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Molly smirked at me, and I rolled my eyes. "I’m well, Glenda. And how are you? You're looking as radiant as ever."
Mrs. Givens patted her blue-gray perm and looked me up and down like I was a piece of butterscotch she was about to pop in her mouth. I suppressed a shiver.
"Glenda, he's spoken for," Molly said as she leaned over the desk and patted Mrs. Givens on the shoulder.
"My word! Jakey Kingsbury and Ms. Molly? When did that happen?" The old crow cackled delightedly.
Before I could temper my customary irritation, Molly glided closer, looping her arm through mine conspiratorially. "Oh, Jakey just couldn't keep things professional with naughty Ms. Molly any longer. Isn’t that right, snookums?"
The laugh that roared out of Mrs. Givens made me concerned for her health as it quickly turned into a coughing fit. I chuckled uncomfortably, and Molly squeezed my arm and gave me a quick wink.
"I'm not sure you've got that right, Molly," I said when the cough subsided. The bell rang, rattling my fraying nerves. I shot Molly a panicked look, but she ignored me, rethreaded my fingers with hers as she said, "Glenda, if you don't mind, we're just going to pop in to see Morgan. You know how it is, we need to disclose our relationship."
"By all means." She clasped her hands to her chest. "Oh, to be young and in love."
I was about to rebuke her insinuation about love, but Molly cut me off before I could utter a word.
"Oh, Jake, you're too sweet. Come on, snookums. Can’t keep our first period waiting, so we better hurry up."
She pulled me away from Mrs. Givens's desk, and we walked through the open doorway that separated the row of offices from the secretarial office. Morgan sat at her desk eating a doughnut and drinking coffee.
"Hey, Molly," she said, standing up.
"Hey, Morgan. Listen, we have to make an announcement."
"Sure," she said, wiping her mouth with a napkin and tossing it into the trash, a half-eaten croissant on her desk. "What can I do for you two?"
"I'll just let Jake explain."
"Well," I cleared my throat and glanced at Molly, and she gave me a reassuring nod. "Molly and I have begun dating, and we just wanted to let you know and follow any and all protocols. Of course, we'll try to keep it as professional as possible."
Morgan smiled; her dark eyes sparkling. "Well, isn't that... unexpected and nice, of course,” she said, catching herself and painting her face with her hallmark HR smile.
"Yes, we're happy. I mean, I'm happy. I had been crushing on him for years."
"Years?" Morgan asked, and her eyebrows shot up. Suspicion narrowed her eyes.
"Oh, you know how it goes. Love and hate are a lot closer than people think." She squeezed my arm, and I couldn't help but admire the way she could just ad lib her way through this.
A more genuine smile curled on Morgan’s lips as she nodded. “I hated my husband when I first met him. He doesn't know that. God, I thought he was the most obnoxious man I ever met, but we've been married for ten years now."
Damn, Molly was good.
"So do we need to sign anything or?"
Morgan pressed her hands together as if in prayer, then clacked her long fake red nails together.
"Yes, I'll get all the forms together and you can pop back at lunch time to sign them."
"Great," Molly said. "We better get to class before we have a Lord of the Flies situation on our hands."
Morgan gave a tight-lipped smile that mirrored my own. Molly was such a dork. Who makes a Lord of the Flies joke? It would have been kind of cute if it didn't conjure images of children turning savage.
"Thanks for everything," I said and took Molly's hand as we left.
Back in the hall, we sped back to our classes. "How did I do?" she asked.
"Great, thanks. Really, I mean it."
