Alix
I’m sensing you have feelings about this subject.
Noticing that her jaw was clenched tightly enough to bring back the martini headache that had only just gone away, Grace stood. She paced the way she did when practicing arguments out loud to loosen her tension.
Grace
Sorry, Scissors, but don’t let anything you’ve seen anywhere fool you. It’s probably not what you imagine.
Alix
Few things are.
Grace wanted to ask Alix what she meant. It was the second time in as many days that she’d said something like that. Something that flashed with sadness when she’d just been lifting Grace’s spirits. Grace wanted to pull the frayed edge of that thread. To understand. But Alix wasn’t on the app to be dissected.
More than once, Julie had told her that she asked too many questions. Well, she hadn’tsaidthat. She was too diplomatic for something so blunt. But she’d made the point clear.
Julie, Grace reminded herself, was the reason she was talking to Alix in the first place. Just half an hour earlier she’d had so much to say about her that she’d hit the app’s text limit, and now she barely remembered what prompted her to pick up the phone.
Grace
I ran into her today.
Alix
Oh, shit. At work?
Grace
Unfortunately.
Alix
What happened? Was she dramatic? Did she throw a drink in your face? Flip a table?
Alix
Sorry. I recently binged too much Real Housewives with my roommate.
Grace
It was worse than that. She was polite.
Alix
Noooo. Not the p word. What happened?
Closing her eyes, Grace was back in the shared kitchen. She’d been using the touchscreen on the coffee machine to make a vanilla latte when Julie walked in with two of her associates. Grace had kept an eye on her calendar and only ventured to a common area because Julie was supposed to be in trial all month.
The sound of her voice had been a kick in the teeth. Grace had managed to avoid her for so long, she was starting to believe she’d only have to see her at the Gunner Christmas party, and that was two months away. Certainly, she’d have eradicated her feelings by then.
But they were alive and well and roiling in her guts when Julie sauntered into the kitchen. She was glossy perfection in a black dress with the matching suit jacket slung over her arm because October was nearly as hot as August had been. Since they’d last seen each other, Julie had only managed to get even more poised and beautiful.
And then, Julie had spoken. And Grace wanted nothing more than to fucking disappear. The act had always come easily to Julie. So easily that Grace had started to wonder if the veneer was her true self and the woman she’d occasionally slept next to was the lie.
Grace
It was like we’d never been anything but colleagues. She greeted me, chatted about the weather, and continued on with the conversation she’d been having like I was just anyone.
