“Event setup. Not even all of it. Just another person who knows where things go so I’m not directing everybody and carrying everything at the same time.”
Edie writes fast.
“And someone to make sure I eat before events,” I say, quieter.
She looks up.
I shrug. “I forget sometimes.”
“I know.”
“Don’t say it like that.”
“I’m saying it with love and judgment.”
“That’s your brand.”
“It is.”
I look at the list she’s made, and something settles in me.
?Emails.
?Social media.
?Inventory.
?Setup.
?Food.
None of that says studio with a one-year lease. None of that says a building I now have to figure out how to fill, afford, manage, decorate, insure, and not resent.
I do need help..the kind that gives me more room in my life, not the kind that hands me a bigger life to manage.
Edie pushes the notebook back to me. “There. That’s what you need.”
I stare at the list.
It looks so obvious now.
“I can’t believe I didn’t know how to say this.”
“You’re tired. Tired people don’t always know what they need. They just know they can’t keep going how they’re going.”
I think about Javonte standing in that studio, proud and hopeful, waiting for me to light up.
My stomach twists.
“He was trying,” I say.
“I believe that.”
“But he skipped me.”
Edie nods. “Then when you talk to him, say that.”
I let out a breath. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
