Page 11 of Pierced Pages
“Could and want are two different things.”
She realized the box of gloves was running low, so she slipped past Jen to grab another couple of boxes. When she returned, Jen was still eating her salad and leaning against the door.
“So what else happened? Was the food good? You know that’s the one reason I regret not taking you up on that invitation.”
“The food was great,” Morgan said, sifting through needle pouches and sanitizing wipes. “The bread pudding was the best I’ve had in years.”
The reason for that probably had more to do with the person she’d been eating it with than the dessert itself.
“Did you dance? I wish I could have seen that.”
“No dancing,” Morgan said.
“So then what? You just ate and sat in a corner by yourself all night?”
“Not exactly.” Morgan closed a drawer and looked around to see what she could check next. Anything to avoid eye contact.
Jen pondered that statement, then dropped her fork in the salad container and pointed a finger at Morgan. “You met someone!”
“No, I didn’t meet someone.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Jen wagged her finger. “Who is she, and what happened?”
“Nothing happened,” Morgan said. “I just met Melanie’s coworker. She saw me sitting alone and came over to chat and keep me company while I was waiting to talk to Kim.”
Jen pressed her lips together in a knowing look. “You know that’s not nothing, right?”
It was very much not nothing in Morgan’s head. And her heart, if she was being honest. That ease of their conversation. That smile with those adorable dimples… those weren’t nothing.
But that was as much as anything was going to be.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “I swear. Besides. You know my stance on relationships.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your stance is you don’t want one.” Jen snapped the lid onto her salad container. “What if this could just be a little fun for a while? Nothing serious.”
Morgan shook her head and moved toward where Jen stood in the doorway. “This is not a nothing-serious woman. I don’t know a lot about her, but she gives me all-in vibes.”
Jen moved out of the doorway. “You could ask her. Maybe you’d be surprised.”
“I already told her I don’t want a relationship. And she said the same.”
“What if she only said that because you said that?”
Morgan tried to wrap her brain around that one and came up empty. “Why would someone do that?”
Jen rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. People do stuff like that all the time. Maybe she was embarrassed or something.”
“Embarrassed about what? I’m the one who said it first.”
“Right. And maybe shedidwant to start something with that introduction, but she was embarrassed to admit it after you said you weren’t interested.”
“That’s silly,” Morgan said, struggling even more to understand. Why wouldn’t someone just say what they mean? Or not say something they don’t mean?
“People are silly. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
Morgan moved past her and into the tiny office/break room that wasn’t much more than a small cave carved out of the back wall. “Well, it doesn’t matter, because that was the end of whatever it was.” Morgan decided to switch gears. “Want to get a drink after work? Nolan just told me there’s a good band playing at that little brewery across town.”
“I’m gonna say no and rest my back some more,” Jen said. “Stop trying to weasel out of this conversation and tell me about her.”
