When it Rains, it Pours

ONE

"Fuck."

Rain reached down and picked up her phone off of the pavement.

"Please don't be broken, please don't be broken," she pleaded as she turned it over. "Fuck," she said again with a sigh. "This day can't possibly get any worse."

She stood up and started to walk away when a man on rollerblades knocked into her and she went crashing down onto the sidewalk. "You have got to be kidding me!" She shrieked angrily as the man skated away. "Asshole!"

Grabbing her bag and her shattered phone she clambered to her feet and continued her trek home. Fifteen minutes and a broken heel later, Rain burst into her apartment dripping wet from the rain, muttering swear words under her breath.

"Rain? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be Liza?" Rain called tiredly as her best friend came into the living room.

"Geez, what happened to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Rain slammed her bag onto the coffee table and pulled off her broken shoes.

"Okay, well I--"

"That asshole fired me!"

"What? You got fired? Why? You're the best thing that ever happened to that family!"

"I know!" she huffed angrily, pulling her long, wet, silky straight black hair into a messy bun. "He said that his wife wasn't comfortable with me being in their home."

"The wife that doesn't live in the same house?" Liza asked in disbelief. "The one that's been gone for five years?

"Yes! Something about her not liking how much the boys talk about me. I'm sorry that my pupils like me!"

"That is asinine."

"I agree!"

"And right before Christmas! What a jerk!"

"I know!"

"What are you going to do, Rain?" Liza asked softly.

"First I'm going to have a glass, no, a bottle of wine. And then...I don't know."

"Well, I do know that there's a little girl in her room, who has been waiting to see you all day."

Rain's shoulders sagged. She dragged herself into her bedroom to peel off her wet clothes before making her way to the back bedroom of the apartment. Taking a quick pause at the door reign in her emotions, she pushed it open and smiled at the sight before her.

Her precocious, six-year-old daughter was pacing back in forth in front of her collection of dolls and stuffed animals, giving them a lecture on the harmful effects of too much television.

"Can I sit in on the lesson?"

The little girl whipped her head around and grinned broadly at her mother. "Mommy! You're home!"

She ran toward Rain and jumped into her arms. Rain buried her face in her daughter's soft curly hair and inhaled deeply, feeling calm for the first time since she had left for work that morning. "Hi, my Sunny girl. Did you have a good day with Aunt Liza?"

Sunny pulled back and smiled. "Yes, I did! We went to the museum and then the library. I got three new books."

Rain smiled and set Sunny on her feet. "Did you at least return any of the books you already had?"

Sunny looked away. "No, I forgot."

"That's okay. Why don't you grab one of your books and join me in the living room? I'm going to help Aunt Liza finish dinner."