Page 15 of November

“Gay romance? Sapphic fiction? Lesbian books? Whatever you call them.”

“I only keep a few in stock.”

“Well, I bought one. I started reading it last night. Not bad.”

“No?”

“No,” India said. “I might finish it tonight and buy another one.”

“Another book about two women?”

India smiled and asked, “Is that a problem?”

“No,” Maisie replied, shaking her head. “Nope. Not a problem.”

India nodded again and asked, “Do you want to sit here and have that coffee with me?”

Maisie definitely wanted to do that. She was pretty sure India had just told her that she liked women. India was also gorgeous and was sexy in her pantsuit today, complete with another pair of heels that looked crazy expensive, just like the ones from yesterday. Maisie was wearing a pair of jeans that had a hole in the left knee that she’d put there herself and a T-shirt with a light-gray sweatshirt over it that had the NASA logo on it. She’d gotten it from Target in the boys’ section. There hadn’t been any in the girls’ section, so she’d moved half the rack over there before she left with her purchase. Her tennis shoes were scuffed all over, and her hair was pulled back into a messy bun because she hadn’t expected to run into the classiest woman she’d ever seen again.

“I can’t,” she said. “I’d love to, but I have to get back. I left Sarah with the store, and it’s her tea. I think she’d like it to come back hot, you know?”

“Our peach tea is iced,” India noted.

“It is?” she asked. “DoesSarahknow that?”

“I’d assume so, if she asked you to get it for her,” India replied.

“Drip coffee,” a guy said, placing India’s coffee on the counter.

India picked it up and asked, “So, how’s your campaign going?”

“It’s not,” Maisie said.

“No?”

India walked to the condiment bar and poured a generous amount of soy milk into her cup.

“Lactose intolerant?” Maisie asked.

“What?”

“The soy milk.”

“I grabbed soy?” India asked and looked down. “Shit. I meant to grab the half-and-half.”

“Want me to remake it for you?” the guy asked.

“No, it’s okay. I can stand it,” India replied.

The trainee just shrugged and moved on to other drinks.

“So, nothing new on your campaign?” India asked.

“Not since yesterday. Well, technically, I made two hundred and twenty dollars in donations from the mini phone bank we had going.”

“Hey, that’s something.”

“It doesn’t even cover the posters I’ve already bought, but yeah, I guess it’s something,” Maisie replied.