“I started undergrad early, and went to summer school to finish ahead of schedule,” London replied.
“But you were still younger than I am, weren’t you?” She turned to Samiah. “And how about you? At twenty-eight you already had a master’s degree and were working in your career, right?”
“It’s not fair to compare yourself to others,” Samiah said. “You can’t—”
“No? Really?” Taylor said, cutting her off. “Because my familyalwayscompares. They live to compare.” She started ticking items off on her fingers. “My dad, Mr. Bronze Star himself, was already climbing the ranks of the Army by the time he was my age. Mom had finished law school while raising two children and moving from one Army base to another by my age. My older brother, Darwin? Lawyer. My older sister, Jesamyn? Architect. Even my niece is showing me up. She won the Top Young Scientist award last year.
“And what is Taylor doing? Sitting here without a college degree and keeping her fingers crossed that she can get the chance to teach freaking phys ed to a bunch of homeschooled kids just to make ends meet. I’m tired of being the one everybody in my family looks down on.”
She covered her face with her hands and growled. “Argh, I’m sorry. It’s just…it’s a lot.”
Samiah reached over and peeled Taylor’s fingers from her face. “Come on, stop this,” she said. “I thought we all decided we were no longer living our lives based on what other people think we should be doing. Or because it’s what society says we should do.”
“That’s so easy for you to say,” Taylor said. “You’re not a failure.”
“Okay, that’s enough ofthatbullshit.” London set her wineglass on the end table. She walked over to Taylor, grabbed her hands, and pulled her up from the sofa. “Look at me,” London said, lifting Taylor’s chin. “Do you enjoy what you’re doing?”
She nodded.
“No. Say it. Answer the question. Do you enjoy being a fitness consultant?”
“Yes.”
“Does it make you happy? Happier than anything else you could be doing with your life?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Then that’s all that matters. Everything else is negative bullshit and you don’t need that in your life.”
“But Idoneed my family,” Taylor said. “As much as they drive me crazy, I love them. I just wish I could have something exciting to share with them when I go home for Thanksgiving, instead of the same old stuff.”
“Tell them that you’re supporting yourself by doing what you love,” London said.
“She’s right,” Samiah said, rising from the sofa and walking over to join them. “It may not be easy going right now, and you may not be satisfied at the pace that your business is growing, but itisgrowing. And you said it yourself, teaching phys ed to a bunch of homeschooled kids is nothing to turn your nose up at. It will pay the bills while you continue to grow your business.”
“Exactly,” London said. She pointed at the coffee table. “Now you can drink this wine to celebrate the gains you’ve made, but I’ll be damned if I let you waste another drop of this fantastic Chianti on wallowing. Hell no. This wine comes from happy grapes. It is to be used for celebration purposes only.”
The infectious grin Samiah had come to associate with her appeared on Taylor’s face. “Well, I do want more wine, so I guess we’re celebrating.”
“Nowthat’swhat I want to hear,” London said, grabbing the bottle of wine and topping off their empty glasses. She handed them their drinks and lifted hers in the air. “To the only woman I know who can kick your ass with a smile. Your time is coming, Taylor Powell. You just make sure you’re ready to make the most of it when it does.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Samiah wrapped her lips around the straw and drew in a deep swallow of the pineapple passion fruit kombucha. She guessed some would consider her a convert, if the top shelf of her refrigerator was anything to go on. The yogurts and cottage cheese had been demoted to the second shelf. She set the bottle on her bedside table, picked up her electronic pencil, and made a note in the corner of the screen, just above the proposed spot for the settings button.
She’d switched it from one side to the other, piddled with the thought of going rogue and placing it at the bottom of the app, then settled for the traditional upper right-hand corner. The last thing she wanted to do was frustrate people by changing things up too much.
She used the blunt end of the pencil to move icons around, but wasn’t happy with any of the ideas she came up with.
“Just put it away,” she blew out on an exasperated breath, setting the tablet next to her on the bed.
Her purpose for picking up the thing in the first place was to help London find aknock ’em deadoutfit for her upcoming class reunion. They’d messaged each other links to various online stores, but then London was called into an emergency patient consultation and Samiah had switched from her browser to her developer software without even thinking about it.
She would have to break this habit; her brain needed time to recoup. She’d been working on Just Friends almost nonstop since finishing the Leyland Group project and could feel burnout creeping up on her like those extra five pounds that always made it to her hips during the holidays.
She’d experienced burnout at the ripe old age of twenty-seven, only months after she started at Trendsetters. She would not put herself in that position again.
She scooted off the bed and went to her closet, looking for the wide-leg silk jumpsuit she’d bought last year. The red one she’d found for London online had a plunging neckline and attached cape, and it was much better suited for turning heads than the blue pinstripe, but she figured London could try this one on first to make sure she wanted the jumpsuit look before shelling out four hundred dollars.
