Page 4 of Abyss

Subject: Left in the Lurch

Okay, so imagine the worst possible situation on your first day of work, and then multiply it by twenty.

Yup, you’re looking at the first server in history to spill ice water on her boss’s lap, after sending a champagne bottle cork flying into his forehead.

Needless to say, I’m looking for a job. Again.

I’ll spare you the details and give you a chance to catch your breath since I know you’re bowled over with laughter,but can you be serious for a second?

What the hell am I going to do now? I needed this job so fucking bad, Nathan!

Before you start with a lecture, let me remind you that you curse plenty, and I only do it when the situation deems it appropriate. I’ve deemed this situation appropriate for a couple of fucks, a few shits, and at least one damn.

Three months, and then I’ll be working at my dream job with a paycheck that’ll cover everything we could need, but until then . . . I needed this.

I guess it’s time for me to ask for help, huh? God, you know how much I hate that. But if I don’t, I’m not sure how we’ll even manage to pay rent.

Enough about me, though; I’ll figure it out. What have you been up to?

Also, are you seeing this crazy weather? When have we ever gotten this much rain in Northern California? It’s been twenty-eight straight days at this point, and I’m sorta over it.

xoxo

-SpecialK

Pressing the key fob in my hand, I try my luck again, but of course, I should know better. It hasn’t worked the past thirty-five times I’ve tried it, so why would it suddenly work now?

Shoving my key into the lock on my car door, I turn it, barely hearing theclickabove the splattering of rain and tires driving through the puddles on the street behind me. Whatever. It’s not like I have anything of value in there, anyway. Just some paint supplies.

Looking both ways before crossing, I trudge through the rain, my coral-colored Doc Martens now the color of mud. Sheets of rain beat down on my covered head, crawling down my nose and lips in a steady stream before falling from my chin, as I try my best to protect my small purse under my raincoat.

They’re calling it the wettest spring in the Bay Area in over a decade. I was alive a decade ago, and I don’t recallthismuch rain. It’s getting to be a real hassle, if you ask me. The incessant storms have turned the streets into watery and hazardous mazes, we haven’t seen the sun in weeks—annoying because this is supposed to be sunny California!—and every step feels like I’m playing puddle hopscotch.

I shake off some of the water from my raincoat under the awning of the coffee shop before entering. Swiping the bottoms of my shoes on the sodden rug in the front, I unsuccessfully try to wipe off the mud from them while casting my gaze around the room.

Rain, shine, or catastrophic tornado, Madison Case is never late. At almost five-feet-ten inches, with naturally platinum blonde hair, she’s also damn near impossible to miss, so it’s no surprise when I see her tucked into a chair in the back, pounding something out on her phone with her rapidly moving fingers.

Pulling off my raincoat and hanging it on the coat treenearby, I pad over to my friend, the squishy sounds of my damp steps lost to the hum of the shop.

“Excuse me.” I drum my short orange fingernails on the table, making her eyes snap up to meet mine. “I was wondering if you could help me find a Professor Madison Case around here?”

Madison’s entire face lights up, her bluish-gray eyes sparkling as she shoves her phone into her purse and leaps up to wrap me in her arms. “God, doesn’t it feel like the end of the world out there? It took me an extra fifteen minutes to get here with the pileup on the highway.”

I hang my purse on the back of the chair before taking a seat in front of her. “And yet, you’re still here before me.”

She rolls her eyes. “Habits formed by a dad who could have been an army general.” She waves the air between us as if trying to move on to the next subject. “Anyway, tell me how you’ve been? Congrats on graduation, by the way! What’s next? Gosh, it’s been too long since we caught up.”

Oh, where do I start?

Madison and I met at a volunteering event her dad’s company hosted a few years ago during the holidays. We were chosen to be on the same team to pack bags of groceries for the needy and deliver them around San Francisco. It was during that eight-hour event that I found a lifelong friend. And that’s saying something since I don’t have very many of those to begin with. Perks of being a wallflower and all that.

Plus, you could say I have trust issues.

So, while we don’t hang out often, we make it a point to meet up every couple of months to catch up.

Madison is a chemistry professor at the University of California in Berkeley, and one of the most generous and kind-hearted people I’ve met. There’s not a thing the woman wouldn’t do to help even a stranger on the street, let alone her friends.

Which is why I feel guilty even coming here with an agenda.

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