Chapter 26

Just before lunch, you messaged Gemma over the official Slack channel that the office used for messaging. ‘Hey, Bodega?’

Gemma, sitting just down the table from you, raised her eyebrow a moment later and glanced up at you, then back down to her computer screen and typed quickly. ‘Sure. Why this?’

You knew the law office had keyloggers on your work laptops, and the Slack could be checked by any of the Partners, so you, Gemma, Sabrina, and Eric had all taken to being as brief as you could on it. Andy, of course, said whatever came to mind. Sometimes he messaged on it late at night, asking if anyone wanted to come over for drunk pizza.

‘Want to ask your advice on something without You Know Who tagging along.’ You sent it, then realized she might think you meant Sabrina. Shit, was she going to think you wanted to gossip about Sabrina - or worse, that you wanted to talk to her about Sabrina?

Gemma just replied with a Thumbs Up emoji, and you all worked for another five minutes until the clock hit twelve.

“It’s a sub day for me,” Eric said, standing and stretching. “Anyone else want to make the run?”

“You buying?” Andy asked.

“No,” Eric said. “Dude, you can buy your own sub.”

“Fine, I’ll still come,” Andy sighed. They left quickly; the trip down to the sub shop, the wait and the trip back would take most of our break.

“You want me to grab you anything from the Bodega, Sabrina?” you asked.

“Um, sure. I’ll get one of those pre packaged salads, please,” she said. “The one with the chicken if it’s there.”

“I’ll come with,” Gemma said, standing. She was wearing a dark blouse with a floral print over a tan skirt that seemed tight and came down to her knees, and her usual dark 1” heels. Dressy enough to look good, but not to over do it.

“Cool, let’s go,” you said, and left together. You glanced back at Sabrina on your way out the door and she gave you a bright smile and a thumbs up.

You’d made it to the elevator before Gemma turned to you. “Alright, spill. Why do you want to talk to me without Sabrina around? Because we’re cool, but I don’t know if I’m ready to give advice on where you can hook up again or something.”

“No, ugh, I knew you were going to think that right after I sent it,” you sighed. “I meant Andy and Eric. Well, also Sabrina, but not Sabrina specifically.”

“Oh,” Gemma said, a little surprised. The elevator arrived and you got in, and you hit the button for the ground floor. “So, you actually have some advice on something?”

“Sort of,” you said. “You’re a confident person, right? Well, I met this really confident woman recently and I’ve decided that I’m interested in getting to know her better. I’m just wondering how you think I should approach someone who seems to have life by the balls and everything going for them.”

“Oh, alright,” Gemma frowned. You could see the gears turning in her head. “What about Sabrina, though?”

“Sabrina has made it completely clear that we aren’t going to be a couple,” you said. “And don’t get me wrong, I think she and I could be good together, but I’m going to respect what she wants. Plus, this woman I’m interested in ... well, let’s just say she is very much a First Pick kind of woman. She’s absolutely gorgeous, has great style and poise. She’s very smart and driven, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up a corporate lawyer, or some sort of prosecutor. And when she smiles it sort of lights up the room and makes me forget what I’m doing.”