Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWO
Liam Wesley crouched down in the icy river, scooping the water sample into the vial, trying to keep his fingers from the water as best he could.
The cold seeped in through his rubber waders. Although they kept him dry, they had no insulation to protect him from the frigid river in mid-October. He knelt again, filling another vial and his glasses slid down the bridge of his nose. With his hands full, he used his shoulder to shove them back into place.
Field days were his favorite. They often got him out of the lab, out of the city, and into the sometimes wild spaces where the samples came from. Today, their collection list had taken them just north of Everett, Washington. They were gathering samples from the Union Slough, the delta of the Snohomish River which sat squarely in the heart of Everett.
Back in the truck, Liam’s phone rang
He stooped and filled the final vial, handing it to his field partner, and stepped carefully out of the slow-moving current. His boots sunk into the muddy shore with a squelching sound that was strangely satisfying. He smiled to himself as he followed Sawyer .
As they reached the truck his phone rang again—his sister, Rebecca, had called twice. Liam frowned down at the notification, swiping with cold and clumsy fingers.
There was a time when they were young and played in the forests together, before age and life had driven them apart. She was a few years older, and bore her oldest-child responsibilities with a dutiful resolve. Rebecca was married now, and though she lived only a few miles away from Liam it’d been months since they’d seen each other.
Liam waved the phone to Sawyer, who nodded and started warming up the truck. Stripping off the waders, Liam opened the back and started packing up the gear as he answered the phone.
“Hey,” he said, pressing the phone between his cheek and his shoulder.
“Liam, good! Do you have a second? I need a favor.” Rebecca sounded distracted, like she was multitasking. “I know I said I could go out to the house this week, but something came up—I mean, the paperwork has finally come through!”
Liam let out a breath in relief. Rebecca and her wife had been trying to finalize an adoption for months. Between all the back and forth it, had been a stressful time for Rebecca, who had been adopted herself, and knew what the process could be like.
“Congrats!” Liam replied, trying to convey the appropriate excitement while loading the truck. He rubbed his hands together, trying to warm them from the frigid water.
“We have a billion things to do, you know. It would be great if you could go clean out the old house. My realtor friend is coming next week to take photos, and we need to have everything cleaned up before we list it.” She continued on, rattling off details that went over Liam's head.
“I don’t know, Rebecca, it’s not really a good time for me…” he trailed off, chewing on his bottom lip. He never had much flexibility to leave work, and it wouldn’t go over well to spring this on Sarah, his lab supervisor. He really did have a lot to catch up on.
“It doesn’t have to be empty, just take out all the personal stuff, you know the pictures, the records… make it look a bit less cluttered.”
Liam hesitated, and Rebecca heaved a sigh .
“Look.” Liam braced himself, hearing her frustration growing. “I know you’re all wrapped up in your job, but I really need you to do this. Lynn and I are exhausted enough getting ready for the baby, and I can’t deal with the old house right now.”
Liam grabbed about for another excuse, but came up blank. His chest tightened, as it did when backed into a corner by his sister. Then, as she often did, Rebecca took his silence for agreement.
“Thank you so much, Liam! I owe you big. Talk soon!” She hung up without another word.
With a groan, Liam shut the back of the work truck and made his way to the cab, wringing his hands together. Thankfully, it was nice and warm as he got in.
“Everything alright?” Sawyer asked.
“Uh, yeah, just my sister. We’re finally selling my parents’ house,” Liam told him. “I gotta go clear it out this week now, I guess.”
“Sarah’s going to love that.” Sawyer’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“No kidding.” Liam frowned. “Wish me luck”
They drove the samples back to the lab.
***
Liam was struck by how much faster the world moved in the city. Spending the morning out in the field, then driving back into downtown Seattle drew a sharp contrast. It excited him—the high rises, the lifestyle. It was the type of future he’d always aspired to, the opposite of his childhood in every way.
His parents’ house was more like a cabin, really. Cramped, drafty, and barely big enough for the four of them. His parents had loved the place, but Liam couldn’t wait to leave it behind the moment he turned eighteen. There was a time he had envisioned a life there, but those days were long gone.
The memory was so long ago that Liam could barely recall the details. He’d made a friend, that first week at school, and he’d been so excited. The boy, whose name was lost to time, invited Liam over to play after school some days. Although he didn’t remember much about that time, he remembered the house. It was twice the size of the Wesley’s cabin, and much nicer. They even had a TV, which Liam’s mother had always scoffed at. She still didn’t own one to this day.
He never invited his friends over to his house. Liam realized had nothing to show.
His classmates were quick to point this out for him, too. He was mocked relentlessly for his hand knit sweaters and passed-down clothes, and things did not improve when he started wearing glasses. He understood that if he wanted to impress them, he’d need more money, and planned his life accordingly.
No, it was only a matter of time before the cabin had to be sold.
The house was small, but the value of the land came from the lumber. The property was over thirty acres, and supported enough old-growth Douglas fir to pay for his aging parents’ care a dozen times over. Rebecca had been arguing with them for months, and it seemed they’d finally caved.
Back at the lab, Liam and Sawyer divided up the samples, and Liam set his portion down at his workstation.
The lab was far nicer than the others he’d worked at over his career. He’d started off working in the drafty warehouse labs in the industrial areas along the railway and shipping ports of Seattle. Those labs had been inconspicuous, mostly unmarked and unnoticed, of no real prestige.
Three years prior, Liam landed his current role, and with it a spot in the shiny new lab. It was a polished office on the twentieth floor of a high rise downtown, with fancy new equipment and a well-stocked kitchen.
His salary had nearly doubled, which didn’t hurt either.
The office was comprised of a few different labs. Although Liam knew how to perform the tests stationed in each room, he specialized in wastewater. When he was not gathering samples in the field, he tested those samples for toxic metal runoff for manufacturing facilities that contracted with his company. These manufacturers were required by law to have a third party company test their run-off or sumps, as they were often called. It was rewarding work, to ensure the ecosystems were not harmed by industry, and Liam enjoyed the lab work almost as much as his time in the field.
Liam finished the intake processing on the samples he’d collected. He’d have to finish his tests today, and leave the results for Sawyer to write the report tomorrow. If all went well with Sarah, he’d be out the rest of the week.
Gathering his courage, the set down his samples and headed towards Sarah’s office. He passed rows of other lab technicians, hard at work on their various tests, machines whirring and water bubbling on hot plates. The lab was quiet otherwise, without chatter between lab techs to drown out Liam’s footsteps. They echoed on the linoleum.
He practiced what he would say to Sarah under his breath. She was a no-nonsense women, who’d overseen the lab for the past few years and almost doubled its testing capacity and revenue.
Liam had managed to impress her so far, with his hard working dedication to the job. He cringed to himself, as ducking out of work for the rest of the week wouldn’t reflect well on him. But it couldn’t be helped.
Tentatively, he knocked on her door.
“Come in,” she called from within.
Sarah was bent over some paperwork, reading glasses sitting low on the bridge of her nose. Her blond hair was cut short and severe above her shoulders, and her suit was neatly pressed. Only once her eyes skipped down to the bottom of the page did she finally look up at Liam. He stood in the doorway, running a hand through his hair and then realizing he’d messed it up and smoothing it back.
“Oh, you’re back. How did it go this morning?” she asked.
“Fine. The samples are processing now. We’ll have the report finished soon.”
“Good.” She turned her attention back to the papers on her desk. The room was cold and empty, sparsely furnished save the desk and some cabinetry behind it, framing the window. Indoor plants trailed from the shelves, long vines skimming down to the floor.
They were fake.
Liam was never quite sure how, but he’d known immediately. Despite being deceptively good fakes, there was no life to them. Nobody else seemed to notice, or care, for that matter, but it bothered Liam immensely.
Sarah noticed him lingering.
“Is there something else? ”
“Yeah. I, uh, need to take the rest of the week off.” Liam stared at his hands. He was aware of Sarah’s glower, her face narrowing like a hawk, but steeled himself, summoning the resolve he’d worked up on the walk over to the office. “It’s a family thing, just came up. I’ll be back on Monday.”
She studied him, eyes boring into his soul. He had only a moment to imagine all the ways she might react, ranging from annoyed rejection to outright firing him. By the time she finally spoke, beads of sweat gathered on his forehead.
“Fine, but get ahead on your work before you leave today. This is a big contract, and if we fall behind we might need to trim some fat around here.”
“Thanks,” Liam said, relief flooding through him. He didn’t miss the threat in her words, but he’d been prepared to face more push back from her.
“Close the door on the way out,” she said with a wave of her hand.
Liam practically fled from the room.
***
Liam shared an apartment in Ballard with his two roommates. He’d chosen it for the location; It was right along the bus line and close to a number of stores and restaurants that made life without a car more accessible. Ballard itself was a nice neighborhood, and one of his roommates, Zev, had found work at a brewery nearby. They didn’t have a ton of furniture, but what surfaces were available were taken up by a collection of thriving houseplants.
Maple, his dog, greeted him as he burst through the door. The chocolate Labrador whined excitedly, her whole body wagging with joy at his return. She was just three years old, and was still full of energy. He’d feel worse about leaving her home all day if Annie didn’t work from home, and Zev’s hours weren’t mostly in the evenings. He scratched behind her ears before looking for the others.
Annie wasn’t at her desk, but Zev was in the kitchen, getting ready to head out for work. Something simmered on the stove, filling the apartment with an spicy herby scent. It was a meal which Zev cooked often, both because it was vegetarian, and because it was a comfort food, made by their mom who was a second- generation immigrant from Ethiopia. Liam crept closer, snagging a taste directly off the spoon and earning a slap on the wrist for his efforts.
“You’re home early,” Zev said with surprise; it was true, it wasn’t even dark outside. Liam usually got home well after seven. “At least wait till it’s done.”
“I probably won’t stick around that long,” he said with disappointment. “Listen—I gotta head out of town for a few days, to clean out my folk’s old place. I’ll take Maple with me, but if you could water the plants?”
“You got it.” Zev adjusted the dark locs that spilled from a knot at the back of their head. “Do you need help?” they asked. “I’m working the next few days, but Annie and I could come down over the weekend. She’s been dying to get back and visit her mom. And I want to see the place, I hear it’s sweet. We’ve been friends how long and you’ve never brought me out there?”
Liam ignored the jab, pausing at the realization Annie and Zev had gotten so close. It made sense that she’d be spending a lot of time with Zev while working from home, but he couldn’t help feeling a little jealous.
“Yeah, thanks. I’m not sure how long it’ll take, honestly,” Liam called down the hall as he walked to his room to pack.
By six-thirty, Liam and Maple were on the road headed south.