Page 49 of Heal You (The Study You #3)
Morgan groaned inwardly. Finn had never been lost for words before; she didn’t need to start that habit now.
“Look, if you have something to say, just say it, Finn.” Morgan stared at her.
“Jan is here, I haven’t seen her for two weeks, and I know where I’d rather be.
It’s not standing behind this bar waiting for you to figure out your feelings. ”
“I’m sorry. For everything.” Finn shook her head and cast her gaze on the pint Morgan had just set down in front of her. “I feel like an absolute prick, and I’m so sorry.”
Morgan nodded slowly. “Okay.”
Finn’s brows drew together when her head shot up. “What? That’s it? You’re not going to make me suffer?”
“We’re not okay, not by a long shot, but Jan is back in my life, and that’s all I care about right now.” Morgan leaned over the bar and lowered her voice. “But I’m warning you, what’s happened over the last few weeks…it’ll be the last time you ever get involved in my personal life again. Got it?”
Finn held up her hands. “I know. I was out of line.”
“Now, go and join your wife while I get her a glass of wine.” Morgan turned and walked away, rolling the tension out of her shoulders as she closed her eyes and took a moment to settle again. If she just focused on Jan, everything would be okay.
“Morgan?” Jan’s voice had a smile spreading on Morgan’s face faster than anything else in this world ever would. “Is everything okay?”
Morgan turned with Gillian’s drink and nodded. She handed Jan her own glass, grabbed her beer, and eyed their table. “Yeah, of course. I’ll sit with you while this place is still empty.”
Jan met Morgan at the end of the bar and wrapped an arm around her waist. She searched Morgan’s eyes, narrowed her own ever so slightly, and then simply nodded. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
“I am. Let’s sit down together while we can.
” Morgan followed Jan and approached the booth.
Finn and Gillian looked as though they were ready to run out the door the moment anything confrontational happened, but that wasn’t who Morgan was.
She’d never found happiness out of bickering with people.
“Your drink,” Morgan said as she set it down in front of Gillian.
“O-oh. Thank you.”
Gillian clearly hadn’t expected Morgan to be so welcoming, but she could kill people with kindness when it suited her. In this moment, Morgan had everything she needed sitting right beside her. Jan…and only ever Jan. “No problem.”
“I…” Gillian shook her head and sat up straight against the booth. “I wanted to speak to you.”
Morgan lifted a brow. “Me?”
“Yes.” Gillian quickly took a sip of wine and eyed Jan briefly.
Morgan had no idea what was about to happen, but the tension she’d felt as Gillian and Finn arrived had quickly faded.
“I believe you’re under the impression that I don’t like you.
Not only after everything that’s happened recently, but before then, too. ”
Morgan rested her ankle on her knee as she relaxed back. “I don’t expect to be friends with everyone, Gillian. So long as we can all be amicable, that’s enough for me.”
“It’s not true. That I don’t like you.” Gillian’s eyes softened for the first time ever in Morgan’s company.
“I’ll admit that I was a little standoffish when I met you through Finn.
I was dealing with a lot, and my job was potentially on the line if anyone knew about us.
But I don’t dislike you. I don’t know you to dislike you. ”
“That’s fair.”
“Did I wonder if you and Finn had ever been together? For all of five seconds, yes, but that’s where it ends.
I guess we’ve just never really given one another the opportunity to get to know each other.
” Gillian lay a hand over Jan’s on the table.
“But you’re dating my best friend, and I’d like to finally get to know you. ”
“I’d…like that, too.” Morgan hadn’t expected Gillian to be so lovely this evening, but she was thankful for this conversation.
“I just want everyone to be okay with this.” Morgan turned her attention to Finn, holding up a hand when Finn opened her mouth to respond.
“I admire how protective you both are of Jan, but she’s safe with me.
She’s happy with me. And I’m fucking insanely happy with her. ”
Finn nodded as she smiled. “I know.”
“So, like…can we all just stop being weird and get back to normal? Every time someone pipes up with their opinion, I lose precious time with Jan. I’m not risking that anymore.”
Jan palmed Morgan’s thigh beneath the table. “I’ve lost enough time with you over the last two weeks.”
Morgan turned her face to Jan and grinned. “We have all the time in the world to make up for it. You know that.”
Jan leaned in and placed a hand to Morgan’s chest as she kissed her.
When Morgan had expected her own body to tense—it was the usual reaction when Jan did something like that in front of people—the opposite happened.
Everything within Morgan relaxed. Any doubts slid from her mind, and all she could think about was the moment she woke up with Jan in her arms again.
“Okay, that’s going to take me a minute to get used to.” Gillian’s voice broke Morgan and Jan apart. “I’m so used to seeing you kiss Phil and his stubbly face…”
Jan laughed. “Yes, I don’t miss that at all.”
“Why would you?” Gillian shrugged. “Nothing in this world could compare to the softness of another woman.”
Jan melted against Morgan at that. “Oh, you’re not wrong.”
As Morgan brought her beer to her lips, the bar door opened, and a customer walked in. She groaned and rose to her feet. “Right. Have fun. Some of us have work to do.”