Page 39 of The Interns

The office responded with a few cheers and clapping, and Reed nodded his appreciation. Maya glanced up and caught his eye, then brought her hands together to join in the applause.

“I would love to say more, but a certain someone,” Al continued as he pointedly side-eyed Maya, “has made me promise not to do so. So with that, please join me in seeing them off and wishing them well in their final year of law school.”

Without hesitation, their coworkers began filing into the conference room leaving the guests of honor behind and showing their true priorities. Reed moved to take his place in the back of the line, but after a few steps he looked back, realizing that Maya wasn’t by his side.

“You coming?”

“I’m gonna go pack up first,” she said motioning toward their office. “You go ahead.”

He watched her closely, realizing that her sudden change in demeanor was not just in his head. He gave her the space to do what she needed to do, even though he wanted to spend every last minute with her.

* * *

After downing a glass of champagne, eating a small plate full of appetizers and desserts that looked more like tiny sculptures than food, and engaging in more than his fill of small talk for the month, if not the year, Reed found himself looking around the room for Maya, but she still hadn’t resurfaced from their office yet. He glanced down at his watch. Thirty minutes. She didn’t have that much to pack. He and the entire office were being stood up.

He snagged one of the small bottles of champagne and made his way down the corridor to their office. When he arrived, he found her standing in front of the large window, her beautifully curved silhouette framed by the city skyline. His eyes moved from her to her desk, still topped with the few personal effects she kept in the office and an empty cardboard box sitting on the floor in front of it.

“Doesn’t look like you got much done,” he said softly, trying not to startle her as he stepped into the office.

“I always forget how big this city is,” she answered as she kept her eyes fixed on the view.

“It’s your hometown. You’ll always see it differently than everyone else does.”

He stepped beside her and looked out upon the cluster of high-rises that surrounded them, thinking it funny how what wasn’t enough for her was too much for him. This summer, he had developed not an appreciation for the city, but more of a tolerance and understanding of it, and it was all because of her.

“I’m not ready to go back.”

He figured that was the reason for her change in mood and disappearing act, but he was surprised that she gave voice to it. And even more so that she stood beside him, forehead creased and eyes wide, looking for some kind of comfort. He placed his hand between her shoulder blades and rubbed her back.

“Yeah, but we’re in the homestretch now,” he said, trying to find some kind of silver lining for her sake. “The sooner we go back, the sooner we’ll be done and then you’ll really be on your way.”

She cracked a small but sad smile as she cast her eyes to the ground.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s like when you’re a kid and your parents tell you that the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner it’ll be Christmas morning or your birthday or whatever it is you’re looking forward to.”

“Some things don’t change, I guess. Hold this?” He handed her his empty glass so that he could pop open the bottle in his hand, then filled the glass to the brim, and traded her for the half full bottle which made her laugh and shake her head at him.

“Classy.” She raised the small bottle and gently tapped it against his glass, careful not to spill his drink. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.” Even if it was at his expense, he was relieved to see her smiling again.

“I’m glad that you decided to stay on. You’ll get to see our case through,” she said after taking a sip.

“Yeah,” he said with a heavy sigh. “It won’t be the same without you, though. I’m gonna be lonely in this office all by myself.”

“You really think you’ll be lonely? I’m sure you’ll have visitors once I’m gone. There’s at least one I can think of.”

He groaned and averted his eyes to focus on that view again. She was never going to let him live down his workplace admirer, and she just had to get one last dig in before they parted ways. He always protested, but the unwanted attention from Lauren had resulted in attention from Maya that he discovered he very much wanted.

He took a sip of his champagne and thought back to all of the mornings they’d spent drinking coffee at their back-to-back desks, first in awkward silence, then in each other’s company while talking about the case, and eventually while talking about nothing work-related at all. Those were his favorite moments, actually, just hanging out together like they were now.

“This is nice,” he said, glancing down at her.

She paused for a moment before facing him. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

---