Louis, Missouri "What are you doing here at five?" Jacie's lips thinned as she unlatched the chain on her door, but pointedly didn't offer an invitation to come inside. She schooled herself in patience as she spoke. "What happened to 7:30?" She had just walked in the door from an unexpected trip to the office when her doorbell rang. Her briefcase was still in one hand, a scuffed yellow hardhat in the other. "Nothing happened to 7:30. I'm just a little early to pick up Emily." "Two and a half hours isn't a little early. Listen," Jacie tossed her hardhat and briefcase onto the floor next to the closet, causing the hat to bounce several times on the ceramic tiled floor. She stepped out into the hallway and quietly closed the door behind her. "I don't give a good God damn what you're ready for." Her jaw bunched and released as she tried to control her temper. "It's my weekend with Emily, and that doesn't end until 7:30 tonight. That's our court-ordered arrangement." Nervously, she peered over her shoulder at her front door and ran a hand through shoulder-length auburn hair as she consciously lowered her voice.
