Morning all. We can see the end of the month from here. Seems so strange. Usually February flies by but for some reason this month feels like it has been lasting forever. Maybe it is because January flew by. Or stress. Stress might have made the month longer. But soon February will be done and March will blow in. Hopefully some sanity will be blown in as well. For now, there is the morning writing prompt. So timers set and off we go.
I think with this it is less picking a story line, but deciding a time period for the story before details are added to ground it.
Thursday, February 27th: His laughter was contagious.
His laughter was contagious. Once he started it was hard not to at least smile. The tension that filled the room eased slightly. “You can’t be serious,” he said when his laughter ended. Small chuckles escaped from around the words like crumbs falling from a cookie. Jane looked around the rest of the room, maintaining the smile on her own face.
She was pleased to see the others relaxing a little more with the laughter. Some of the smiles were hesitant, but Jane felt like she could now breathe.
“I am afraid it is true,” Stanley said. He sounded rueful but there was still a small smile gracing his lips. Considering moments before he looked as though he was ready to spit nails at anyone near him, it was a decided improvement.
Steve laughed again and shook his head. “We will just have to find a way to deal with that,” he said. Stanly nodded and when Steve reached for the paperwork, Stanley happily handed it over. Jane wondered if he was just glad to have someone else deal with it. Stanly very much liked the world to flow in predictable patterns and was never pleased when they didn’t.
Jane took stock of the room. With the tension broken things no longer seemed like they were ready to escalate. Daniel’s unfortunate activities were something that could be dealt with while no one else was sacrificed. She felt relief wash through her and she eased back towards the door. She was not really involved. No one here wanted her to be involved and would be upset if she decided to try to be involved.
‘Family business,’ she thought. The thought had less of a sting than it once did. She had only come into the room because she was worried about potential escalation and the need to diffuse it. Since Steve managed it, she was no longer needed.
Jane left the room and closed the door behind herself. She doubted anyone would notice her disappearance nor would they mind if they did find her gone. Once that would have bothered her. Shen she married Harold, she was often left out of discussions involving family business. It bothered her at first, thinking it might be some gender bias. However she soon learned that other women weren’t left out of the discussion. Harold’s sisters and female cousins were all involved.
As she married in, she wasn’t quite considered family. She thought with time that might change, it never did.
‘But I’ll be gone soon.’ She thought.
She and Harold had an arrangement. It was all but done. Even though all of the paperwork legally separating them was complete, Harold asked her to stay on until the others left. She knew he wanted them focused on the current business, fixing Daniel’s mistakes and not distracted by their divorce.
As everything was amiable, Jane agreed. Thus far, things had not gone badly. She was packed however and most of her things had been sent on. Soon the last of her things would leave and she would go with them. She had plans of course, plans she had no desire to share with anyone here. Keeping them to herself was difficult as she was rather excited.
‘It is for the best,’ she told herself. She and Harrold everything well. Once she left, all ties would be cut. She would not be tied to the family anymore and hoped never to see them again.
Ten til Midnight 