Pure Connections

Chapter 2

     
      The impending freedom of Friday afternoons was unparalleled. Even for Jennie, who loved her job at Gia more days than she didn't, and even if she still had no idea what her weekend plans were.

      Two full days in her apartment—no errands, no brunch dates or date-dates—had never sat right with her. And maybe there was some stuff to unpack there, but she enjoyed being alone about as much as she liked the ominous sense of loneliness she'd sometimes feel skulking around her chest cavity. It could've been that she'd been brought into the world with another person at her side, being a twin, but there was also something unsettling in the possibility that she needed more friends.

      Single friends.

      "Not Jisoo and Rosie, who worked seventy-hour weeks and co-parented a teenager with Wendy, and Irene, who—

      The door to their office swung open, banging against the stopper as Irene emerged in a rush of messy bun, chef's whites and signature odors of garlic and cheese. "Never get divorced." She shoved the door shut, then started toward her desk. "Actually, never get married. Then the whole divorce bit is null and void."

      Jennie parted her lips, cringing. "Take it the call didn't go well?"

      Irene's laugh rang humorless, maniacal, as she plopped down onto her chair. "He wants the house. I mean, he wants everything, including my grandfather's watch. What kind of person would try to claim someone else's family heirloom in a divorce? You have to be a special kind of entitled prick to pull a stunt like that."

      A muscle twitched in Jennie's face. She loved Irene. Six years of sharing an office had cultivated a friendship built more on proximity than commonalities, but she'd be there for all of, well, this, whenever Irene needed her. Still, an ugly divorce hit close to home, and if Jennie felt bad for anyone in all of it, it was the kid. Her parents' divorce had been brutal, even if she and her brother Taeyhung had been adults when they split. She rolled her chair back, heels of her stilettos clacking against the hardwood as she crossed the room to sit on the edge of Irene's desk. "Justin is good, Rene. He'll take care of you. Mark and his lawyers can't just throw a tantrum and get everything they want."

      "Can't they?" Irene scoffed. Her brown eyes shimmered, the creased skin around them a blend of restless-dark fading into the pasty sallow of apprehension.

      Jennie would've pulled out her phone and set a spa date that second, but she didn't. Massages and facials could fix anything.

      Except this.

      "I think—" Irene's voice cracked. "I think he's going to try to take Quentin."

      Jen put a hand on top of Irene's. "That's not going to happen. You're a great mom. The best mom. Even Mark knows that."

      "Jen, I—You don't..." Irene trailed off. Her lips stretched in a closed smile, gaze dropping to the desk before she shook her head and looked up again.

      "Thank you. I know I've been a nightmare to work with this last month. I don't know how I'd keep it together here without you."

      Jennie's brows furrowed. Something about the way Irene had said the words resonated like a last-minute glaze of a sentiment, and a part of her couldn't help but wonder what had been buried underneath. Jennie didn't what? Instead of probing for an answer she was almost certain Irene wasn't ready to share, she shrugged, flipping a few strands of hair over her shoulder with her free hand. "I'm good in a crisis."

      A laugh crackled from Irene's throat. "No shit. It's not like you keep this place running or anything."

      "I mean, you and Chu help here and there."