“With that vacuum thing?” Finley asked, shaking her head. “I never did get the hang of that.”
“There’s nothing to get the hang of. You put the thing in and use the pump to pull out the air. It’s not that hard.”
“Well, the thing kept popping out whenever I tried.”
“Do you two need me here for this conversation?” Juliet asked. “I have a lunch date with my gorgeous girlfriend.”
“No, you’re good,” India said. “Thank you for all your help on this.”
“No problem,” Juliet replied as she checked her phone. “She’s here. I’ll be back in about an hour.”
“Have fun,” Finley said in a teasing tone.
Juliet rolled her eyes and said, “Bye.”
“What wasthatabout?” India asked.
“Oh, Gwen has the grooming van now, and I happen to know that they’ve had sex in that thing before. Jules told me she’s picking her up in it, so…”
“Sex in a dog grooming van? That’s disgusting,” India said.
“It gets cleaned, India,” Finley replied.
“But it’s a van, and there are animals in it all the time.”
Finley laughed and said, “Go. Talk to her. Apologize or tell her you want to start over or something. Then, go home and get some damn sleep, India. You look like you did after we broke up the first time.” Finley stood. “When we reallybroke up and thought it was the end, before we started breaking up almost as a national pastime.”
“I remember,” she said, wondering if she reallydidlook that bad.
“I’ll see you later,” Finley replied and left the office.
India opted to grab another candy bar and ate it before she closed her laptop, deciding that she needed a change of scenery. She carried her laptop downstairs with her and set it at one of the few tables they had for employees, making a mental note to buy several more before they opened to customers. Then, she went to the counter, ordered a regular coffee, dressed it at the condiment station, and returned to her table, surprised to see Maisie standing there, looking at her.
“Oh. Hi,” India said.
“Hi. I was going to text you that I was down here, but I saw you get your coffee.”
Maisie motioned to the counter.
“Yeah. I just got down here, actually. I didn’t have any meetings, so I thought I’d work from here. More planning to do on this place, and it’s easier to do while actually here,” she rambled.
“I’m interrupting,” Maisie said, nodding.
“No,” she replied quickly. “Do you want a coffee? I can get it for you.”
“No, I’m okay. Thanks, though.”
India didn’t know whether she should keep standing or sit down, so she just motioned to the table to see what Maisie would do. When Maisie sat in the chair on the other side of the table, India sat as well and closed her computer, setting her coffee down next to it.
“I’m sorry about the election,” she began. “I wanted to call you, but–”
“It’s okay. I understand,” Maisie interrupted her. “And thanks. I’m sorry, too, of course, but I think we both knew that this would happen. My campaign consisted of posters, buttons, phone calls for dollar donations, and well, a commercial thatyoupaid for.”
“I didn’t–”
“You know what I mean,” Maisie said.
India nodded and said, “I’m still sorry. I wish you had kicked his ass. I mean that, too. He deserves it.”
