Page 38 of October
“It didn’t,” Finley said on a sigh. “She just doesn’t get it. Maybe she does now. I don’t know.”
“I should just go, leave you to… do whatever.”
“Do you want to take a walk?” Finley asked. “I could use a walk now.”
“A walk? Um… Sure,” she replied. “Don’t you have to get back to the office, though?”
“Yes, but I won’t be very productive. I need some air. Do you have a meeting or anything?”
“No,” Molly replied. “I can walk with you.”
Finley smiled up at her before she stood and peered into the bag Molly was holding.
“The oatmeal chocolate chip?”
“Chocolate chunk, Finley. You work here. You should know what our menu items are called,” she teased.
“Sorry, they don’t train IT the same way they do everyone else,” Finley replied before she leaned forward, lowered the sides of the paper bag, and, without asking, took a bite of Molly’s cookie. “Delicious,” she added when she looked up at Molly and smiled.
“You didnotjust do that.”
“You ate all my garlic fries,” Finley replied and nodded toward the door.
Molly laughed and broke a piece of the cookie off.
“I think you need this more than I do,” she said, handing it over to Finley.
Finley took the piece and pulled open the door, letting Molly walk through first.
“I could use a beer, actually.”
“That bad?”
“Thatredundant,” Finley replied and took a bite of the cookie.
“Redundant?”
“We’ve had this talk so many times before,” Finley said as they trekked down the sidewalk side by side. “We’ve broken up six times. I counted in my head while she was talking to me about this most recent time. Did you know that? Officially, it was six times. Unofficial breaks take us up to nine, at least.”
“Wow! No, I didn’t know it was that many,” she said.
And she hadn’t. She knew of at least three official breakups, but she’d clearly missed something.
“Do you know what it’s like to meet someone, feel like they’re the one, and it works for a while? Long enough that you’re putting a lot of effort into making it work, even when it doesn’t.”
“Not really, no,” she replied honestly.
“Well, it’s exhausting. It’s also something you get used to. It’s familiar. You’re with someone who knows you so well. You’ve invested all this time in the relationship, spent years with the person, and you don’t want to waste that time. I’m thirty-four. I’m not old, but I’m not exactly twenty anymore, either, and I want to be happy.”
“I think that makes sense,” Molly said and took a bite of her cookie. “Drink?” she asked, holding out the caramel apple latte she’d yet to drink herself.
“Yeah, thanks,” Finley replied and took a sip. “Sweet.” She coughed a little. “What did you order? We sell coffee here, right?”
Molly laughed and took it back from her.
“It’s the caramel apple latte, and it’s delicious.”
“Is there even coffee in it?”
