The weekend wasn’t coming fast enough for Candice Hollins.

She glanced at the clock on the wall across from her desk for what felt like the hundredth time, and it was still 4:32 p.m. She squinted to make sure the second hand on the clock wasn’t stuck, and she groaned when she saw it clicking right along. Candice picked up a piece of notebook paper on her desk, wadded it up, and threw it at the clock, missing it by a long shot.

“I hope you weren’t aiming for the trash can because you were off by about nine feet. I’m afraid I’ll have to give that a score of four out of ten.”

Her coworker and friend, Megan, laughed as she peeked her head inside the open doorway, and Candice propped her elbows on top of her desk and cradled her head in her hands.

“Is it just me or has this been the longest week ever?”

Megan leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not just you. I think Mr. Mason’s temper has made everyone here more tense than usual, and we’re all waiting on five o’clock.”

Candice shook her head in disdain. After their construction manager quit the previous week following a heated—and very public—argument with their boss, Aaron Mason, the whole atmosphere at Mason Brothers Contracting changed. She and her coworkers walked around on pins and needles, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it was just an unpleasant situation to be in.

Thankfully, Aaron was able to find a new construction manager who came highly recommended by several of his peers, but this new employee was moving to Lehi from Texas and wouldn’t be starting until Monday morning. During that time, Aaron had been up in arms trying to deal with the mess the former manager had left behind. There were unfinished jobs to tend to, workers who needed direction, and a mountain of paperwork on his desk that multiplied daily. To say it put him in a foul mood would be putting it lightly.

“Next month, I’ll celebrate my eighth anniversary as receptionist,” Candice said, before expelling a long, weary sigh. “I can count on one hand how many vacations I’ve taken during that time. I feel like my life is passing me by, and I need a break. Do you ever feel that way?”

Megan started nodding before she finished her question. “More times than I care to count. We should schedule some vacation days when things settle down here and go to Las Vegas for a girl’s weekend. What do you say?”

She wanted more than anything to say yes. Heck, she would be on the next flight to Vegas in a heartbeat if there was any way possible, which there wasn’t.

“Oops. Here comes Mason,” Megan whispered. “We’ll talk about this later.”

She gave Candice a wink before taking off down the corridor toward her office, and Candice jumped from her seat, picked up the wadded paper on the floor, and discarded it in the trash can in record time before Aaron Mason entered her office.

“Candice, I need you to finish these. My in-laws are in town, and I need to get home before my wife comes looking for me. I’ve hidden out here as long as I can, and these have to be completed before David arrives Monday morning.”

He dropped a stack of papers at least an inch thick on top of her desk, landing with a resounding thud. As usual, there were no pleasantries with the man. It was simply “do this” and “do that,” and he never asked if she had other plans.

“David?” she inquired.

Aaron gave her an incredulous look. “David Maxwell, the new construction manager I hired last week. I thought I told you about him.”

Candice bit her tongue to keep from coming unglued. She glanced over his right shoulder at the clock on the wall, which now read 4:56 p.m.

“I’ll get started on these,” she replied.

Trying to reason with him was pointless, and she needed the extra pay anyway, so Candice sat at her desk with a resigned sigh as Aaron shuffled his way out the door without a thank you or goodbye. She picked up the receiver on her desk phone and dialed her sister’s cell number. “Hey, Whitney. Do you mind staying with Sarah a little while longer? It looks like I’ll be a couple of hours late getting home.”

Whitney agreed, and they talked a few more minutes before hanging up. As Candice sorted through the pile of papers on her desk, she couldn’t help but envy her coworkers, who steadily streamed by her door on their way to the front entrance, probably bragging to each other about their weekend plans.

There’s got to be more to life than this, she thought. Perhaps someday she’d be fortunate enough to find out.

Almost three hours later, Candice trudged through the front door of her home, mentally and physically drained and searching for the closest place to crash. She slipped off her jacket and kicked off her heels as soon as she stepped inside, tossing her purse on the table in the foyer before slowly making her way to the adjoining den. Her six-year-old daughter, Sarah, and Whitney were cuddling in the recliner, watching one of Sarah’s favorite cartoon DVDs and drinking from matching juice boxes.

“Mommy!”

Sarah ran and jumped into her arms, and Candice swept her up and gave her a big hug.

“Hey, doodlebug,” she replied. “I’ve missed you today. Have you been good for Aunt Whitney?”

Sarah nodded enthusiastically and pointed to the kitchen. “I drew something for you. It’s on the fridge. You want to see it?”

Candice kissed her cheek. “I would love to.”

Sarah squirmed out of her arms and took off for the kitchen while Candice went to the sofa and collapsed. Every muscle ached, and she moaned happily when the fluffy cushions and pillows closed around her body like a warm hug.

“Well, aren’t you all bright and bushy-tailed this evening,” Whitney commented. “Tough day?”

Candice kicked her feet up on the coffee table in front of the sofa and closed her eyes while trying not to drift to sleep. “I’m so sorry I’m late. Aaron decided to give me two weeks’ worth of work at the last minute, and I couldn’t just tell him no because they were important documents that needed completing by Monday.”

She heard Whitney grunt. “I’d be shocked if you ever told that man no. I love you, sis, but he’s taking advantage of you. You’re supposed to be the receptionist and not his personal assistant.”

Candice waved a tired hand in the air. “I know, I know. Please don’t start with this again. You sound like Mom.”

Sarah came running back to the den and jumped on the sofa beside her, jolting her awake. She shoved a pink piece of construction paper in Candice’s face and bounced excitedly. “What do you think, Mommy? Aunt Whitney helped me draw your face and clothes.”

Candice studied the paper closely and flashed Whitney a sinister look when she saw the dark circles drawn under her eyes. Sarah had also covered her in a gaudy, long-sleeved dress covered with hideous yellow and brown flowers on it and, to top it off, had drawn ugly brown loafers on her feet.

“That was so sweet of Aunt Whitney,” she replied, sarcastically. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I kind of resemble Grandma Anne in this picture.”

Whitney started laughing, and Sarah’s jaw slackened when she grabbed the paper and looked at it again. “You do, Mommy! I didn’t notice that.”

If she wasn’t sitting out of arm’s reach, Candice would’ve pinched her sister for being so mean like she used to do when they were kids. Whitney was obviously enjoying herself, the way she laughed and carried on, but Candice rolled her eyes and chose to ignore it.

“I saved you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. I made it myself. Are you hungry?” Sarah asked.

It made her heart swell seeing how excited Sarah was, but it also made her ache for the many things she was missing out on because of her job and other responsibilities.

“I’m starving,” Candice answered with a smile. “You knew exactly what I wanted for dinner.”

Sarah hopped off the sofa and took off for the kitchen again. “I’ll get it! I’ll bring you some of the bananas and pineapple I mixed with the green jello too.”

Curious, Candice looked over at Whitney, who started snickering. “Yeah, you might want to eat that slowly so the tart flavor doesn’t hit you all at once.”

While Sarah was busy in the kitchen, Candice rested her head on the back of the sofa and closed her eyes again. She really wasn’t hungry, but she would never tell Sarah that, especially after such a sweet gesture. What she really craved was a long hot bath and then eight—or ten—hours of uninterrupted sleep.

“You should get out and have some fun this weekend. Go shopping. See a movie. Go dancing. Just do something. Sarah can spend the weekend at my house.”

Candice was grateful for the offer, but the last thing she wanted was to spend her time off away from the comfort of her home. “That’s sweet of you, but my car payment is due next week and so is Sarah’s school tuition, so right now I can’t afford fun. Of any kind.”

Whitney got up, and when she walked over and sat beside her, Candice kept her eyes shut. She didn’t have to look at her sister to know she had a poor, pitiful expression on her face, and she didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for her.

“I’m worried about you,” Whitney said. “You’re working your fingers to the bone to support Sarah, and you never take any time for yourself.”

Candice opened her eyes and gave Whitney an affectionate pat on the leg. “Please don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I promise.”

She didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t have the chance to disagree with her because Sarah entered the room at that time, carrying a Styrofoam plate, which she brought over and set on Candice’s lap. “Here you go, Mommy! Dig in!”

Candice cast a worried glance at Whitney when she saw the heaping mound of green jello filled with chunks of bananas and pineapples sliding around on her plate. Some of it had melded with the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, turning the bread a soggy shade of green.

“Like I said, eat slowly,” Whitney whispered in her ear while attempting to stifle a giggle.

Candice gave Sarah a tentative smile before taking a cautious first bite.

“Mommy, what makes you smile the most?”

It was a simple and innocent question, but the look on Sarah’s face while she waited for Candice to answer was the same anxious and excited expression she kept while watching cookies bake.

“You make me smile the most,” she replied.

Sarah’s look went from giddy to exasperated. “I know I do, but what else makes you smile the most?”

Candice laughed as she pulled the bedsheet over Sarah’s shoulders. They were in the middle of their usual routine. Every night after she crawled into Sarah’s bed, they would lie face-to-face and Sarah would ask her a ton of questions until she fell asleep. Most of them were easy to answer, but sometimes Sarah managed to stump her like the time she asked why she saw only one of everything when she had two eyes.

“Hmm, let’s see. Well, listening to the rain makes me smile and so does swimming in Aunt Whitney’s pool.”

Sarah nodded in agreement. “I like that too.”

She honestly couldn’t think of anything else, and they were both quiet for a while. Sarah had a faraway look on her sweet little face, and Candice tucked a stray strand of hair behind her left ear. The love she felt for her daughter was all-consuming as was the protective streak that flowed through every nerve of her body like a momma bear with her cub.

“I miss seeing you smile,” Sarah said, before covering her mouth to yawn.

Candice gave her a skeptical look. “What do you mean, sweetie? I smile all the time.”

Sarah inched closer and draped one of her little arms over Candice’s waist as she cuddled beside her. “You used to smile a lot more before Daddy died. I miss that.”

The hot sting of tears threatening to overflow as Sarah’s words sank in, and she didn’t know what to say. Her mind wandered to Barry, her late husband who passed away in a car accident last year, and the gaping wound in her heart that was slowly starting to heal.

A few minutes later, she heard Sarah’s deep, even breaths when she fell asleep. Her sweet daughter was honest to a fault, so Candice knew she wouldn’t make such a statement if it weren’t true, and the idea that Sarah worried over her happiness gripped at her heart. As she pulled the bed cover over Sarah’s little body and hugged her close, she vowed to do whatever was necessary to ease her daughter’s mind.