Page 14 of Abyss

Mom places a plate in front of me, telling me about her day as she walks over to the living room to fold laundry on the couch, when my phone lights up with a message.

Madison

Hey! How did your first day go? Hope my dad wasn’t the grump he usually is.

I bury the snort about to leave my lips. If today was any indication, I’m not sure calling her dad a grump would be sufficient. A self-absorbed prick or a calloused dickface might be more like it.

A beautiful dickface, but a dickface, nonetheless.

But there’s no way I can tell her that after she went out of her way to secure me this job. I practically bypassed the HRformalities because of her, and now have a monthly paycheck that almost had me fainting when Belinda told me what I’d be making. With that kind of money, I could save up enough to cover Mom’s rent for a few months, take some of the burden off Neil, and pay a deposit for a new apartment in Portland.

I hate the idea of leaving Mom and Neil here on their own, and I wouldn’t have if there were jobs in my field available here, but my priority was taking care of them by any means possible. If that meant having a steady income while living in Portland, then it was what it was. Perhaps after Neil goes to college, Mom could move in with me. That’s my hope, anyway.

Picking up my phone, I chew on the inside corner of my lip as images of wintery blue eyes, thick wavy dark hair, and that ever-grinding jaw dance inside my vision. The man is an ass, but there’s no denying he’s a gorgeous ass.

Me

Not at all. You had me nervous when we spoke. He’s been nothing but kind and gracious.

Now that I’ve sent that message, I’m wondering if I laid it on a little too thick. What if she knows ‘nothing but kind and gracious’ is code for he’s a three-headed monster?

But I also remember the promise I made to her when we met for coffee—that she’d never hear a complaint from me—and I intend to keep it. There’s no way I’m telling her that not only did I sit there and cry well after Hudson left tonight, but I truly wondered if I should even come back.

That is, until I got home and was reminded that indeed, I had to go back, even if that meant being treated like the gum on the bottom of his Manolo Blahniks.

Madison

Okay, now I know you’re lying. No one has called my dad kind and gracious his entire life.

Dammit! I knew I went too far.

Panic rises inside me as I imagine Madison dialing her dad to find out the truth, and I quickly type out another message.

Me

I swear, he’s been great. We actually didn’t talk much but I can already tell I’ll learn a lot from him.

Hoping my answer softens her doubts, I watch the three dots jump around my screen before her response pops up.

Madison

Well, I’m glad to hear it. Just remember, it’s okay to put my dad in his place from time to time. Ask Belinda; it’s the only way to survive him sometimes. And let me know if he ever goes from gracious to grinch. I’m happy to help.

I react to her message with a heart before turning my phone over and digging into my food.

I’m just falling asleep—my eyes closing as if my lids were magnets—when I decide to make myself another promise. One I’m determined to keep.

That tomorrow will be a better day.

It has to be.

The guy sitting nextto me must be hard of hearing.

It’s the only explanation for why he would turn up the volume on his headphones to a level no human could endurewithout permanent damage to their eardrums. And now I’ll haveEven Flowby Pearl Jam stuck on repeat inside my head all day.

I hold in a snort, knowing I’ll be telling Nathan about this tonight. Not that I care to give him another reason to assert that Pearl Jam is better than Nirvana—because they’re not. We’ve had this argument for years, and I stand by what I believe: Nirvana changed the shape, sound, and color of music as we know it today.

Trying to avoid the gaze of the disheveled, possibly homeless, woman in front of me, who’s been staring at me for the past thirty minutes, I turn my head to look out the window, watching the city speed by.

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