Jane: part one

Jane awoke every morning with a knot in the pit of her stomach. Every day was the same. Her husband sighed and rolled over, silencing the alarm. She pretended to be asleep so that he would try to be quiet as he got himself ready for the work day. Then just before he left, he softly kissed her cheek and told her he loved her. She murmured a response and waited until the door closed behind him.
She ran her fingers through her short hair and stepped over the dog as she climbed out of bed. Then after using the toilet, she washed her hands, put in her contact lenses so that she could see and shuffled to the kitchen for coffee. Her husband didn’t drink coffee. Or whiskey, her other favorite beverage. This morning, she felt like she might need both to get herself going.
While the Breville heated, she fumbled in the liquor cabinet for just the right bottle. Bourbon? Yes. A shot of Knob Creek to kick start the motor. Perfect. With a healthy dose added to her mug, she ground the beans, packed the filter with the grind and set the mug beneath it to fill with the extracted coffee.
It was raining. She wouldn’t get outside today. Maybe a double shot was in order. She sat on the sofa and tucked her feet beneath her. How had things gotten so out of control? She used to be happy. When had that changed? She shook her head. Was it already ten years ago that she’d been manipulated into moving her elderly parents into her home?
Her mother hollered up from the first floor apartment she occupied. “Janie? Are you up yet?”
She muttered a curse under her breath. “Yeah, Ma. I’m up.”
“So what’s on the agenda today?” her mother asked.
“None of your damned business,” she whispered. If only she had the guts to say that out loud. “Nothing. Why? You have big plans?” she asked, sarcastically.
“Well, I have to go to the store and the drug store and…” her mother droned on and on, missing the sarcasm.
“Fine,” Jane replied. “I’m not going anywhere.” She sighed. “As usual.”
“Did you hear the news?”
Jane rolled her eyes. Her mother seemed to think she was uninformed just because she didn’t watch the nightly news as religiously as her mother did. “What news?”
“A water main burst in Center City. It flooded an entire neighborhood!”
And this impacted our lives, how? “Oh yeah? That’s too bad.”
“You should see the pictures. It was terrible.”
“I’m sure it was, Ma.”
Her mother toddled off to get her breakfast, leaving Jane to her thoughts. She missed her father. He had been the only reason she’d agreed to this badly thought out plan. She’d had three extra years with him and that was a blessing wasn’t it? Jane sighed and drained the last of her spiked coffee and wept.