Page 118 of June

“You want to be a CEO or something?” Jill asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“You know Monica can probably get you into Arnette, right? Sophie could, too,” Rory said. “They’re pretty much always hiring. I don’t know about being their CEO one day, but that’s an option, and they’re letting people work remotely now, so you could stay here.”

“I wasn’t planning on a full-time job yet. I wanted to get my MBA, and I’d finally just started to invest in that instead of thinking of it as what I was doing because I’d lost my job andcouldn’t find another one fast enough. I’m into it now, and I want to work on the project and see what the team can do. I only have two semesters left after my summer session, and I might be near the top of my class if I keep it up. I could probably get an even better job than the one Sylvie is offering.”

“Then, you wait,” Jill suggested and took a drink of her own coffee. “Tell this Sylvie, ‘No, thanks,’ finish school, and work at NOLA Guides in the meantime.”

“Is that why you’re on my campus?” Enid asked with a smile. “You’re recruiting for Melinda?”

Rory and Jill both laughed.

“No, we were on a long break, and Rory suggested we join you here for coffee since we ate lunch at the office. Kyle brought us all food,” Jill replied. “I do think it would be cool for us all to work together. Rory won’t be sticking around forever, obviously, but at least for a while, right?”

Rory nodded and replied, “I actually really like it so far, and Mel told me she’d work with my class schedule when school starts back up. I still have my regular nanny job, but the kids are getting older there, so they don’t need me for as many hours. I haven’t been working at Candace’s as much because the tips on the tours I have done so far have been pretty good, so if that keeps up, I’ll actually be able to just enjoy drinks at the bar and watch my girlfriend work instead of picking up shifts.”

“Please, you’ll still help Candace whenever she needs it,” Enid replied.

“Yes, but that’s because she’s my best friend and not because I’d need the money. Anything helps, obviously, but I don’t feel as stressed about it as I did before. Besides, Logan is making good money there, and she just started working with some guy she knows who owns his own shop. She’s picking up emergency jobs for him when she can, making a little extra there, too.”

“So, when’s the wedding?” Jill joked.

“In about five years,” Rory said with a laugh. “I’m not saying we’re merging our bank accounts or anything; we just got together. But it’s been nice to see her working on what she wants to do, and it’s good for me to be able to make the money I need with two jobs instead of three and babysitting when I have time. It means I can focus more on school and Logan, which is important.”

Enid smiled at her friend, knowing she and Logan had taken someinterestingsteps just recently, and Rory probably wanted to spend as much time taking thosestepsas possible, but since Enid wasn’t sure if Jill knew the details of Rory and Logan’s sex life how she did, she didn’t poke fun at Rory for wanting to be with her girlfriend all the time. Not that Enid had any right to poke fun at her, considering she wanted to spend allhertime with Caroline.

For a while there, Enid had wondered if she’d even be good in a relationship because she’d gotten so used to being single and on her own that she enjoyed her independence and liked being able to make decisions on what to do with her time without having to consider someone else, but since she met Caroline, she loved having someone to text and see what she wanted for dinner that night or if Caroline wanted to go out with her friends. If Caroline had said that she preferred they be alone instead, Enid would have had no problem with that. They would’ve had a date night, and maybe she would’ve fallen asleep next to her.

Enid could have had that last night, but she’d screwed that up, so after they had stood on that corner, saying that they’d wanted this to work between them, Enid had driven Caroline back to the dorm in relative silence. She’d asked if Caroline had been too hot in the car and had offered to turn up the AC just to have something to break the ice, but Caroline had repliedthat she’d been fine, and it hadn’t been the icebreaker Enid had hoped it would be. She hadn’t yet talked to Caroline that morning, which was strange to her now.

They had been waking up and texting each other since they started dating, so now that they’d slept over a few times, Enid had assumed they would only get closer on the mornings they woke up apart, but she’d kept something to herself, and Caroline knew her well enough already to read it right on her face. Enid considered that a good thing in a relationship, but it was also something that got her in trouble last night.

“So, why do you look like you’re sad right now?” Rory asked. “You’ve wanted a job since you lost the first one.”

“It’s Caroline, isn’t it?” Jill asked with a soft smile.

“No, not exactly,” she said. “I mean, I can’t make a giant life decision based on a brand-new relationship, as much as I like her and want this to work.”

“Agreed,” Jill said.

“I have to keep all my options open. Care will be here for at least another two years, and if we’re still together, I think she’s up for moving if I got something in another city or state, but that’s after two years together and would make more sense for us.”

“So, if you took it, you’d have to do long-distance. Do you want that?” Rory asked.

“No, I want to wake up with her,” Enid replied. “I like her.” She chuckled. “She’s so different from anyone I’ve ever met before.”

“No offense?” Jill said, teasing her a bit.

“No offense tobothof you, technically,” Enid replied.

“God, Enid. Give me what you have already. You got Rory to like you, me to like you, and now, Caroline to like you. What do you have that makes all the girls want you?”

Enid laughed and said, “I have no idea. Nothing.”

“I think it’s that you are who you are,” Rory said.

“Huh?” Enid asked.

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