I do not own Perusuasion. It belongs to Jane Austen. I know the first part is short, other parts will be longer.

"Anne? Anne, are you there?" my younger sister Mary yelled in my ear.

"Yes, Mary, I'm here," I said. I balanced my bags of groceries and books and papers in my left hand and my cell phone in the crook between my ear and shoulder while I opened my apartment door. I closed the door and walked into the kitchen.

"Where were you today? I called your cell all afternoon."

I tried to keep the exasperation out of my voice. "I was at work, Mary. I called you back as soon as I had a chance." I dumped my bags on the kitchen table and started to put away my groceries.

"So your work is more important than me? I don't get why you teach high school brats all day. They don't give a shit about Shakespeare or whatever else you make them read," Mary said.

I sighed. "Because I want to teach them. What do you need help with?"

"I need to go shopping this weekend for the baby. David is being an asshole and says he needs to go to a conference tomorrow. He won't take the boys with him. Jack and Nathan are being brats and won't leave me alone. Nobody understands how sick and delicate I am, Anne," Mary whined.

"I'm meeting with Dad, Liz, and Molly at John Shepherd's office tomorrow morning. I can come over after. Is one o'clock okay with you?"

"I want you over earlier. Can't you skip the meeting?"

"No, Mary, I can't. I'll come over right after the meeting. I promise." I finished putting away my groceries and pulled out a bottle of wine from the refrigerator.

"I want you to look online tonight for baby girl stuff. I'll see you tomorrow." Mary hung up.

I set the wine bottle and cell phone on the counter and went into my bedroom to change. I changed out of my blouse and skirt and into a tank top. As I rummaged in my drawers for a pair of shorts, I came across an old picture. The young woman in the picture was pretty and smiling. A young, handsome man stood behind her and had his arms around her waist. His chin laid on the woman's shoulder and he was also smiling.

My eyes filled up and I threw the picture back into the drawer. I grabbed a pair of shorts and shut the drawer. It was hard to believe I was once the pretty, smiling girl in the picture. It didn't help that I had seldom dated since him and that I had lost a lot of my looks during the eight years since college.

I took a deep breath and picked my cell phone back up to order pizza. Tonight, I would grade papers and prepare for finals and watch sappy romantic movies that reminded me of my pathetic love life. The rest of my weekend would be spent dealing with my family's problems.