“Why didn’t you say anything?” Corie asks.
“I meant to last weekend, but it was still fresh. I’d heard the news the day before, and I was still processing it. They got rid of my position,” I tell them. “They cited budget cuts.” I shrug, trying to pretend like it’s not a big deal. It is. It’s a big damn deal that I no longer have a job.
“Oh, Sloane, I’m so sorry,” Rowan says. She stands and hugs me, then the rest of the ladies do the same.
I accept each of their hugs. These ladies, they’re my tribe, and I love them dearly. Corie marrying Knox brought them all into my life, and I’ll forever be grateful for each of them. “It’s okay,” I tell them. “I live above my parents’ garage, and while I pay rent, it’s at my insistence, not theirs, so it’s not like I’ll lose my home. I get paid until the end of the summer, so I have some time to find something new. I’ve been looking,” I add.
“Any leads?” Bellamy asks.
“No, but it’s all going to be okay. Even if I have to go back to waitressing like I did all through college, it will all work out.” That’s what I keep telling myself, and deep down, I know it’s true, but it’s still hard to accept that I’m jobless.
“I can help with that if you want,” Amanda offers. She’s a talent coordinator for one of the larger, more popular bars in downtown Nashville. She definitely has connections.
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I’ll let you know if it comes to that.”
“The offer stands,” she says with a kind smile.
“I wish you’d told me,” Corie says. “You’ve been dealing with this all alone.” She furrows her brow as if she can’t understand why I wouldn’t tell her.
“I knew I’d see you today,” I tell her. “I needed to wrap my head around it, and I still have to go and clean out my classroom.”
“We’ll go with you,” Rowan says.
“I’m in,” Amanda adds.
Tears prick my eyes. “I love you guys so much,” I say, my voice cracking.
“We love you, too,” Bellamy replies.
“We got you, bestie.” Corie smiles.
“Stop it.” I laugh, fanning my face as I battle with tears. Not for my job, those have long run dry, and I’ve accepted that I’m unemployed, but these women, their support means the world to me. “Back to Camden’s party,” I say, clearing my throat.
“I love the idea, but I don’t want to put all of that work on you in such a short amount of time,” Bellamy says. “Let’s see if we can find a company and bring some smoke to Daddy Sin’s credit card.” She waggles her eyebrows.
“Let’s start researching,” Amanda says, waving her phone in the air.
“Hold on, I have an idea.” Corie grabs her phone from the table, scrolls for a few moments, then taps the screen before placing it to her ear. I don’t know who she’s talking to, but from the conversation that I can hear, it’s a distributor of some sort. “That’s perfect. Thank you so much, Tom. I’ll be in touch before Monday.” She ends the call and squeals. “The company we use for the Rampage jerseys is willing to help us out.”
“What? Really?” I ask, excitement bubbling inside my chest.
“Yes! We have to give them a design idea, and he said he’d get the design team on a logo if we can’t come up with one, and that he would put a rush on it so that we’d have them in hand Thursday with overnight shipping.”
“Grab your laptop,” I tell her. She’s a social media genius, and she took graphic design classes in college to enhance her skills in that area. “I’m sure you can whip up a logo,” I tell her.
“What if we just use Rowdy the Rhino?” Rowan suggests. “We all know Cam loves him.”
“Hmm, that’s a licensing issue, even though Baker plays for the Rampage,” Corie tells us.
“Just keep it simple,” I tell them. “Maybe a circle logo that says Team Camden, maybe a checkered flag because he likes cars?”
“Oh, what if we just use a large number 2 on the front and back. On the front, somewhere in the number, have them add Team Camden, and on the back, our last names?” Amanda suggests.
“Yes! That’s perfect,” I tell her, and all the ladies agree.
“I love this so much.” Corie beams. “I’m going to grab my laptop and email Tom now.”
“Tom? Who’s Tom?” Knox asks his wife as he enters the room with Landry, Reid, who is wearing a baby carrier and carrying a sleeping Coral, Baker, who is holding Camden, who also appears ready to fall asleep, and Foster trailing behind him.
