Page 3 of October
Molly laughed and said, “No. I mean, it’s fine. Just wasn’t expecting it. Jules has the empty desk next to hers.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s for whoever replaces Andrew. I guess I can take Juliet’s desk since she’s moving into an office.”
“That would put you across from me,” Molly said, and her blue eyes got wider somehow.
“And you don’t want to have to look at me when you want to see out the window?” Finley asked.
“What? No, I like looking at you.” Molly’s eyes went wider still. “I just meant that I–”
“Molls?” Finley interrupted.
“Yeah?”
“I thought it might be nice, us sitting next to each other. If it’s not, you can tell me.”
“No, it’s great. It’s good. We’ll get to hang out more.”
Molly looked down at her hands, which were in her lap, and Finley laughed a little as she sat down.
“Oh,” Molly added as she pointed to the crate.
“What?” Finley leaned in and saw the framed photo of her with India peeking out.
“Oh,” she echoed. “I’m taking that home.”
“I thought you two broke up. That’s why I said ‘oh,’” Molly explained with a shoulder shrug.
“We did,” she confirmed. “That’s why I’ll be taking this home.”
“Where it will sit over your fireplace?”
Finley laughed and said, “No, where I’ll take this picture out and put a new one in. Or, I might just leave it empty.”
“Sorry about the breakup, by the way.”
“Thanks,” she said. “It was time.”
“You two are done for real this time?”
“This time?” Finley asked, sitting back in her chair. “You know how many times?”
“Not the exact number,” Molly replied. “I know you’ve broken up and gotten back together before.”
“Well, yeah. But this is it,” she said. “This time, I mean.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“I guess I don’t,” she replied with a smile and ruffled her short black hair. “But I don’t want to keep doing this.”
“This?”
“The back and forth, the together and apart, the–” Finley stopped. “You’re HR. I probably shouldn’t be saying this.”
“No, it’s fine.” Molly shook her head.
“Well, the sex part.”
“Oh,” Molly said and looked down again. “Right.”
