Page 2 of A Reason to Try

Anyway, she intimidated the shit out of me. I was lucky if I slapped on some face powder, mascara, and lip gloss in the morning. She probably spent three hours contouring her face.

I mean, I wasn’t saying that like it was a bad thing. She could do her, and I would do me. It was more her poor attitude and rude behavior I had a problem with. But I was new here, so I just let it go.

What else could I do?

After she sent me the address, I spent the rest of the morning packing my own bags and double checking the electric and water companies had all been sent to this new training facility. Then I called the regular cleaning service Knight Global used regularly for all their buildings and made sure they got the place all neat and ready for move-in, which was supposed to be in about two hours.

FML.

We already had a bus on standby at the airport, which was one less thing for me to do. Then I made sure the orders for food, medical supplies, and sports equipment were already en route.

It seemed impossible that I would get all that finished by eight AM, but I did it. As per Mr. Knight’s orders. Sent to me by Myrna the Mouth. Last thing I had to do was get my ass there before the bus pulled up at nine.

Like my neighbor always said, he was an older gentleman, a widower named Milton Johnson, this should be easy as pie.

Chapter Two-Carolina

“Shit,” I cursed aloud in my tiny compact vehicle.

I missed the turn for the campground my boss had apparently just purchased and expected me to live in for the next six weeks.

My car wasn’t the only thing running on empty. I gave my empty travel mug a dirty look and clenched my jaw.

Making a U-turn in my small hybrid car and getting it to take the muddied path towards the little flag waving brightly across my GPS screen took more finesse than actual driving skill.

And begging.

A lot of freaking begging.

“Please do not crap out on me. Please, please, please, do not crap out on me,” I murmured as I rolled to a stop in front of a shitty looking cabin.

I shifted into park, grimacing as the energy gauge told me what I’d feared.

The battery was about dead. And, of course, the arrow on the gas gauge was tipped to the large E.

“Fuck,” I growled and slapped my hands against the dashboard.

When I’d bought that stupid car, I’d felt like I was doing my part for the environment.

But I’ve regretted it every single day since.

Do you know how many charging stations there were in Consequence?

Exactly one.

Inside my garage.

But I heard we were getting a Buc-ee’s about five miles outside of town in the next three years or so and they had charging stations.

So, that was cool.

Not.

I mean, I loved Buc-ee’s, but I didn’t think I could wait three years for a charging station. And if that wasn’t enough to ruin my morning, the next five minutes sealed it.

I checked my phone. Shit. I was late. It was after nine, but at least I had an hour before the bus—fuck!

As soon as I thought it, an enormous all black charter bus came barreling up the same driveway I’d just driven down. But without all the fuss my car had made, of course.

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