"What are you doing?" she yelled out her window as the driver next to her tried to cut in front of her. "Just stay in your own lane. Don't you see I'm here!" I pity the person who tries to mess with me right now, she said, looking at herself in the rearview mirror. I can't believe Dan wants me to come up with a plan to save the company from negativity, she thought to herself. I can't even save myself.

She didn't know how much more she could take. Just yesterday her doctor told her that he detected something "of concern" in her yearly physical and wanted to run some more tests. She knew that breast cancer ran in her family and was terrified that she would be the next one in her family to get it. As she drove home inch by inch, stopping and going, she thought about her doctor's appointment the next day and tried to figure out how she would fit it into her schedule, knowing how adamant Dan was that she create a plan by Monday. After the year she'd had, she certainly didn't want to tell anyone about one more problem in her life. She needed the job to support her two teenagers and also knew she was lucky to work with a leader like Dan. He was the one man in her life who wasn't a jerk. She debated whether she should tell her children about her medical tests and decided to wait until she received the results. They had been through a lot this past year, and it was clearly taking a toll on all of them. Just last night when she walked in the door, she and her daughter got into it once again.

"Where were you, Mom?" Lauren yelled.

"That's a nice way to greet your mother," countered Hope. "Where do you think I was? At work like I am every day, trying to support us."

"Did you forget about the homecoming dance this Friday?"

"No, I didn't, Lauren, but let's just say I have a lot on my plate right now."

"Well, I don't have a dress, and you promised we would get one together."

"Just go naked," said Jack as he giggled and made faces at his older sister.

"Be quiet, you little punk," she said as she took a swipe at him. "You're 15 years old now. Stop acting like you're 10."

"This week is a little crazy, Lauren. I may just have to give you money to go pick one out yourself. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too, Mom. Everyone else's mom is helping them. I don't even want to go to Home-coming this year. I don't like my school. I don't like my friends, and I don't like not having a dress."

"Don't be such a complainer," countered Hope. "You sound like the people I work with."

"Complainer! Complainer! You're calling me a complainer!" countered the strong-willed 17-year-old. "That's all you do is complain. You walk in the door and complain about your job. You complain about all the people complaining to you. Then you get on the phone with Grandma and Aunt Pam and complain to them for most of the night. All you do is talk about how bad life is since Dad left. He didn't just leave you, Mom. He left us, too. And we're still here. So every time you say how much you hate your life, it's saying that you hate your life with us. If I'm a complainer, it's because I had a good teacher."

Hope couldn't even respond. Lauren definitely was her mother's daughter. Payback, she thought, for all the hell she put her own mother through. She grabbed a bottle of wine and locked herself in her room. She thought about her ex-husband, who told her he wanted a new life and a new wife. She thought about the mountainous credit card debt he left her with. She thought about the bills that were piled on her desk. She cried herself to sleep last night only to come into work today and face a firestorm of negativity and batteries on fire.

And as she drove home, reflecting about last night, she wondered what else could go wrong. "What else do you have for me?" she asked, as she looked up and clenched her fist. As the traffic eased up a bit, Hope thought of the enormity of it all. She was fired from her marriage and now trying to keep her job. Her relationship with her daughter was falling apart. And who knows what the medical tests would reveal tomorrow. Not to mention Dan's expectations of her. She didn't want to arrive home tonight and fight with her daughter again, and she didn't want to go to work tomorrow, either. She wanted to escape and run away. If my ex can do it, why can't I? she asked herself. She wanted to tell Dan that she had too many projects to contribute to his three-point plan and would recommend that Jim run with it. She convinced herself she would tell this to Dan first thing tomorrow.

Hope finally made it home, walked in her front door, and was surprised to find a quiet, empty house and a note. It was from Lauren letting her know that she was at her boyfriend's house and Jack was at a friend's house eating dinner, and they would be home later. Thank God, she thought. She didn't have the energy. She poured herself a glass of wine, did some research on the computer, then found her way to the couch where she eventually passed out.