“You know.” London tipped her head to the side. “I took one of those silly online quizzes and when it came to the question about hobbies, I had no idea how to answer. I have no hobbies. I have nothing but the hospital.”
“Get yourself a hobby, girl,” Taylor said.
“That’s just it, I don’t know where to even start. Medicine has been my life since my freshman year of college.” Her hands flailed haplessly. “Where does one even find a hobby?”
“You look,” Samiah suggested. “You try different things and see what makes you happy. Take a painting class.” She looked pointedly at Taylor. “Sign up for one of the fitness classes thatsomeonewill soon add to her business’s repertoire.”
“Fine.” Taylor rolled her eyes. “But she’s right. You need to find something you like to do outside of work.” She picked up her phone and started typing. “Okay, I’ll make the list. We each need to figure out what we’re going to do with all this new time on our hands.” She tapped on the screen with her thumbs. “Oh, wait! First we need a name!”
“Do we really?”
Samiah chuckled at London’s pained drawl.
“Yes, a name,” Taylor reiterated. “Something fun.”
“The Margaritas,” Samiah offered, saluting them both with her watermelon-flavored drink.
Taylor shook her head. “That sounds like a bunch of alcoholics. We need something that will make people jealous when they hear about us. Something that will make them want tobeone of us.”
“Squad Goals,” London said. They both just stared at her. “What?” she asked with a dubious frown. “That’s what you call it, right? When you see a group of people who hang together and you wish you were a part of it. You say that they’re squad goals.”
“I freaking love that!” Taylor screeched. “Hashtag Squad Goals! That’s what the hell I’m talking ’bout!” She typed on her phone. “So, now that we have a name, we need to make a list of what we’re going to focus on now that we’re not wasting time on dating.”
“Wait. Is this no dating ever?” Samiah asked. She was already thinking about ways to both work on her app and tackle that last item on her original checklist. Thirty years old was too young to give up on finding a significant other.
Taylor rolled her eyes again. “Of course not. Let’s give ourselves six months. I bet we can conquer the world in that time. And once we’ve each taken time to work on ourselves, we can commit to jumping back into the dating scene.”
“So, the objective of this little project is to make ourselves better so that we can eventually find boyfriends?” Samiah asked.
“Hell no. It’s to make ourselves better because we deserve to be our best selves. The boyfriend is just a bonus.”
“Does the six-month hiatus we’re taking for this little boyfriend project include no maintenance dates?” London asked.
Samiah’s brow shot up. “You have a maintenance man?”
“No, but I was thinking about getting one.” She drank down the rest of her margarita and set the glass on the table with a pronounced thump. “You know what? Forget about the maintenance man. I just bought one of those megapacks of batteries at Costco. I’m good for the next six months.”
“And your goal?” Taylor asked.
“Easy. To find myself a hobby.”
“Samiah, what about you?”
“I have—” Samiah started, but then stopped. She couldn’t tell them about her app. If she actually spoke it out loud she wouldhaveto work on it. No more excuses.
If you commit to it, you wouldn’t need any excuses.
She mentally pointed her middle finger at the voice in her head.
“I’m in the same boat as London,” she said instead. “My job keeps me so busy that I never take time to relax and do something that’s just for me. I’m going to find myself a hobby too. One that will help me detach from the job.”
“All right,” Taylor said, typing again. She set the phone on the table and smiled. “We got this, ladies. We are going to rock this.” She motioned to the array of dishes. “So, are we making this a weekly thing, or what?”
“Tapas and margaritas?” London asked.
“Or dim sum, or hot wings, or whatever.” She shrugged. “Not that either of you should get a big head or anything, but I’ve actually been looking forward to this all week.”
“Aww.” London reached over and pinched her cheek. “I like you too.”
