Page 12 of October
“India, I–”
“Just give it a week, and we’ll see where we are, okay?” India asked, standing up and grabbing her stuff. “Keep that.” She pointed to the key Finley had left on the table for her.
“India, come on; take your key back.”
“It’s silly. You’ll need it, even if it’s just to get your stuff from my place, Fin. Just hold on to it until you’ve done that, if nothing else. It’s practical.”
“Fine,” she replied and stood.
She tucked the key back in her pocket, not wanting to argue when anyone on the floor could walk past and see them right now.
“I’ll call you later,” India said before turning around as if she were about to kiss Finley goodbye.
Finley stood there frozen, not wanting the kiss but not being able to move, either.
“Shit. Sorry.” India took a step back, shaking her head. “Habit.”
“Yeah,” Finley replied.
“We’re in the office.”
‘And also not together anymore,’Finley thought to herself.
“I’ll call you,” India added.
Finley tried to speak up that a phone call wasn’t necessary, but India was gone before she could get the words out, and Finley stood there a little in shock because she had had two goals with this conversation. She’d wanted her key back and for India to have her own key returned to her, and she’d wanted India to come by and get her stuff. She had stuff at India’s place, too, but it was mainly just toiletries and some clothes that India had borrowed to sleep in from time to time. She might have had a few more things there, but if she did, she couldn’t even remember what, which meant those things weren’t that important to her anyway, so she had been prepared to tell India to keep everything or donate it if needed.
It was moments like this that Finley was glad they had never moved in together. They’d been close a couple of times but never took the plunge. It hadn’t always been her holding back. Sometimes, India hadn’t been ready, either, but most of the time, it had been Finley suggesting that they not do that until things were more stable between them. She supposed now, they’d never be.
“Everything okay?” Molly asked when Finley sat down at her desk.
“Oh, yeah. All good,” she replied with a forced smile.
“Sorry, I was staring. I didn’t mean to,” Molly told her. “I was surprised, I think.”
“That I was talking to India?”
Molly shrugged a shoulder apologetically.
“Hey, how’s your monitor?” Finley asked, changing the subject to anything other than her relationship with her ex-girlfriend.
“No blinking,” Molly said with a smile. “Not yet, anyway.”
“Well, it’s only been ten minutes, so let’s give it an hour before we call it a victory.” She turned back to her computer. “Hey, do you want to get out of here?”
“Huh?”
“Coffee?” Finley asked. “I could use a walk.”
“Oh,” Molly said, looking at her calendar. “I can’t right now. I have a meeting. But maybe in an hour?”
“Yeah, sure.” Finley tilted her head. “I need to get out of here now, but if you want to go when you’re done with your meeting, we can get coffee.”
Molly nodded and said, “Okay.”
CHAPTER 4
“Itried to give her the key back, but she brought up a good point. I have to get my stuff from her place anyway, so I’ll just keep it for now and find out when I can go do that. I didn’t really care about whatever I left there. I think there’s maybe a toothbrush. She uses an electric one, and I just have a regular one there. There are probably clothes there, too, but not anything I’d miss, and her boobs are bigger than mine, so she’s stretched out all my shirts I’ve left there anyway.”
