Page 49 of October
“I had a great time. Thank you.”
“If you had a great time, why am I getting the brush-off right now, Molls?”
“You’re not. It’s not a brush-off. I–” She thought of a lie. “Well, I honestly didn’t come prepared for tonight, and that’s a problem because I just started my period, and I need to get upstairs to take care of that. So, I’m–”
“Oh, shit. I get it. Yeah, go. Why didn’t you just tell me before?”
“It’s embarrassing, Finley. I normally carry tampons in my purse, but I ran out, and the restaurant didn’t–” Molly stopped. “Anyway, I’ll see you at work.”
“Okay,” Finley replied. “Good night, Molls.”
“Night,” Molly said and closed the door.
She hated lying to Finley. That was now the second lie she had told her, and when she got up to her apartment, she stared at the photo of her with her dad in their Saints’ shirts and thought of the first lie. Then, she flopped onto her sofa and decided that it was for the best. Either Finley would get bored with her and end up with someone else anyway, or she would just get back together with India, but Molly couldn’t put herself through that kind of pain.
CHAPTER 13
Finley knew Molly was lying to her. She just didn’t know why. Everything with the puppies had been amazing. Molly had snuggled into her side and had been there for the whole hour they’d had with the dogs. Wells had slept adorably on Finley’s stomach, and they had talked quietly whenever they could get away with it and had played with the other puppies, who seemed to be content with trying to wake Wells up. The puppy had been surprisingly resilient, which Finley admired. She had wanted to sleep, so she had done so. The woman in charge had said that Wells might be going through a growth spurt because she had been sleeping more recently, but she’d also made sure to tell Finley and Molly that Wells was healthy, probably because she wanted them to adopt her.
Finley hadn’t given much thought to getting a dog, and that had mostly been true because of India’s stance, but when she’d been with those puppies last night, she’d actually considered applying for Wells if Molly didn’t. Then, she’d heard the woman say the thing about older dogs, and that had been it for her. If she was going to get a dog, it would be an older one who needed someone to show them how much they were loved. She wanted to take some time to think it through first, though, because she didn’t want to get a dog and either regret it or not be able to give them the kind of home they deserved.
She hadn’t thought much about it after dropping Molly off the previous night, but as she stared at her kitchen counter and saw the brochure, it came back to her mind. Finley read through the brief information and decided that it might not be the best time for her to get a furry friend right now after all. She was going through a lot of changes, including ending things with India, who still seemed to think they were meant to be, despite Finley telling her so many times that it was over for good this time. At coffee, she hadn’t exactly said Molly’s name, but shehadtold India that there was someone else she was interested in, and that was how she’d known that it was over this time.
Thinking about Molly now, she sat on the stool at the kitchen counter that opened into the living room and picked up her phone.
“Hey,” her sister said. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“I’m leaving in a few minutes,” she replied.
“Everything okay?”
“I don’t know. Maybe so. Maybe not.”
“India?”
“No,” she replied.
“Really? It’s always India.”
“It is notalwaysIndia.”
“Well, let’s see. You like your job. You have friends. You have hobbies. What you don’t have is a girlfriend that I like, and sometimes, you seem to agree with me.”
“Hey,” she said through her laughter. “And, yeah, that’s true.”
“So, what did she do this time?”
“Nothing. We’re still broken up.”
“Really?” Her sister paused. “I had it on my relationship tracking calendar that you would’ve given in by now and taken her back. Shouldn’t you be waking up and having lacklustermorning sex after the passionate make-up sex from the night before because you’re still trying to reconnect?”
“I regret telling you things,” Finley said and shook her head, but mostly at herself because her sister wasn’t wrong.
“What’s going on, Fin?”
“India and I are really over this time.”
“Okay.”
