“Me” Time

By Penny Gadd

Jane treasured this time away from her daily routine.

She climbed the path briskly, skidding on pebbles left by the rain running through the scrub. The wind, and the bleakness, and the loneliness, scoured away the mask she’d worn during the day. Her face relaxed into a half-smile. She thought with tenderness of her children, without the distraction of needing to deal immediately with their problems.
It was her “me” time. She could be herself.

She reached the summit, glanced at her watch and sighed. It was time to go home. Time to go back to being “George” and “Daddy.”