CHAPTER 10
Harlow closed her laptop and shoved it inside her bag, preparing to go home for the day, but she sat back in her chair for another minute because going home meant seeing Larissa; more specifically, going to another interview with her where they would talk to another happy couple about how they fell in love.
She clearly hadn’t thought this idea through because while she enjoyed parts of this experience, watching people in love, with Larissa sitting right next to her, was harder than she had thought it would be.
It hadn’t ever been this difficult before, but she wondered, as she sat at her desk, if that was because, in the past, she’d always been open to dating other women, thinking one of them would have to be the one for her; that she would be able to get over Larissa by falling in love with someone else.
Only that had yet to happen, which was why she’d decided not to bring another woman into this situation until her feelings for her best friend were back to a normal friend level, where she didn’t picture Larissa naked, lying in bed next to her after having rounds and rounds of hot sex.
“Harlow?”
“Huh? What?” she asked and looked up in surprise to find her boss standing by her desk. “Oh, sorry. I guess I zoned out a bit.”
“No problem. Hey, do you have the report I needed?”
“I sent it a few minutes ago.”
“I was just in the kitchen. Must have missed it. Are you okay, though?” he asked.
“Yeah, just tired and ready to hit traffic.”
“Tell me about it. I live twenty minutes away from here, but during rush hour, it’s over an hour away.”
“I’ve been staying with my friend, and she lives farther away than my old apartment, so it’s been a longer trip for me the past couple of weeks.”
“Staying with a friend? Everything okay?”
“Alicia and I broke up, so I had to move out. I’m staying with Larissa. You met her–”
“At the summer festival,” he said of the company event where they rented a giant field in a park and hired a company to put up games and stuff for the employees and their families. “I remember. But I don’t remember an Alicia.”
“Alicia was my girlfriend.”
“Why did I think Larissa was your girlfriend?”
“I don’t know,” Harlow replied. “I was with Alicia for about two years. Larissa and I are just friends.”
“Oh, okay. Well, sorry it ended.”
“That’s okay. It was amicable. I’m just staying with Larissa until I find a new place, but I should have one soon.”
“Get a place closer because they’re adding a ton of new commercial and residential spaces around here. You know that means even more traffic.”
“Good call,” she replied and stood up. “I should head out. I’m meeting Larissa somewhere. But let me know if you have any questions about the report.”
“I will. Thanks,” he said and walked off.
Harlow gathered her stuff and left the office.
Work had been fine, but not as exciting as it had been when she’d first taken the job.
Of course, she was in the same position she’d been in since she’d started here, and the company hadn’t experienced much growth since she’d been hired.
She wished they spent less money on festivals and instead offered more promotions and opportunities for her to make a little more money, but so far, she’d been stuck where she was and saw no way of that changing anytime soon.
“Am I late?” she asked when she arrived at Larissa’s house. “Sorry.”
“You’re not late. You’re right on time,” Larissa replied.
“Really? I thought you might leave without me because I got stuck in traffic again.”
“The couple we’re talking to tonight actually asked to meet thirty minutes later. One of them got stuck at work, so we’re good. We can go and still beat them there.”
“Okay,” she said. “Um… Do I have time to change?”
“Why? You look great.”
Larissa smiled up at her from the couch as she closed her computer.
“Um… Thanks,” she said. “But I’d like to at least put some jeans on.”
“Sure. Go for it. Oh, I hope you don’t mind: you had laundry, and I didn’t have enough for a full load, so I threw it in with mine. It’s folded, but I left it on your bed for you. I think you have jeans in there.”
“You did my laundry? Thanks. I hate laundry.”
“I know.” Larissa laughed a little. “It’s the least I can do for everything you’re doing for me.”
“You’re literally letting me stay with you right now, and you have before, too.”
“We could sit here and keep thanking each other, or you can change so that we can go.” Larissa laughed a bit again and pushed her glasses up on her nose.
“Oh, my God. Give me those things,” Harlow said and held out her hand as she walked to the couch.
“I’ll tighten them later.”
“You say that all the time. Where’s the tiny screwdriver?”
“In my medicine cabinet.”
“Give me.”
“Harlow, I’m just being lazy. I’ll–”
“Now, Lou.”
“Will you stop calling me–”
“No. When you’re being an ass, you’re Lou from now on. Glasses, please.”
“I can’t see without them.”
“Good. Sit there with your eyes closed and think about what you’ve done.”
Larissa gave her the glasses and said, “You’re annoying.”
“Nope. That’s you. Give me five minutes, and we’ll go. Don’t move, or you’ll break something.”
“Fine.”
Harlow went into Larissa’s bathroom first thing, found the eyeglass repair kit, and quickly tightened the screws on the glasses so that they wouldn’t fall off Larissa’s nose as much.
After that, she headed into her own room, where she saw her clothes piled up and neatly folded on her bed.
She’d always hated doing laundry. Cooking was fun for her.
Dishes were fine. Laundry, though, wasn’t a good time.
Alicia hadn’t ever done her laundry, now that Harlow thought about it.
She’d always washed her own clothes, folded them, and put them away, leaving Harlow’s for her to deal with.
Sure, sometimes her underwear had ended up in Alicia’s load by accident, but Alicia hadn’t ever intentionally done her laundry; at least, not that Harlow remembered, which, she supposed, was weird, considering they’d been together for two years and had lived together for some of that time.
“Okay. Here you go,” she said and held out the glasses for Larissa to take. “And please go see the eye doctor to get new glasses. Those things are so old, Lou.”
“The frames are,” Larissa told her as she put them back on. “The lenses aren’t. And the lenses are what I see out of, so they’re fine. I like these frames. Do you not like them?”
“I like them just fine, but they’re loose all the time.”
“Not anymore. You just tightened them. Thank you.” Larissa smiled then and stood. “Also, I did something nice for you.”
“Besides my laundry?”
“Yes. I’m not cooking dinner tonight.”
Harlow laughed and said, “Oh, thanks. Does that mean I am?”
“Nope. I ordered us food in advance, and it should be here about the time we get home, so we can eat right away.”
“You did?”
“Chinese,” Larissa revealed. “I got extra egg rolls.”
“With the–”
“Yes. I just reordered what we got last time, so we’re all good.”
“Oh. Now I want it already, but we still have to do this interview thing.”
“Have to?” Larissa asked as she grabbed her bag. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”
“I know. I didn’t mean it that way. Just that now it’s on my mind, and I’m hungry.”
Larissa nodded toward the front door and said, “I can drive if you want to do some work on the way.”
“No, I’m good. Driving will distract me from wanting dinner now anyway.”
“Okay.” Larissa laughed. “Let’s go.”
When they arrived, Samantha was nowhere to be found, which was probably a good thing. Harlow didn’t want to be interrogated again, and she’d promised to stay away from the woman and keep Larissa away from her, too.
“Can you let me know when our guests arrive, or should I wait out here?” Larissa asked the guy behind the desk.
“I can let you know. You can go on back if you want,” he replied.
“Harlow?”
Harlow had been zoning out again, so she just nodded when she heard her name, even though she wasn’t sure what Larissa had said.
“Are you okay?” Larissa asked.
“Yeah, sorry. I think I just got really tired.”
“And hungry. You’re hungry, aren’t you?” Larissa said and turned back to the guy behind the desk. “Can I get those barbecue chips and the bag of cookies back there?”
“Sure. I can ring you up for them.”
“I’m okay,” Harlow said.
“Just let me buy you the chips and some cookies since I essentially dangled the food in front of you before we left the house,” Larissa insisted. “And can you add four bottles of water, too?” she said to the guy and handed him cash.
“Sure,” he replied. “Water is free if you want the stuff on the counter over there.”
“Thank you. I’ll take the bottles, though.”
“Don’t worry, we recycle,” Harlow added.
They took their snacks and water back into the conference room, and Harlow sat down in her now-usual chair.
“So, which do you want? Chips? Cookies?”
“They’re for you. I ate a late lunch,” Larissa replied.
“You spoil me,” she teased. “And I guess I’m eating the cookies first. Want one?”
“No, I’m okay,” Larissa said while she situated herself. Then, she asked, “So, how was work?”
“Fine,” Harlow replied as she ate one small chocolate chip cookie after another.
“Just fine?”
“Yes, Mom,” she joked.
“You’re not an angry teenager. I think you can give me more than just fine when I ask how your day was, Harlow.”
“It really was fine. I had two meetings in the morning. Got some work done after that. Went to lunch with Jeremy from accounting because we’re both into baseball.
He keeps trying to get me to join his fantasy league in the spring, but I’m not crazy enough to join a paid league with a guy who handles money and stats for a living, you know? ”
“Is he good or something? I don’t know anything about fantasy baseball, or real baseball for that matter.”
“Oh, I know.” Harlow laughed. “Last time we watched a game together, you fell asleep.”
“It’s just so long… Why do they take so long to throw the ball to the guy?”
“The batter?” she asked.
“Yeah, the guy with the ball takes forever to throw it to the guy with the bat.”
“There’s a timer now. You just haven’t watched a game since they put them on a clock, which was years ago, by the way. Now, they have to go faster.”
“Is the game, like, thirty minutes now instead of three hours?” Larissa asked.
“No, but it’s shorter.”
“You have not been to a game in a while, have you? I remember Alicia wasn’t a fan.”
“No, she wasn’t. Hated all sports.”
Harlow ate the second-to-last cookie and held out the last one to Larissa, who shook her head.
“We should go,” Larissa suggested.
“Go where?” she asked.
“To a game.”
“Why would we do that? You hate sports, too.”
“No, I don’t. I’m just not a big fan. But you are.”
“Baseball starts in the spring.”
“Okay. Then, let’s go to a game in the spring,” Larissa said, shrugging a shoulder.
“You’re volunteering to go to a baseball game with me and spend three or more hours in a stadium with semi-drunk baseball fans?”
“You said it was shorter than three hours now.”
“Yes, but we have to get there before it starts and stay till the end. You know I don’t like to leave early even if my team is getting slaughtered.”
“Okay. I’ll stay the whole time,” Larissa replied.
“Why are you volunteering for this? Is it because you think I’ll just forget about it when the season starts? Because I will not forget about this.”
“No.” Larissa laughed. “You’re always telling me to get out of the house more. Why can’t I do that at a baseball game with you?”
“You can, but I don’t want you to go because you feel like you have to.”
“I’m not. God, you and Aggie are both so annoying. I try to give you the thing you want, which also happens to be the thing I want – in this case, to go to a damn baseball game with you – and you’re all over me for that, too.”
“What did she say to you?” Harlow asked.
“Nothing this time. She’s just on me to finish school and meet someone, so she’s driving me nuts. Then, I want to go to a game with you, and you’re driving me nuts, too.”
“Hey, if you actually want to go, I’m down.”
“I do, okay? But you might have to explain the rules to me again. I get the whole balls and strikes thing, but when can they steal a base again?”
Harlow smiled and said, “Whenever they want, technically. Well, when the pitcher has the ball, before or right after he pitches the ball to home plate.”
“Can I ask other stupid questions like that when we go, because I never paid attention when my dad tried to teach me about sports?”
“Yes, you can. I’ll just ask that you drive so I can have many, many beers to help me cope.”
“I’m going to make you drink?” Larissa laughed as she shook her head. “Then, I should just be quiet.”
“We’ll be fine,” she replied and swallowed. “So, Aggie asked you about dating or something?” she asked and went to open her water to help her dry throat.
“She brings it up every so often, checking in. She’s just being a big sister, and I get that, but we’re not kids anymore. I don’t need her to check in on my love life or lack thereof. She asked about you, too.”
“Me? Why?”
“If you’re seeing anyone yet.”
“I just broke up with Alicia.”
“I know. She knows that, too. She just has this idea that you’re always in a relationship.”
“I’m not.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” she asked, suddenly very concerned.
“Harlow, yes, I know you’re not always in a relationship. There’s nothing wrong with that even if you were.”
“But I’m not. I get that Aggie might think that, but I’m single, and I plan to stay that way for a while.”
“You do? Why? You’re that hurt about Alicia? I thought you seemed fine with the breakup. Then again, you’re usually fine to me after breakups, though.”
“I am fine,” Harlow replied and set the now-empty bag of cookies down on the table. “I think I want to figure some things out. That’s all.”
“Anything I should be worried about?”
“No, just me doing some soul-searching.”
“Okay. Well, I hope that works out for you.”
The door opened then, and two women walked in. Harlow knew their conversation was over, at least for now, so she smiled up at them and tried to remember their names.