After fast-forwarding through three messages, she finally heard Rachel’s voice: “Carolyn?” Rachel said in a lilting tone. “Hey, sweetie, it’s Rachel. What are you up to? I’m calling you back and wanted to let you know that I’m going up to Cleveland today. We’re getting nasty rain and I was wondering if it was raining up there, too. I want to know which coat to wear. Anyway, just give me a call when you have a minute. Love you, girlfriend. Bye.”

On Tuesday, when she’d gotten the message, Carolyn was surprised and happy to hear Rachel would be in the Cleveland area, and thought she’d have a chance to spend time with her. But when she called Rachel back and invited her to dinner, it turned out she was only going to be in town long enough to take an exam for a job she had recently accepted. She wanted to get back home early so she could be ready to start the new job in the morning. The real estate broker she would be working for had assured her that if she passed the exam, the job would be hers. She still had her license, but this chain required all new employees to pass its test.

Rachel had been out of the workforce for a while, and she always said tests made her nervous, so she’d been studying quite a bit. Still, she was fretting over having to take the exam and called Carolyn while she was sitting in the reception area, waiting to be called in.

“You’ll do great,” Carolyn said. “You studied hard and you understand the material. You’ll ace it, I’m sure!”

Carolyn reminded Rachel of all the things she had accomplished over the years, and how she had taken to real estate like a duck to water years before, and that, since she had studied and was prepared, she should just relax and expect to do well.

Rachel called and left another message while she was driving home. Carolyn’s prediction had turned out to be correct.

“Carolyn! I’m thrilled! I passed the exam! I’ll try you on your cell phone. If not, thanks for the pep talk. I really appreciate it. You don’t know how helpful it was to hear all that right before I went in. So, anyway, I’ll talk to you soon. Let’s try to get together this weekend. Bye.”

Listening to the message now, Carolyn regretted not calling Rachel back right away after hearing the good news about the exam. It brought up a whole bunch of other “what ifs.” What if she’d taken Rachel to dinner to celebrate after the exam and then insisted she stay overnight to avoid the dark, rainy drive back? Surely Rachel would still be alive. She could have saved Rachel’s life.