Some days she actually wished they had a dog to walk; every day was a new adventure to a dog, she thought; maybe some of it would rub off on her life. But Richard would hear none of that; he made it painfully clear he would allow no animals where they might cause even the slightest problem with a client, always the client, never a thought about his family or their needs. Laura was slowly coming to the conclusion she and the kids were all just some part in his scheme for success, the up and coming business man with his picture perfect wife, two kids, and beautiful house, all just parts in a plan, nothing more. Shaking off the dark thought, she had only a few minutes of quiet before the kids hit the floor at full throttle; time to call the repair place and get that arranged. Laura flipped through the book to the right page, found the number, picked up the wireless, and punched the number in one-handed. The beauty of working with numbers a lot was that she automatically memorized the configuration of every keyboard for every appliance in the house, even on her mini-van door locks; she could key anything without looking, even in the dark.
