Page 10 of October (New Orleans #10)

“I feel like we’re so close,” Finley noted. “Like, we just need a few more good players, a few first-round draft picks next year, and we’ll be right back in the Super Bowl.”

“Oh, yeah?” Molly replied. “We only get one of those a year unless there’s a trade. So, it might take a few years.”

“You know about the draft? Is that something else Juliet taught you?” Finley asked as they moved up in the same line they’d stood in before.

“Uh… Yes. She explained… that there are rounds, and each team gets a pick for each round. But sometimes, they trade picks. Right?”

“For other players or picks, yeah,” Finley replied.

“So, there are seven rounds, and there’s all this wheeling and dealing that happens before it even starts and then throughout.

It’s actually really cool to watch because if the coaches really wanted one guy, but he gets taken before they have a pick, they need to look at their board and find someone else, and that’s happening with each pick.

If they really want a player who’s already in the NFL, they can trade other players or a pick or two to get that player, but they risk losing their higher picks and getting better players in the draft.

The worst team in the league the previous season gets the first pick, so if some teams are already pretty bad, they might tank the rest of the games just to secure that number- one pick, which is usually a quarterback but can be any position, really.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen any kickers get picked number one, but they’re one of the most important positions on the team, if you ask me.

Do you know about field goals and stuff?

There haven’t been any in this game, so I don’t know. ”

Finley turned to see that Molly was staring at her with a smile on her face.

“Sorry, I’m rambling about football? Are you bored?”

“What? No. Tell me about your kicker theory.”

“No, it’s not a big deal. Let’s just get garlic–”

“Finley, tell me.” Molly punched her shoulder playfully.

“They just have to be clutch, is all I meant. They usually don’t get enough credit, but when a team can’t score a touchdown, they’re in there to get them at least three points. Some of the best in the game make these long-distance kicks at the last second and end up winning the game for the team.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Molly said and seemed to actually mean it.

“Yeah, it is,” she replied and took Molly in for the first time since she’d put on the jersey.

Molly looked really cute in it, but also like it suited her, despite her not being a football fan.

Finley had picked out the right size for her at the shop that sold official NFL merchandise by the stadium.

She hadn’t wanted to lend or even give Molly a jersey that she’d originally purchased for India.

That one would sit at the back of her drawer, and she might wear it when her current one wore out, but she didn’t want Molly to.

She’d bought her a new one and then, like an idiot, hadn’t bothered to remove the damn tag.

She only hoped she had been able to pull it off without Molly or anyone else noticing.

“Hey, what are you doing after this? Hanging out with Juliet?”

“No, she’s going home to pack. I assume Gwen will go with her, and they’ll be busy for the rest of the night.”

“Juliet leaves again tomorrow?”

“Yeah, and for the next few weeks, too. Honestly, the way she talks about business travel, I am glad I don’t have to do that for work. She hates it, and it started right when she met Gwen, so I think it’s been a rough adjustment for her.”

“But she’s got that promotion and an office now.”

“She does, and she wants to be in it already, but they needed her to cover everything this month.”

“I’ve never had to travel for work. Conferences count, I guess, but those can be fun for me. You’re walking around, learning stuff, or there’s a tradeshow floor where you get to play with new techy things.”

Molly laughed and asked, “Things to add to your computer?”

“Sometimes,” she replied. “And you always get those gift bags that have a lanyard, a pin for your shirt that no one ever wears, a magnet or a key chain, never both, and a stress ball. If the world put all the stress balls together, would we be able to overcome our universal stress?”

Molly laughed again and said, “That’s a good philosophical question.”

“For another time, because now, we have garlic fries.”

“I’m buying,” Molly stated, pulling out her credit card. “You got everything else earlier. Do you want anything else? Another beer?”

“No, I’m good. Um…” Finley cleared her throat. “I was thinking about maybe grabbing a burger or dinner later, after the game. It’s a lot cheaper to have dinner… elsewhere… like a pub or something.”

“Oh. You want to grab dinner?” Molly asked as they moved up in line. “You’re not full yet?”

“Not really. I ate a lot, but also a half of football can take two hours, depending on time-outs and injuries, so I’ll eat the fries with you, but I’ll be ready for dinner by the time we make our way out of here, get through the crowd, find somewhere to eat, and then, wait for the food.”

“Two hours, huh?”

“Football is a big commitment,” Finley replied with a faux-serious expression.

“Next,” a woman behind the counter said.

“Garlic fries, please,” Molly said. “And can we get extra garlic and parmesan?”

“It’s an extra charge,” the woman replied.

“That’s okay. Oh, and two bottles of water. Actually, make that four. I think Jules and Gwen need water. They’re a little tipsy.” She turned to Finley. “Rusty and Emily have some, right?”

“Yeah, they do,” she said, smiling at how Molly thought of others.

Maybe it was her human resources background.

Her job was literally to think about other humans all the time.

Finley’s was more about computers and solving tech problems that impacted humans, but it wasn’t the same.

She hadn’t seen much of Molly working, despite the fact that they’d worked together for a long time now.

Her job kept her in the server room or had her bouncing from desk to desk and floor to floor to fix things, which meant she’d only see her through the glass in a conference room or at her desk, reading something on her computer or typing.

Because Molly was in HR, Finley hadn’t felt like she could ask many questions about what she did.

She knew Molly would respect confidentiality, but she just wasn’t sure what to ask.

“So, dinner?” she chanced again.

“Um…” Molly grabbed the garlic fries that the woman passed to her and added, “Yeah. Sure. I can do that.”

She handed Finley the garlic fries and took the bottles of water, stuffing two of them into her bag for easier carrying. Then, they walked back to the condiment bar.

“Ketchup?”

“Tons of it,” Molly replied. “Like, more ketchup on fries than the cheese we had on nachos earlier.”

Finley laughed, put the fries under the hand pump for the bulk ketchup dispenser, and pressed down.

“Again,” Molly said.

Finley coated the fries in more ketchup and laughed again when Molly pointed and told her that she had missed a spot. Finley wasn’t sure where the fries had disappeared to when they were done, but Molly grabbed two white plastic forks and shoved them into the fries.

“All set,” she said.

The rest of the game was pretty intense.

Two big injuries; one player had to be carted off the field.

Finley watched Molly’s reaction, and she could see concern spelled out across her face, possibly thinking about the paperwork she would have had to fill out if this were someone who worked with them.

Molly had surprised her today. Juliet must have given her hours of instruction on football because in the second half, Molly had used the terms ‘holding,’ ‘scrimmage,’ ‘linebacker,’ and even knew that the punter held the football when he kicked, but the field goals were held by someone else.

Finley wondered why she had gone through all of the effort just to attend one game, but it also made her smile because maybe Molly had done that for her.

“So, we’re heading back to Juliet’s,” Gwen said when the game was over, and the Saints had won by three points.

“I figured,” Molly replied. “Have fun,” she added with a wink at Gwen.

“What are you up to?” Juliet asked her.

“Uh… Finley and I are going to grab dinner, I think.”

“Oh, I could eat,” Rusty said and turned to his wife. “I know your team just lost, but do you want–”

Finley cleared her throat in Rusty’s direction, and when he met her eyes, she glared at him.

“I think I’d rather we go home and order something in, babe,” Emily replied, catching Finley’s meaning when her husband was clearly oblivious.

“Great,” Finley said. “Should we go, Molls? We can pick the place along the way.”

“We could go to Candace’s. It’s chill, good food, and we’ll get served faster,” Molly suggested.

“Yeah. That sounds good,” Finley agreed.

“Have fun!” Gwen said in a singsong voice directed at Molly.

“Enjoy the sex,” Molly teased. “And the packing. But mostly, the sex.” She then pulled Juliet into a hug and added, “I’ll see you when you get back.”

Juliet whispered something to her, but Finley couldn’t hear it, so she pulled out her phone and pretended to check her messages. Unfortunately, though, she actually had messages: two of them, and both were from India.

India Sheridan : When can we talk? I’m free tonight.

India Sheridan : I think you’re at the game. Call me later?

She put her phone away, deciding she would respond to her ex-girlfriend later, and looked up just in time to see Molly watching her.

“Do you have to cancel?”

“No. Why?”

“No reason,” Molly replied with a forced smile.

They walked out together until they got to the parking lot, where Gwen had left her car.

She and Juliet got in, and Rusty and Emily kept going in that direction to get to their own car.

Finley had taken the bus while Molly had driven, so when Molly offered to drive them to the bar, Finley had no objection.

They talked a little on their way there, but Molly seemed a bit distracted, and Finley didn’t know why, so she left her alone to sort through whatever had entered her mind.

When they found a spot down the street from the bar, Finley watched Molly parallel park with ease and laughed.

“What?” Molly asked.

“Nothing. You’re just a pro at this parking thing. I still can’t do it, even after living here for a while now. I grew up in a small town where you never have to parallel park, so we don’t learn it. I had to figure it out on my own, and I still suck at it.”

“Well, I grew up here, where it’s a requirement if you don’t want to walk ten miles. I can teach you sometime, if you want. It’s not that hard.”

“Oh, I don’t want you to hate me.”

They got out of the car, and Molly locked it with her key fob.

“Why would I hate you?”

“I can get upset with myself sometimes. Like, when I can’t figure out why something isn’t working, it drives me nuts. There are expletives, and sometimes, I toss screws or cables. Not at people, but still. It’s better that I just keep sucking at parking.”

“Would you throw a screw or cable in a car?”

“No, I don’t think I’d have either on hand. Well, in my car, I do have cables, usually in the back seat, but I’d have to reach for one just to throw it, and–”

“Fin?”

“Yeah?”

“If you want me to teach you, let me know. If not, that’s okay,” Molly told her. “It would be one day, and I think you’d get it after a few tries.”

Finley smiled at her as they walked toward the bar.

“So, this is the bar? The one where all the friends go?”

“Yes, but I don’t know if anyone will be here tonight, and I only sort of know Logan and Rory a little bit.”

“Low-key. Cool,” she said, mostly to herself.

“Yeah, it’s just good bar food,” Molly replied simply, not understanding that Finley meant that she wasn’t exactly looking forward to a group hang with Molly’s sort-of-friends tonight.

She wanted them to get to know each other a little outside of work if they could. The grand plan was game fun, followed by a friendly dinner and maybe drinks, and then, if all that went well, she’d ask Molly out on a date and, hopefully, Molly would say yes.

They walked in, and Finley looked around, spotting one open booth off to the side.

“Is here okay?”

“Sure,” Molly said with a nod.

They sat down, and Finley grabbed them both the menus stowed behind the napkin holder.

“So, what’s good here?”

“I’ve really only had the burger, but I think everything is good.”

“Hi there. What can I get for you?” a woman asked as she approached the table.

“Oh, I don’t know yet,” Finley replied. “I guess I’ll start with a water while I figure out what I want to drink, and we’re going to eat, too.”

“Okay,” the woman replied.

“Water for me as well,” Molly said.

The woman nodded and walked off.

“So, that’s not Logan?”

“No, it doesn’t look like she’s working tonight.”

In Finley’s mind, that was a good thing.

No one would be joining them at their table, so the two of them could talk and see where this could possibly go, if anywhere at all.

Her feelings for Molly had come out of nowhere.

She had been thinking about ending things with India, but that wasn’t really anything new.

Molly was new, though. Finley had been stopping by and talking to Juliet more and more over the past few months, but since Molly was usually there, too, she would join them in conversation a little here and there, and there was just something about her that had Finley’s heart racing in a way it hadn’t done in years.

“I think I’ll get this autumn beer I’ve gotten here a few times,” Molly said.

“I’ll have that, too, then. Sounds good. I like seasonal beers.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, especially if they’re local.”

“This one is,” Molly said and looked toward the door.

When two women walked in, Molly’s eyes went wide.

“What’s wrong?” Finley asked.

“Nothing. Just… Um… That’s… someone I know.”

“Oh. One of the friends?”

“No,” Molly replied, turning back to her. “Ava.”