Page 15 of October
“They are, yes,” she replied.
“I remember that phase,” Ava shared and looked off toward the door.
“Logan told me that you’re newly single.”
“I wouldn’t say newly. Well, maybe so; I don’t know. We were together for a few months, so not years or anything. I think that makes a difference when it comes to being ready for something new.”
“I agree,” Molly said and took a drink of her beer.
“And you’re ready for something new?” Ava asked her. “Logan mentioned that you might be.”
“I haven’t had anythingold, so to speak.” She shrugged a shoulder.
“Nothing recently?”
“No, I haven’t dated anyone in a long time.”
“Not that you have to justify that to me, but as part of getting to know each other, is there a reason?”
“I liked someone who wasn’t mine to like.”
Ava nodded and said, “I get that.” She then looked over at Logan and asked, “Did she tell you about our history?”
“She said you used to date.”
“We did. We were friends first before we were lovers, and I thought we would be together forever. Some things happened, and she’d have to tell you the whole story, but I still loved her, you know? I just couldn’t be with her anymore.”
“Do you still?”
“Love Logan?” Ava asked and shook her head. “No. We’ve only recently really gotten our friendship back. I was with my ex for only a few months, but I wasn’t hung up on Logan when I was with her. I loved Bonnie. And I’d liked her for a while before westarted dating, so the relationship part, the falling in love piece, happened pretty quickly.”
“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Well, I don’t know, exactly. Everything was going well. We started planning on taking a trip together. I thought we’d do something over a long weekend and stay pretty close. She wanted to take two weeks off and go to Europe. We fought about it. That brought up other things that we hadn’t fought about that we needed to get out, I guess. Then, it was just over.”
“Wow! Really?”
“We’d had the big talks before about careers, where we wanted to live, marriage, kids, and all the stuff you need to know about what another person wants to make sure everything lines up for you, and I thought it had. Then, she’s tossing around wanting to retire from her day job by forty and move to Portugal because she’d heard it was a good place to retire. She wants to run her own business after that and can do it from there. I thought she was kidding or that it was a pipe dream kind of thing that wouldn’t ever happen, but then, she’s suggesting we go to Portugal for that vacation, and I see her pulling up articles online on how to create an LLC and run it from another country. It started getting more likely that she’d actually do it. I think that’s great if she wants that, but I don’t. When she got an app on her phone and started learning Portuguese, Spanish, and French all at the same time, I knew it was what she really wanted, so that fight just made it all come out, and that was the end of it.”
“Do you still love her?” Molly asked.
“Yes, but I’m no longerinlove with her. I suspect I love more what I feel like I’m missing because she wants one thing, and I want another. It’s less about Bonnie and more about what I lost when our relationship ended.”
“That makes sense to me,” Molly replied.
Ava took a slow sip from her wine and asked, “Do you want to maybe order something to eat?”
Molly smiled and replied, “I’d love that. What will you order that goes with the fancy wine, though?”
Ava laughed and said, “I’ll ask them to caramelize onions and put those on a burger. That will elevate it a little.”
“Onions?” Molly asked without thinking.
“Maybe not,” Ava said with a lifted eyebrow and a smile.
CHAPTER 5
Finley stared at her computer screen and counted down the minutes in her mind. It was four fifty-five, which meant in five minutes she could go home for the weekend. While five wasn’t strictly her time off since she was a salaried employee, she didn’t have anything to do that couldn’t keep until Monday, and she was more than ready for a weekend of relaxation, getting caught up on the computer she was building for herself, and the football game.
