Page 61 of Set Me On Fire

“C’mon, Jude,” the guy said.

“Put your paperwork on my computer, and I promise to look at it as soon as we’re back from break,” she said.

I didn’t focus on his grateful nod, simply following her down the hall. It was her ungainly waddle, the winces she made with every step, and saw myself doing the same.

I didn’t have a plan, just a nebulous set of ideas strung together with a determination to get through. Part of me wanted to quiz Judy if she was the same, if she and her partner just went with the flow, making it work.

But I couldn’t.

One foot in front of the other, that’s all I could focus on, so that’s what I did.

“Bun Bun!”

Firefighters, firefighters everywhere. It was like a straight girl’s wet dream right now, because one rushed forward to pull out a chair for her, giving her shoulders a squeeze as she eased down.

“Blue lunchbox?” another asked, hanging from the fridge door as he peered inside.

“Pink one today.”

Her huffs were alarming, making me wonder just how much pain she was in.Not as much as when she gave birth, my brain supplied helpfully.

“Madame.”

Her lunchbox was placed before her by that guy, another setting a steaming hot cup of tea next to it. I blinked, comparing this treatment to the bullshit that raged at the pub. Bumming a cigarette after a particularly long shitty day was about all I could come up with.

“What about you, Millie?”

The break room was like a beehive, buzzing with life, but his voice was the hum of a wasp’s wings. I looked up to see Dave leering down at me.

“I’ll grab it.”

I smiled, because that’s what we women do. Keep things pleasant in the dim hope that the man would too. I grabbed the rest of the pad Thai I’d packed up and placed it into the microwave to reheat.

“Thai food.” Dave did not get the hint when I turned my back to him. My shoulder blades itched as he inched closer. “Don’t mind a bit of something spicy myself. Maybe we could grab dinner one night?”

I shook my head, unable to believe he’d be so blunt, especially when I remembered his girlfriend came and got him from the party. Rhett came to the same conclusion apparently.

“Katie doesn’t like Thai food, does she?”

Oh, there was some tea right here, steaming hot and ready to be served. Because as I removed my food and grabbed a fork, the two men faced off.

“I dunno what she likes, but seeing as she told me to piss off, I figure that’s not my problem anymore.” Dave prowled forward with all the menace of a big cat. “Maybe you’d like to ask her?”

“Maybe I will.”

Dave looked almost disappointed as Rhett backed off, but the expression on his face made clear he was struggling with that information. Maybe he went to deal with that, because Rhett left the break room in a hurry.

“So—”

“No.”

Dave went to slide into the seat before us, but Judy cut him off straight away.

“But—”

“Go. Away.”

I couldn’t help but grin at her firm reply, her fork hovering above her food as if she was tossing up whether or not to stab him with it.

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