down an embankment. Her vehicle overturned, and she died at the scene.
I remembered the look on the faces of the officers who came to the door to inform us. I would never forget it; they weren’t just delivering a death message, one of the hardest jobs a police officer must do, but they were delivering a death message for one of their own.
Aunt Carole had been a Sergeant with the Metropolitan police force here in London and was well-known and liked by her colleagues. The cremation occurred three weeks later, and officers lined the roadway, coming out in droves to pay their respects. It was a horrible yet beautiful day, and I still couldn’t believe she was gone.
“Hurry up!” Claire shouted again, and I blinked as I realised I had been standing in front of the mirror, lost in my dark thoughts.
Shit, I hated when I started spiralling; I could zone out for ages when that happened.
“I’m coming!” I shouted.
I threw on jeans and a T-shirt, quickly pulled on some socks, and stuffed my feet into my trusty Sketchers, which were great for running. I grabbed my bag, phone, and keys from my bedside table and rushed out the door.
“Here you go,” Claire said, handing me a to-go coffee mug and a slice of buttered toast to eat in the car.
“Thanks,” I said gratefully.
I glanced at the time on my phone. I made it with two seconds to spare. Fantastic!
Usually, I had to take the bus, so getting a lift from Claire today was a godsend. I sat back, munched on my toast, and sipped my homemade latte in the reassuring knowledge that it only took five minutes to get to the station by car. The next train was due two minutes after that, and then it took twenty minutes to get into the city centre, which gave me just enough time to get to work by nine a.m. if I ran.
When the train arrived, I took a seat and smiled smugly. I’d made it!
“Ha, you won’t be sacking me today, Mr MacGrumpy!” I said out loud before sticking out my tongue in a childish gesture of defiance against the man who was my nemesis. Not that he was here to see it.
The old gentleman in the seat in front did, though, and frowned at me over his glasses. Oops!
