“I’m just hoping his other women have seen the video and know not to trust him either,” Taylor said.
“You think there were others?” Bradley asked.
“Yes,” the four women in the room answered.
Her sister and brother-in-law left them with breakfast and a promise to check up on Samiah later in the week. Once they finished off the bagels, she, Taylor, and London sat in her living room, encountering the first awkward silence between them since their eventful meeting. The horror of knowing the most painfully embarrassing moment of their lives was now fodder for memes around the world muzzled all other thoughts.
London was the first to break the silence. After crossing her legs, she rested her clasped hands on her knee and said, “I’m happy I changed out of my scrubs before going to the restaurant last night. If I’m going to get caught on camera, I want to get caught in something that shows the world I have a nice ass.”
“You have a great ass,” Taylor said.
“So do you,” Samiah told her.
There was another beat of silence before the three of them burst out laughing. Now that the dam had broken, Samiah couldn’t hold it in. She rolled over on the sofa, cackling until she caught a stitch in her side.
“Oh, my God.” She took another moment to catch her breath. “I needed that.”
“We all needed that,” Taylor said, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. Silence fell over them again, then Taylor added, “Well, I should probably get going. I’ve got a bunch of meal plans to put together for my clients.” She reached for her ankle-high boots and slipped them on.
London slapped her hands on her knee and stood. “I should go too. It’s been forever since I drank like this. I need to sleep off the rest of those Moscow Mules before my shift tomorrow.” She braced her hands against her lower back and stretched. “Thank God I pushed those hernia surgeries to the middle of the week.”
Samiah looked from one woman to the other as something akin to panic stole over her.
“So is this it?” she asked. “Thisis how this ends?”
London hunched her shoulders in a cautious shrug. “Are we supposed to hug or something?”
“Yeah. No.” Samiah shook her head. “I mean…maybe?”
She didn’t know what she meant, but she knew it didn’t feel right to just walk away from one another after everything they’d been through over the past twelve hours.
“This just feels…I don’t know…anticlimactic. We should share phone numbers. Or, at the very least, connect on social media.”
“I guess you’re right,” Taylor said. She reached into her black clutch and drew out a couple of business cards. “I like you two. You get to have my real number,” she said with a wink. “Give me a call sometime and let me know how you’re both doing.”
“I’ll go you one better,” London said, slipping the business card in her back pocket. “Why don’t we meet for drinks next week? Just to check in on each other. I have a feeling things will get a little crazy following this viral video.” She shot Taylor a good-natured grin. “I’ll even bring the kombucha.”
“I prefer the ones with ginger, thank you very much.”
Relief flooded Samiah’s veins. She would explore just why it was so important not to lose touch with these two later. For now, she was just happy they were going to connect again.
“It’s a date,” she said. “Shoot me a text with whatever time works best for the two of you and I’ll come up with a place to meet.”
“Aww, now Idowant a hug,” Taylor said. She stretched her arms wide and gathered London and Samiah in an embrace.
Samiah saw both women to the door with a promise to contact them later in the week. Then she went to her bedroom and fell face-first onto the bed. She grabbed her phone, pulled up the YouTube video, and groaned. Another twenty thousand views since she’d last watched it less than a half hour ago. This was such a freaking disaster.
She set the phone beside her on the mattress and twisted around, staring up at the stark white ceiling. She wondered if she should add another item to her list.
Item 58: Have half a million people witness the most humiliating moment of your life.
At least it would be an easy one to check off.
Chapter Three
Samiah had always viewed her condo’s proximity to the high-rise that housed Trendsetters IT Solutions as a bonus.
Today, she regretted the hell out of her short commute to work. The compulsion to retreat grew stronger with each loathsome step she took toward the building.
