It is currently Sunday evening and I just had dinner. I can't eat since I had that talk with Mrs Clark. She made me feel seen and she was the first person in all this time to give me such comfort. I always looked at her as an authority figure I needed to impress but what she told me on friday really stayed with me. I thought about her offer and I am fuming with curiosity. I mean all of her friends are these famous people you read about in the magazines and see in headlines. I wouldn't be suprised if it was Ryan Gosling or something of the sort. I showered already and I want to go to sleep but I just can't. I change my clothes and put on sweatpants and a slim fit shirt. I put my long brown hair into a ponytail and put on my trainers on. I am going go for a run around the block, to calm my mind and to tire my muscles. I take my headphones and my phone. Along with my keys and head out. I am met with colder air than before and it is honestly way better than the hot summer day. My street is always a bit busy so I head to the park. There is a lot of space there and I can do as I please there. Thank God I have Central Park nearby, otherwise I'd have to drive there too. I first decide to do some warm ups so I don't hurt myself. I do a couple of jumping jacks and push ups to get my blood flowing and heart pumping. Then I continute on to do some squats and crouches. When I feel my muscles burn then I know that I am warmed up enough and that I can do some cardio now. I run two miles and then walk and then on the way back I run 4 more miles. After I exit the park I stop running and sit at a bench for a second. I walk back home and in front of my door I see someone standing. It looks like a woman but I'm still not sure. I clench one of my fists just in case and walk slowly to her. When she turns around I see that it is Mrs Clark. What is she doing here? She looks like she's been crying. Her mascara is down to her chin and her hair is all messed up.

"Hey, is everything okay?" I ask

"No, I don't think it will ever be okay" she says crying again

"Wait let me just unlock the door and you can come in and tell me all about it." I get my keys out of my pocket and opet the door to my apartment. I step aside and let her in first. Thankfully I cleaned yesterday so everything is in it's best order. We go to the living room. This isn't the first time she's been at my place. The last time she was here was when her husband cheated on her and she had no where else to go. I really hope it's not that again. We sit down and she starts crying again.

"Did something happen to you?" she shakes her head

"Did something happen to your husband?" she shakes her head again

"Is it work related?" she shakes her head once more

What could it be? She never came to me about something else. I sit next to her holding her hand as she cries. She calms down a bit and I ask her again this time she anwsers.

"I was driving back home from the mall when a child came out of no where. I was changing the song and stopped paying attention for just a minute. I hit him Lena" she starts crying again. Even harder this time.

"Hey calm down, you didn't mean to do that,it can happen to anybody."

"I know but now that kid is in the hospital and it is all my fault"

"Hey, listen to me. does that kid have parents?"she nodds "there you go, he has parents who should have kept an eye on him. It is not your fault. You're just under shock right now." I tell her. By now I am sitting on the floor while she is sat on the sofa.

"No this happened early in the day"

"Why are coming to me now then?" I ask trying not to sound rude

"I couldn't sleep and Dylan is not home so I had no where else to go." she says looking down at her hands. I sit next to her and hug her. We fall back onto the couch and she falls back onto me. I hold her tight and she calms her crying afer some time.I realise I just got back from a run and here I am hugging her.

"oh my god, I just realised I am sweaty, I am so sorry Mrs Clark" I quickly stand up. "Have you eaten today? I can make us something to eat" I say.

"I'm not really hungry, but thank you."

"I'm sorry but I didn't ask if you were hungry, I asked if you had eaten." She looks down at her hands again. She has trouble eating when she's stressed.

"Would you like some tea?" I ask

"Yeah sure, that would be fine." She says finally.

"Well follow me" I tell her

We go to the kitchen and I put a kettle on and prepare two cups. I know one time she told me she likes my english tea so thats what I'm going to make. I am also going to take out some bread and make us a grilled cheese sandwich. I got to enjoy that with her one time. I bought a toaster just for that occasion. I don't usualy eat anything with too many calories but sometimes this will do. I take out the plates and pour the tea. She is sat at the island just observing me. I sit next to her and give her the plate and the mug. We sip our tea in silence.

"Since when do you eat grilled cheese?" she asks

"I usually don't, but when I have a bad day and I am too lazy to make something this is my first thing." I say

"What made you eat these?" she says as she takes a bite

"You, I tried them first back when we were in your old house dealing with that theft and we were really hungry and it was late at night so you made me a grilled cheese sandwich and then we fell asleep on the office floor." I say looking at my mug

"You remember that?" She asks

"Well of course I do, that day was so stressful" she laughs at that and finishes her sandwich

"Do you want another?" I ask

"No, I'm good thank you" I nod and eat mine.

"So have you decided yet?"she asks

"Decided what?" I say as I sip my tea

"If you're going." she plainly says

"I don't know yet, I can't, get it out of my head though. That idea alone terrifies me but it also sounds apealing to try something new" I say

"Oh Lena, just go for it. You know you want to. And if it doesn't go as planned you can always come back to the Times" She adds

"Really?"

"Well yes, in who's apartment am I at 11 pm eating a grilled cheese sandwich?" she laughs

"Thank you, I can't thank you enough" I tell her. I really can't, she's the best person that I've met so far.

"I should get going" she says getting up

"No way in hell am I going to let you go home alone at this time" I tell her following her behind

"Don't worry I have pepper spray" she reassures me

"And I have a guest room, I will not let you go. If you so wish to go I will accompany you and chaperone you to your door. Otherwise you're staying here"

"Ugh fine, why do you even care about me that much" she asks

"Because you're all I've got" she looks at me and hugs me again.

"Oh darling" she says in my ear

"In the guest bedroom there is a bathroom but the sink had a malfunction so you can use mine."

"What about my clothes I don't have any" she says looking down at her dress

"I do, so feel free to borrow or take whatever you want. I'm gonna go and shower while you get changed" I tell her and get her to follow me to my bedroom. I take off my clothes and hop in the shower. I take about 10 minutes and wrap myself in a towel. I am such a moron. I didn't bring any underwear. I cover mu entire body and I opet the door. There she is on her phone on my bed. Great. I walk by in my towel and go to the wardrobe to change. Thankfully it is a walk in wardrobe. I put on shorts and a random t-shirt.

"I don't know how to thank you Lena"

"It is fine don't worry about it"I tell her sitting down next to her. She leans her head on my shoulder and snuggles next to me. If you saw us like this you wouldn't think this woman is turnig 46 soon. She looks fenomenal for her age.

"Let's sleep" she says and gets up. I follow her to her room and help her put on some clean sheets. I turn off her light and say goodbye in the doorway.

"Whatever you need I'll be just down the hall" I say

"Wait, Lena, You're an angel. I've never met anyone who would do this for me"

"You don't have to, you have me silly" I tell her and say goodnight.

I come back to my room and go to bed.

Today I awoke with a jump as I heard something in the bathroom. I take my baseball bat and slowly come closer. I open the door to see Mrs Clark brushing her teeth. She looks at me startled but then sees I have a baseball bat in my hand and she bursts out laughing. I roll my eyes and return the bat back to it's original place. I come back and she's still laughing.

"You should have seen the look on your face" she says wiping the mirror.

I roll my eyes again, purposely so she could see. I brush my teeth too and head to the kitchen to make myself some tea. I return to find her and ask if she wants coffee or tea. She says she perfers coffee but hasn't got the time to drink it all. I pour her coffee into a to-go termoflask and give it to her while she gets ready. I told her she could have anything she wanted from my wardrobe and for that she got excited in the morning. She always loved my style and complimented me on it so now she is looking at my shoes collection and she can't stop staring. I really have a problem. I buy way too much clothes and shoes. Thats why I have a wardrobe packed with clothes.

We both get dressed and ready for today and when we go outside I realise she probably came here with a taxi. I show her to my car and we get in. I haven't had someone in my car ever. This car I've had for about four months now. I bought myself a new Audi Q7. She loved the car, she kept telling me how nice it was and how she wanted one that was like this. I parked my car and we fell into a stroll together. We walked into the office together and I walked with her to her office to ask what I need to do today. In front of the office you could see Lucy with a coffee in hand.

"Good morning Mrs Clark, Ms Adam"

"Good morning darking, how are you?" I ask. She turns red as a strawberry and says she's fine. I smile at her and Mrs Clark and I walk into her office.

"Whats the plan for today?" I ask

"First you're going to pack up your personal belongings and then you're going to come here and we're gonna work on your interview questions"

"Already? Don't you think it is a bit soon?"

"Do you want someone else to take it? No, so chop chop you're meeting her tomorrow" She says clapping her hands. I turn on my heels and go to the back room to find myself a box to put everything inside. I go to my office and start taking things off the walls. I hope this is for the best. It would be so embarassing to come back a week later to unpack. It didn't take long to pack up everything. I give an intern the box and my car keys so he can put it there. He does so and after 15 minutes he gives me back my keys. I go to Mrs Clarks office and plop down onto the sofa. She sits next to me and she starts right away. She first took my CV and read it to me so I could see what was missing in it. We made a new one and we started on the questions. After a few hours we were both tired so we decided to call a day with that. I told Mrs Clark about the articles with obscure headlines and how I planned to talk with them today. She told me she will take care of it. I stayed in her office for a bit longer and then she said she's going home. I happily offered to drive her home. I got to her place and stopped in the driveway. Her house is so beautiful. I've been to this house only twice.

"If you need anything just call and I'll come get you" I tell her.

"Okay, I will" she smiles at me and hugs me. I drive back home with a hole inside me but with a bit of hope aswell.