“I thought it would help Maisie get what she wanted, and Colter would get whathewanted, and that would be that.”
“She also wouldn’t be running against your horrible half-brother, India. I think you should acknowledge that it wasn’t just about Maisie getting what she wanted.”
“Okay. Sure, that would have been a nice side benefit. Maisie would have dropped out because she had gotten the status she’d wanted for the shop, Colter would’ve gone on to probably ruin the city by taking bribes and making deals, and I could go out with Maisie, and one day, it would come up that I have a brother named Colter. And, oh, what a coincidence that it’sthatColter. By then, we would have been on a bunch of dates, and it would’ve been something funny or just coincidental, or it wouldn’t have worked out at all, and maybe we would’ve salvaged a friendship, and it would have still been coincidental.”
“You’ve got it all planned out, huh?”
“I thought I did. Now, I realize I was just being selfish. Maisie wants to win. It’s not just about the shop anymore. I worked with her and her friends last night, and I can see it. I could hear it in her voice, too, when she talked to potential voters.” India smiled. “She really cares, Finley.”
“That’s a good thing for a public servant, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s agreatthing. But Colter is a sitting councilor with many connections. I just… I don’t want her to be disappointed, and I think she might be.”
“You can’t control the outcome of the election, India. I know how much that probably bugs you because you have this need to control things.”
“I donot,” she argued.
“Maisie asked you out, and you justhadto change the date’s location. The ski trip you wanted us to take one winter was scheduled down to the minute, and when I sprained my ankle and suggested we just go and enjoy the resort and you could ski without me, if you wanted, while I hung back, you had an almost meltdown because you’d booked everything for both of us.”
“It wasn’t a meltdown.”
“You canceled the trip, India.” Finley gave her a small frown. “We still could’ve had fun. I wasn’t even on crutches. The doctor just told me to take it easy. We could’ve gone, sat by the fire, made love, relaxed, and you canceled it instead. You even bought me skis, India. They’re still in my closet. I’ve never used them because you canceled the trip.”
“I didn’t think you would have had a good time when you couldn’t actually ski on a ski trip, Fin.”
“It wasn’t about skiing,” Finley replied. “It was never about skiing for me. It was about being with my girlfriend. It was about taking time off work, away from the city, going to a nice resort with her, and just being together. The skiing was something for us to do while we were there, yeah, but I wasn’t going to ski, India. I was going to be with you.”
“I messed us up, Finley. So many times. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not just on you. We did this whole back-and-forth thing for a while. We both played a part in that. I let you do those things. I pushed in the beginning, but eventually, I gave in. I started letting you get away with it.”
“And that made you unhappy,” she said, nodding.
“Yeah, it did. But it still took me a long time to finally end things between us.”
“And are you happy now?”
Finley smiled and said, “I am, yes. Molly and I are verynew, but I know I love her. It hit me so fast. One day, I’m with you, and Molly’s hardly able to say a full sentence around me, and the next, I look at her, and it’s just so obvious that I like her. I think it’s one of the reasons I even became friends with Juliet. Weird, huh? I didn’t know that before, but I used to go over to their cubes all the time and use Jules as an excuse when, really, I wanted to talk to Molls. I loved watching her look all flustered. I didn’t know it was specifically about me back then, but it was just… so cute, and I wanted to find out if there could be something there with us.”
“And then, you moved your desk out there when you got promoted,” India said with a smile.
Finley laughed and replied, “Yeah, I wanted to be near her, even though I had no idea what it was all about at first. And I’m happy now, yes, but I want you to be happy, too.”
“So do I,” India said on a sigh.
“Good.Wemight not have worked out, but I like Maisie for you,” Finley said before she stood and added, “Honestly, given how she practically yanked you from that booth the other night and took you to that dive place, I’d imagine she won’t give up like I did. I don’t see her letting you get away with stuff like I used to, which is a good thing.”
“It wasn’t all bad, though, right? The whole thing wasn’t bad, Fin.”
“No,” Finley told her, shaking her head. “It was really good in the beginning.” Finley smiled. “And a few times in the middle, too.” She winked. “I loved you, India. I still do. It’s just different now.”
“Yeah, me too,” she said.
When Finley left her office, India thought about that ski trip. It hadn’t been justanyski trip, but she hadn’t told Finley that, of course. They’d been together for a year, and India had intended to propose. She’d planned everything so perfectly. Finley had agreed to go skiing for the first time in her life, which was a big deal. Once that had been taken care of, India had booked the resort. She’d gotten them couple’s massages in the spa and had the resort prepare champagne, strawberries,and a cheese plate for them upon arrival. Their room would’ve had a fireplace, and she’d planned to make love in front of it after a long day on the slopes. She had wanted to show off her ski skills to Finley and teach her how to do it herself so that they could go again year after year. India had known then that Finley wasn’t much for skiing because it had taken her a few weeks to get Finley to agree to the trip, but she hadn’t yet understood that she had been taking too much from Finley and hadn’t given anything back. She had gone for the romance of a proposal and not for the person she was proposing to. Finley wouldn’t have wanted a skip trip proposal. Not only that, but Finley probably would’ve wanted to be the one to do the proposing.
When she’d sprained her ankle, India hadn’t wanted an imperfect trip. She hadn’t wanted to propose to Finley with her ankle wrapped in an ACE bandage. She’d canceled the trip instead and planned to propose another time, holding on to the ring she’d bought. They had broken up the first time not long after that, and India hadn’t ever told Finley about the ring she’d kept in her safe. That was years ago now. She supposed it was time to get rid of that ring. She’d never want to give it to another woman, anyway, because it would’ve had bad luck hanging all over it, so she decided to find a buyer for it that night. It was an expensive ring, and now that she thought about it, she laughed at herself because it was a big ring, and Finley hadn’t ever been a big-ring woman. How had she gotten it so wrong? India had wanted her future wife to have a ring that she could brag about, but that wasn’t Finley. Finley didn’t even wear jewelry. India would call her jeweler later and arrange it.
She pulled up Maisie’s campaign site on her computer and looked at the picture of Maisie in the upper left, smiling widely in front ofChapter & Verse. India smiled too becauseMaisie’ssmile was contagious. She read through her platform and bio and clicked on the donate link. She wasn’t sure how much Maisie would need to beat Colter, and Maisie might get upset with her being the donor, so she chose the anonymousoption that was available and typed in a large amount. If that wasn’t enough, she’d donate more. India entered her credit card information and hit submit. Then, she checked the time and smiled.
