CHAPTER 8
India let out a deep sigh.
“Is the coffee maker not working again?”
India turned around to see Molly standing behind her.
“Oh. I don’t know. I’m not making coffee; just standing here.”
“Why, exactly?” Molly asked.
“Because I’m an idiot,” she replied.
Molly walked farther into the kitchen, picked up an apple from the fruit bowl, and leaned back against the counter next to India.
“Why are you an idiot?”
“Do you, of all people, really need to ask me that? I tried to kiss your girlfriend to get her back.”
“She wasn’t my girlfriend then, so while that still wasn’t cool, it wasn’t because of me. It wasn’t cool because of Finley. She told you it was over, and you didn’t respect that. She’s forgiven you, though, so I have as well. Why else are you an idiot?”
“You’ve been to Chapter & Verse, right?”
“Yeah. I used to go there every so often, but I haven’t been in a while. Why?”
“You know Maisie?”
“The owner? Yes, she’s cool. She’s great with book suggestions. Got me to read some alternate history book I never would’ve picked out on my own. Why?”
“Because she asked me to… hang out tonight.”
“Hang out?”
“Yeah, at some dive restaurant. She called it a dive place, I think. I suggested we hang out somewhere else.”
“Where else, exactly?”
“Well, I was planning on getting us a reservation at Arnaud’s or GW Fins, but she didn’t let me get that far.”
“You were going to hang out at one of the most expensive restaurants in the city?” Molly asked.
“They both have amazing food and great wine lists.”
“But Maisie isn’t– Never mind.” Molly shook her head.
“No. What? Maisie isn’t what?”
“She doesn’t strike me as someone who would want or care about a great wine list. I don’t know her all that well, obviously, so I could be wrong, but she seems…”
“Chill?”
“Did you just say chill?” Molly laughed and covered her mouth. “Sorry. That word sounds really weird coming from you.”
“Chill? I say, ‘Chill the wine,’ all the time.”
“Chill specifically in this context. Like, have you ever just chilled? Relaxed?”
“I chill,” she defended, crossing her arms over her chest.
“How exactly have you chilled?”
“Well, after I chill the white wine, I sit down and drink it while I work.”
“That’s called working with wine, not chilling.”
“I’m not that bad,” she replied.
“I don’t know if you are or not. Fin might.
Either way, though, Maisie seems like the kind of woman who would want to have a cold beer and maybe watch a movie or something.
She’s probably not a big wine drinker, if I had to guess.
And she’s a local, born and raised here, so she probably likes the dives that make the best food.
I doubt she would even know which piece of cutlery to use for what course at one of those fancy places. I know I don’t,” Molly told her.
“She wanted me to sit on bird poop, Molly.”
“I’m sorry. What?” Molly asked with a little laugh.
“Bird poop,” she repeated. “She asked me to sit at a picnic table with her, eat bad shrimp, and mentioned that birds poop there. I’m supposed to eat while I sit on poop?”
Molly’s laughter continued.
“She didn’t say it like that, did she?”
“Not exactly, no, but that’s what she meant.”
“You’re telling me that Maisie wanted you to eat bad shrimp and sit in bird poop while you do it?”
“It was how she described the ambiance that concerned me, so I suggested someplace nicer. She told me never mind because we’re not compatible if we don’t like the same food or places to eat it.”
“Compatible?” Molly asked. “Compatible, like–”
“No, in a friendly, hanging out kind of way,” she said.
“How did you two even get to talking?” Molly asked.
“I went over there to… check out the competition. She’s running against my brother for city council. I just found out and wanted to see who she was, and we got to talking. She’s nice, even though she asked if I wanted to eat the bad shrimp with bird poop.”
“What did I just walk in on?”
India looked up and saw Finley heading toward them, so she rolled her eyes because, of course, Finley would overhear that.
“Nothing,” Molly replied.
India appreciated Molly trying to cover for her, but Finley knew her well, even if they were no longer a couple, and she stared at India, clearly knowing that something was up.
“Someone asked if I wanted to hang out, and I screwed it up,” India confessed to avoid the interrogation.
“Someone?”
“The woman who owns the bookstore next door. She’s running against Colter for city council.”
“Your asshole of a brother should not be in public office,” Finley said.
“I agree with you on that. On both counts. Maisie seems like she actually wants to help people, though.”
“Maisie?” Finley asked as she moved to stand next to Molly, grazing her forearm with her fingertips in an intimate act that had India wanting another piece of leftover Halloween candy from her purse.
“She’s the owner. I’ve met her. She’s nice,” Molly said.
“She asked you out?” Finley asked.
India didn’t think she could get away with lying to Finley, but she shook her head all the same. She wasn’t sure why she was lying to both of them. Maisie had asked her out on a date. India was single. Finley wouldn’t be hurt. She’d already moved on, after all.
“She didn’t ask you out?” Finley checked. “No, she did. You just don’t want to admit it.”
“Can you please just pretend like you don’t know me so well?” she asked. “It’s not nice to do that in front of Molly.”
“I’m okay with it,” Molly replied.
“Thanks for the help,” India said sarcastically.
“I’m trying to be comfortable with the two of you being friends. I’m a work in progress.” Molly shrugged.
“Yes, she asked me out on a date,” India admitted.
“And you suggested a super fancy, rich-people restaurant, didn’t you? Please tell me you did not mention a tasting menu, India.”
“Finley, you’ve had some pretty great food at some of those places over the years,” she argued.
“Sure. But you made me dress up, and I was totally uncomfortable the whole time. Is that what you want for a first date with this woman?”
“I wanted to do something nice for a first date. Sue me. Her idea involved bird poop.”
“She’s your brother’s competition, and you want to go out with her?” Molly asked.
“I didn’t know that she was going to ask me out. And she doesn’t know that Colter is my brother. He barely is, anyway, when you think about it. Even Fin would agree with me on that one. ”
“You haven’t told her?” Molly asked.
“No, because it didn’t matter. I thought she was cute and nice, but I wasn’t looking for anything. I just got out of a really long relationship. I’m sure you two remember that.”
“But you like her?” Finley asked.
“I just told you that I think she’s cute and nice,” India replied.
“She is cute,” Molly added.
“Sorry?” Finley asked, looking over at her girlfriend.
“I’ve been in love with you for literal years. Remember that?” Molly said.
India reached for a mini candy bar from the giant bowl next to the coffee maker and got to unwrapping it.
“I want to see for myself,” Finley stated as she smiled at Molly. “Is she there now? Let’s go check her out.”
“What? No. Don’t you dare,” India said before she put the candy into her mouth. “And she took back the whole bird poop date thing, so there’s no need. Let’s just go about our workdays like normal people in an office and pretend like we don’t know way too much about each other.”
“Please stop saying, ‘Bird poop.’ And come on. It’ll be fun,” Finley said.
“Oh, I highly doubt that,” she replied.
But there was nothing she could do to stop them, so five minutes later, India was following Finley, who was like a dog with a bone, and Molly, who was tagging along, probably to make sure that Finley didn’t do anything stupid, which India appreciated.
“Do not say anything about Colter,” India said when they hit the sidewalk outside the bookstore. “I don’t want her to know that I’m related to him. She already thinks I’m pretentious.”
“You are pretentious,” Finley replied, pulling open the door. “After you, babe.”
India almost walked in first, still used to that term of endearment applying to her, but then she remembered that Finley had a new babe now and let Molly walk in first.
“Maisie, hey,” Molly greeted instantly.
“Molly, hi. Haven’t seen you in a while,” Maisie said and looked behind Molly toward India. “Oh. Hi.”
“I told Molly that I’d been over here, and she insisted on visiting,” India lied.
“Yes, that is what happened,” Molly covered for her. “And this is my girlfriend, Finley. Sorry, I haven’t been here in a while. I’ve been busy.”
“Hi. Nice to meet you,” Finley spoke, holding out her hand over the counter for Maisie to shake.
“You too.”
“I’ve never actually been in here. Do you have books on coding or computers?”
“Not really, no,” Maisie replied.
India smiled because Maisie looked totally taken aback, as if they had just invaded her territory and she hadn’t been prepared for it.
And, technically, they had, so India felt bad about that, but she’d known that there had been no stopping Finley, who was probably trying to make up for the night they had been supposed to hang out alone and hadn’t by getting India together with Maisie.
“Oh, okay,” Finley said, sounding disappointed as if she had actually planned on buying a book.
“So, you just wanted to stop by?” Maisie asked Molly.
“After India mentioned she’d been here earlier, yeah. I haven’t been here since before Finley and I started dating, so I suggested we all come over and she could see this great place for herself. Isn’t it great, babe?”
Molly was really putting in effort, which made India smile. Finley’s new girlfriend was a great person, and if Finley was going to be with someone else, India supposed she could do a whole lot worse than Molly Jewel.
“You three all work together?” Maisie asked.
“Yeah. IT, HR, and business development at Southern Roastery,” Finley replied as she pointed to herself, Molly, and India.