Page 34 of Loving Jemima

Jem marched in like she owned the place, stopping in the middle of the room, looking around and nodding. “Not bad. It’s a little small.”

“We’re not a big company,” said Ellie. “In fact, let me do the introductions now. This is Carys, she technically doesn’t work for us but she does all the graphic design stuff, her office is next door.”

Carys held out a hand and Jem politely shook it.

“And that’s Mo, my glamorous assistant, although we’re working on a better title.”

“Like Party Queen or potentially Ellie’s Right Arm,” Mo said with a grin. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise,” said Jem. She pulled out a chair and took a seat. “Now who do I have to sleep with to get a coffee around here?”

“Car,” Ellie said warningly, seeing the spark light up in Carys’s eyes. “I think we’re about done here. I’ll get back to you when I know more about the invitations.”

“You make me miss all the fun,” Carys grumbled as she letherself out.

“So I’m fun?” Jem said, looking across the desk at Ellie.

Her lips were slightly parted, her hair looked like it hadn’t quite been brushed, her skin looked fresh and unmade-up. Something clicked inside of Ellie. Something that hadn’t clicked for a long time. She suddenly found herself feeling quite warm. She swallowed. “Um, coffee?”

“Please,” said Jem.

Ellie got up and escaped back to the small kitchen, taking her time making instant coffee because her hands were inexplicably shaking. She pressed at her chest, making sure her heart was beating correctly.

“Behave yourself,” she whispered. “What’s wrong with you?” Too much work, too much stress, she decided, as she poured boiling water over the coffee. She needed to calm down. She was a great planner and all of this was going to go swimmingly. As long as Jem behaved herself, of course.

“Here we go,” she said cheerfully, bringing the coffees in and depositing one in front of Jem, one in front of Mo, and one at her own place. “So first things first, we need to really talk about locations.”

“Jem’s got a couple of doozies,” said Mo.

“I was just telling him about a few ideas I had,” said Jem.

“Them,” Ellie said automatically.

“Sorry?” asked Jem.

“Them,” said Mo. “I go by they/them, not he/him.”

“Oh.” She turned to look at him. “But you’ve practically got a beard.”

“And a very delicious vintage fifties skirt,” Mo said, swinging their legs up onto the desk to prove it. “Neither of which nowadays tell you anything about what’s under the skirt, by the way. Not that that’s any of your business if we’re not intimate, and I’m supposing that we’re not going to be.”

Ellie held her breath, waiting to see what was going to happen. Obviously, she’d defend Mo to her dying breath, but she also knew that Mo was perfectly capable of defending themselves. Soshe waited.

“Perhaps not,” Jem said, smiling slightly. “Not that you’re not my type, but we are technically colleagues and I seem to remember that fraternizing amongst the ranks is frowned upon.”

“Fair enough, Jim,” Mo said, grinning back.

“It’s Jem, actually.”

They grinned wider. “Calling you the wrong thing is uncomfortable, right?”

Ellie saw Jem take a breath, saw the realization come over her.

“Right,” Jem said. “And I apologize. It was rude of me and I shouldn’t have assumed your pronouns. I’ll get them right from now on.”

Once again, Ellie was struck by how genuinely Jem apologized. Just like she had at the cafe yesterday. She was easily corrected. It was a nice characteristic to have, one that not many people had.

“Ah, everyone makes mistakes with it at some point,” Mo said airily. “It’s alright. Just try your best. And I’ll do my best not to call you Jim.”

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