A Good Man (A Molly Hooper Fiction)

I Didn't Know Anyone Read My Blog

"Hi, sorry, are you the lady who works in the morgue? The one with the nose?

Jim 26 March 00:14"

"Who are you?

Molly Hooper 26 March 00:15:"

"Sorry! I work in the IT dept. Stupid night shift.

Jim 26 March 00:17"

       Molly's nerves were all on edge, and it was delightful. She could feel everything from the breeze her walking created lifting her hair from the roots to the slight rub of the soles of her shoes as they contacted the dull neutral flooring. She hadn't realized that anyone actually read her blog, and here was a man who not only read what she had to say, but actually wanted to talk face to face. For so long, the only man she had thought about had been completely disinterested, but she was beginning to think it wasn't just her that he was so disconnected from. She had actually just been talking herself into setting her sights back on the world around her and suddenly, there were COMMENTS on her blog.

       Jim. His name was Jim. He must be the man who'd been in to look at her computer. She didn't think anybody else from IT had any reason to know who she was, so it had to be him. She tried to remember what he looked like as she rounded the corner that would bring her to the canteen. She stopped in the doorway, and there he was. Heaven in a fitted tee. Hair slightly mussed, but just enough to make her suspect it was that way on purpose, and two cups of coffee steaming on the table in front of him. "Jim?" She kicked herself. There were two other people in the room besides herself and one of them was yawning behind a counter. Who else would this be?

       "Molly. I- I wasn't sure how you take it or I would have had it all fixed up for you." Jim stood and pulled out a chair, inviting her to sit. He didn't offer her the chair across from where he'd been seated, but rather the one right next to it.

       "That's okay, thank you. So. Night shift? How busy could you possibly be?"

       "Not very. But somebody needs to be here. You know, just in case. It's all very dull. This is my third cup of coffee."

       "Only my second. I'm just trying to finish up a stack of papers or I would have been home ages ago." Molly lifted her cup to her lips and looked at Jim through the steam.

       "Lucky me. You're still here. And lucky me, this seems to be more freshly brewed than the last two cups I had. Or maybe it's just the company making it a little less bitter. Definitely my favorite cup tonight." But Jim hadn't had more than a sip. He hadn't done much more than look at Molly.

       "So, you, uh...you bring all the girls to the canteen in the middle of the night? Or just the one's with cute noses?" Molly was feeling confident.

       "I don't know why I asked you if you were 'the one with the nose'. It came off a little weird, didn't it?"

       "You redeemed yourself." Good grief, those eyes were peering straight inside of her. The small talk went on for some time, but if somebody had asked her what they chatted about, Molly wouldn't have recalled anything specific. She would have been able to recall the way Jim's collar seemed slightly stretched on one side, as though he was in the habit of pulling it ever so slightly, or the way the watch he wore seemed to accent the curve of his forearm. But she definitely remembered promising to meet for coffee again, outside of work, and the way her heart jumped just a bit inside her chest when she caught Jim turning around to steal another look at her before disappearing down the hallway, under a flickering fluorescent light.