4. The Conversation
Chapter four
The Conversation
There was nothing unusual about that Thursday morning.
The office buzzed with its normal rhythm. Phones rang. Printers hummed. Somebody in the break room was arguing about whose turn it was to buy coffee. Miko laughed to herself as she walked toward the supply room with a stack of folders tucked against her hip.
Work had settled into a routine.
She and Meca had become good friends over the last several months. They laughed together, worked well together, and helped each other through long days, but when it came to personal relationships, neither woman asked many questions.
Some things people volunteered.
Other things you simply respected.
That morning Meca wasn't at her desk.
Miko figured she had stepped away to answer a phone call.
She continued walking toward the supply room until she heard Meca's voice echoing softly from the hallway around the corner.
At first, Miko smiled.
Whoever Meca was talking to had her laughing.
She had never heard Meca laugh quite like that.
It wasn't the polite laugh she gave coworkers.
It was softer.
Warmer.
Comfortable.
Miko slowed down without realizing it.
"...You know better than that," Meca said, laughing.
A voice answered through the phone, too low for Miko to understand.
Meca shook her head.
"You always talking crazy."
Miko chuckled to herself.
"Her boyfriend must be something else."
She reached for the supply room door, but before opening it she heard Meca speak again.
"You miss me already?"
Another pause.
"You couldn't even wait until I got to work."
Miko rolled her eyes.
"Lord...new relationships."
She stepped inside the supply room, gathered what she needed, and returned a few minutes later.
Meca was still on the phone.
"...Stop making promises you know you're going to keep."
Miko laughed under her breath.
"Whoever he is...he got game."
She walked past without saying anything.
The conversation wasn't her business.
Over the next several days, it happened again.
Sometimes during lunch.
Sometimes before work.
Sometimes just before everyone clocked out.
Meca would answer the phone.
Her voice changed.
She smiled differently.
She flirted.
Miko found herself smiling every time she walked past.
Not because she was interested.
Because Meca seemed genuinely happy.
One afternoon, as Miko walked by with a cup of coffee, she overheard Meca say something that made her stop for just a second.
"...Girl, if you don't quit..."
Miko frowned.
"Girl?"
She looked toward the hallway.
Maybe Meca was talking to one of her sisters.
Or a cousin.
Women called each other "girl" all the time.
Miko shrugged and kept walking.
She didn't think anything else about it.
Until the following week.
It was almost time to leave for the day.
The office had quieted down.
Most people had already packed up.
Meca stood near the back entrance, smiling into her phone.
Miko wasn't paying attention until she heard Meca laugh.
"No...you know I miss you too, baby."
Another pause.
Then Meca said quietly,
"I love you, beautiful."
Silence.
Then...
"I'll see you later, girl."
Miko froze.
Not because she was judging.
Because her brain was trying to catch up to what her ears had just heard.
"Girl?"
She walked away before Meca noticed her standing there.
The entire drive home, one question replayed in her mind.
"Was she talking to...a woman?"
It wasn't disgust.
It wasn't fear.
It wasn't criticism.
It was curiosity.
For the first time in her life, Miko realized she knew almost nothing about relationships between women.
She had questions.
Lots of them.
She just didn't know if she should ask.
She turned off her car and sat in the driveway for another minute.
One thought refused to leave her mind.
"I wonder what that's like..."
She immediately shook her head.
"Girl...why are you even thinking about that?"
She grabbed her purse and walked inside, convinced the thought would disappear by morning.
She had no idea...
That one overheard conversation had quietly opened a door that would change her life forever.