Chapter 1
By three-thirty she had a headache.
It had been there for almost an hour now and was slowly getting worse. She had not had coffee since morning and the long stretch of work in front of her computer was not helping. She rubbed her forehead and looked at the empty mug beside her laptop. After staring at the same spreadsheet for another minute she finally pushed her chair back.
"I'm getting coffee.
"Her coworker looked up from her screen. "For me too?"
"No."
She gave her a tired look and walked toward the pantry. The office was unusually quiet that afternoon. Most people were still at their desks and the only sounds were the keyboards and the occasional phone ringing somewhere across the floor.
She placed her mug under the coffee machine and pressed the button.
Nothing happened.She pressed it again and waited. Still nothing. "Come on. "A voice behind her made her turn around. "It's empty. "She looked at the machine and then at the man standing near the refrigerator.
"What?"
"The coffee. They ran out this morning."She stared at the empty mug in her hand for a moment. She had come all the way here with a headache and one simple plan in mind and somehow even that had failed.
"Of course they did."
"There might be tea."
"Is there milk?
"He checked the refrigerator and shook his head.She closed her eyes for a second and let out a quiet breath. "Perfect."When she returned to her desk her coworker took one look at her face and smiled. "No coffee?"
"No coffee."
"You look offended."
"I am offended."Her coworker laughed and went back to her screen. She tried to do the same but the headache was still there and now she was irritated too. She leaned back in her chair and looked at the empty mug sitting beside her laptop.
"This always happens to me.
"Her coworker glanced over.
"What does?"
"Whenever I really want something it somehow disappears.
"She smiled when she said it because she had been saying the same thing for years. When she was eight she had wanted a red bicycle and the store had every color except red. Once she had spent the whole week looking forward to her favorite strawberry ice cream only to find out they had run out of it that afternoon. There had been a pink hair clip she had wanted for a school event too. By the time she finally went to buy it someone else had taken the last one. Her coworker looked at her with amusement.
"You remember all of that?"
"Of course I do."
"You're still blaming your luck for things that happened when you were eight?
"She shrugged and turned back toward her laptop. "I'm not blaming it. I'm just saying it has always been like this. "Then she picked up her mouse and went back to work as if the conversation had never happened. For her it was nothing new. Just another afternoon without coffee. Another small thing that had gone wrong at exactly the wrong time.
