Page 76 of October
“Not this time,” India replied. “It’s different this time. She’s never liked anyone else before. She’s never gone on a date withsomeone else – that I know of, at least – and you work here. It couldn’t have been easy for her to ask you out, knowing that you’d be here every day, and it would be awkward if you said no. She even moved her desk right next to you.” India chuckled. “And she could’ve sat anywhere. It’s not like it was every other time we broke up, Molly.”
Molly sat there frozen, unable to say anything.
“What?” India asked. “Something wrong?”
“I told her I needed time yesterday. It’s just a lot. I’ve… liked your girlfriend for a while now, if I’m being honest.”
“My ex-girlfriend,” India said. “She’s not my girlfriend anymore.” She shrugged. “And I get needing time thing, but, Molly, I promise you that I’m done trying to get her back. I went home last night and thought about what an ass I’ve been recently. I kept thinking that this was justus; that it was who we were as a couple. I thought if we finally lived together and took those steps, everything would fall into place. But that’s not how it works. It’s not how itshouldwork, at least. Finley likes you now. She doesn’t want me anymore, and I need to move on, so I’m going to start doing just that by trying to be the bigger person here; or, at least, a decent one, I suppose.” India stood up then and added, “I don’t think you should give up on her, okay? Obviously, it’s not my call, but I’ve never seen her like this, for what it’s worth. She’s ready if you are.”
CHAPTER 21
Finley stood in the kitchen and waited for the coffee to pour into her cup. They had one of those pod machines in the break room that had Southern Roastery coffee available, but it wasn’t the same as the stuff they could get from the store, so she was excited that the remodel downstairs was going on now because part of it included a new, state-of-the-art store on the first floor where they could get coffee for free just by being a Southern employee. It was a sign of the growing company’s success. Prior to that, they had always had to walk to the store closest to them, and they had a discount on coffee and pastries, but now, all corporate employees would get free coffee drinks and still a discount on pastries. Well, they could getonefree drink a day and then a discount on others, but it was still a nice benefit, and it would be more convenient than having to walk down the street.
They hadn’t initially planned on doing this on the first floor, but when they had made changes to how the new-hire, sales, and leadership training would work for the whole company, they had decided to build a café here, which wasn’t all that difficult because there had once been a café in this location. Well, it had been a building cafeteria for employees of the old owners, but it had the space for it, and now, Finley’s team was making sure the technology would all work correctly.
“Hey, can I see it?”
Finley looked up to see India standing there next to her.
“See what?”
“It’s got a wall up, so I can’t see it. Does it look cool?”
“The store? It’s a bunch of cables and boxes right now,” Finley replied.
“But can I go in and take a look?”
“No, because only the authorized people can be in there while the work is being done.”
“Come on, Fin.” She gave Finley a puppy dog expression and added, “I just want to look around. We’ve been talking about adding our own café in here for years.”
“It’s just a coffee shop, and it’s not even that yet,” Finley said.
“Fine. You’re no fun,” India replied. “But it’s cool?”
Finley laughed and said, “It will be, yeah. I’m working on–” She stopped talking immediately when she saw Molly looking frozen in place, not that far away from where she’d just laughed at India.
India turned around to see what Finley was staring at now.
“Molls, we weren’t–”
“Hey, India,” Molly said.
“Hi, Molly. We were just talking about the store they’re building.”
“Oh? Yeah, that’s great. It was Juliet’s idea.”
“It was?” Finley asked her.
“Yeah, she was the one who had all the training ideas and said we should build a new café here for her to use. And I know we’ll get free drinks, but I think they’ll be made by newbies, so you might want to brace yourselves.”
India chuckled and said, “I guess that’s a good point.”
“So, I should still walk to the one down the street?” Finley asked.
“I’d ask Juliet what the training schedule is first. Have your free coffee here on their fourth or fifth day in training, or if there’s not a class in session.”
“That’s very clever,” India noted. “And I should go now. I have a meeting in a few. See you up there?” she added to Molly, to Finley’s surprise.
