Page 80 of October
Molly didn’t want to wait too much longer, though. Her body had been on fire, and when she had gotten home, she’d taken a long shower in lukewarm water to try to cool herself off. It had already been a long time since she’d last had sex, and she had never had sex with a woman whom she’d been in love with forever and with whom she’d never thought she would have a chance, so she was nervous about it. She was scared she wouldn’t be any good at it. Her last lover had been a woman she’d gone on four dates with prior to having sex, and that woman hadn’t exactly been kind to her after. She’d told Molly that she hadn’t been close to coming and that Molly needed to work on a few things before they could try again. The woman had even offered her some instruction – like, actual instructions on sex. It was one thing for a partner to help someone find all their spots and tell them what they wanted or needed in the bedroom. Molly loved that part. But having someone try to teach her how tohave good sex while they were trying to have sex was too much. That had been their final date, and Molly hadn’t been with a woman since. She was now dating Finley, and they were well on their way, but those little insecurities were creeping in, and she worried they would get the best of her yet again.
Today was going to be a good day, though, because not only had she had the best date last night, but Juliet was back in the office. Juliet’s class had ended early, after all, so now, Molly would have her best friend at least through the weekend, and she really needed to see her and update her on everything in person. The phone call just wasn’t the same, but the call when Juliet was distracted with work or Gwen was even worse.
“Well, hello,” Finley said as Molly got out of the car.
“Hey,” she said with a smile.
“If you get back inside, we can make out for at least five minutes before we’re late.” Finley wiggled her eyebrows.
“Not in the parking garage,” she replied with a chuckle and opened the back door to retrieve her bag.
“But we could reclaim the parking garage.”
“Reclaim?”
“Yeah. You saw India and me kissing here before. What if we kissed now and reclaimed it for us?”
Molly closed the door and said, “I see what you’re trying to do, and that’s very sweet, but there are people walking into the office right now, so maybe later.”
“Later,” Finley promised, taking a step toward her but not getting too close because therewereat least ten people on this floor of the garage arriving for work. “Later in the car, when no one is around?”
“Yes,” Molly replied.
Finley nodded and said, “I kind of want to hold your bag for you like we’re in high school and I’m carrying your books. Is that weird?”
“No, I kind of like it. Does that make me not a feminist?”
“Well, I’m a woman, so I’m not sure where we land on that,” Finley replied. “Want to walk in together, at least?”
Molly smiled at her, and they walked toward the door, with Molly holding on to her own purse and Finley looking sexy with a messenger bag casually draped over her shoulder. Molly wasn’t sure how someone could look sexy just by carrying a bag, but Finley did. When Molly’s phone buzzed in her bag, she stopped to get it out, and even though she didn’t recognize the number, she decided to answer instead of letting it go to voicemail.
“Hello?”
“Yes. Is this Molly Jewel?”
“This is she,” she replied.
Finley stopped on the sidewalk to wait for her but kept a safe distance so that people would assume she was just waiting on something, but not necessarily Molly specifically.
“I’m the adoption coordinator for the shelter.”
“Oh, hi,” Molly said, suddenly feeling like she needed to be extra professional on the phone.
“I just wanted to call you to let you know that Wells is available for adoption.”
“She is?” she asked excitedly.
“Yes, she is. The family who had put in an application chose another puppy, and your application made us feel like Wells would have a great home with you.”
“She will,” Molly said. “I promise, she will.” She smiled widely in Finley’s direction.
Finley, for her part, just looked confused but also happy for whatever was making Molly happy, and it was adorable. The woman on the phone laughed a little at Molly’s obvious excitement, which made her even happier for some reason.
“We’ve had a mild outbreak of worms recently. Wells is fine, but we have one more shot to give her in a week. We’d prefer tokeep her here to do that and make sure it goes okay. Then, you can pick her up.”
“Worms? She’s okay, though?”
“Yes. It’s common. She’s fine. She’ll need to come back to get additional shots on a normal puppy schedule, and you can have them done here for a steep discount, or you’re welcome to get your own vet to do them, but she’s perfectly fine. You can come in and visit her, if you’d like, before you pick her up.”
