Page 73 of How Dare You
“Hope it’s okay that I borrowed your key from Sadie,” she points to her keys where she’s hung them on a hook by the door. “I’ll give it back before I leave.”
“You didn’t borrow my key from Sadie.” I shake my head. “You got your key back from her.”
Her lips curve in the slightest smile as she leans in to rest her head on my shoulder. “Okay.” Then she lifts her head and shrugs. “I suppose I should explain myself.”
“If you want to tell me what’s wrong, I’ll listen, but you don’t need to explain crying. Sometimes you have to let it out.” My words have her tearing up again, so I stop talking.
“I’m down to one client, Rhett. I guess two if you count Calle Vista, but who knows when that’ll start up again.” She holds the mug close to her chest, like she had with her hands a moment ago by the car. “My business savings is shot. My personal savings is on its way. People keep cancelling projects on me, and—” her voice cracks again, “and I cannot seem to get new ones.” Tears spill down her cheeks. “Everyone is helping me, and I still can’t make it work.” Her breaths get short, shoulders shaking.
She sips carefully at her hot tea, regaining a little composure. “Maybe, I should have told my friends sooner. Maybe I should have asked my mom for help. Maybe I should have never left Trina’s, so she couldn’t do this to me. Maybe…maybe,” she sniffles, “I’m not cut out to run my own business, and I should just give up and get a job somewhere else.”
If there’s one thing I learned growing up with two sisters, it’s when to give advice and when to listen. I want to tell her that she’s amazing, she’s handling this better than expected, she’s excellent at running a business, and she will get past this. That leaving Trina’s may have been the best thing she ever did. But I bite my tongue and rub my hand slowly along her thigh, leaning over to kiss her temple.
She takes another sip of tea before continuing. “I’ve done everything I know how to do. I followed my business plan. I saved up. I was cautious. I just didn’t know I was going to end up with a rival. But I can’t wholly blame it on her. If I was doing this right.” she swallows thickly. “It wouldn’t matter at all what anyone else did. I own this. This is on no one else but me.”
She unfolds her legs, extending them across my lap as she leans back against the cushioned headboard. I pick up one of her feet and run my thumb up the center of the soul before I start kneading at the pad. “Ooh,” she breathes. “That’s nice. Yes please.”
Focusing on the places she responds to the most, I continue massaging her foot. When her breathing steadies and her tears have dried, I say, “It’s not over yet.” She gives me a little encouraging smile, so I continue. “We both know you’re not giving up and you’re not backing down. You are amazing, and I, for one, am really looking forward to seeing you come out on top of all this. Because I know you will. There’s a reason all your friends are so dedicated to helping you.” Her eyes round curiously. “Because you are a dedicated friend, and you’re worth it.”
Carefully setting down one foot, I pick up the other and start to work the tissue there.
“I still don’t know if I can do it.” She looks down into her tea. “I might actually lose Friday West.”
“Okay, maybe,” I say, and her eyes narrow in offense. “I don’t believe that’s what will happen. At all. But do you know that you’ll be okay if it does?” I lean in closer. “You’ll figure out a way to move forward. You’re strong and you’re so fucking smart. You won’t be down for long. And no one who cares about you would care about you any less if you had to start over. Do you get that?”
She worries her lip between her teeth, considering for a long while. “I’m not sure that’s true.”
“Who are you worried about?” I ask, jaw clenching. “I’d like to have some words with them.”
She laughs, and the sound is a relief. “I can think of better ways to introduce you to my mother.”
“If she’d stop loving you because you no longer had your own company, I’m not sure I want to meet her.”
Her brows furrow. “Well, when you put it like that, it sounds ridiculous.”
“It does,” I agree. “Have you talked to her since everything happened?”
Devon looks away at the ground. “No, but she keeps trying to reach me.”
“I’d never tell you what to do,” I start, then we both realize how far from the truth it is. She arches a brow at me. “I would. But not about something like this. Maybe you should give her a chance to love you through this like you’re letting all of your friends.”
She huffs. “I’ll consider it.”
We sit in silence for a while longer, me massaging her foot, and her drinking her tea. Eventually she gets up to wash her face and brush her teeth. She teases me for having an extra toothbrush when I don’t have anywhere to put guests, and I don’t tell her that I bought it for her, in case something like this ever happened.
When Devon’s tucked safely into my bed with her head on my chest, she squeezes my hand where it’s wrapped around her waist and says, “I heard something pretty interesting the other day.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask.
“Yeah, rumor is you walked into Trina Boatswain’s office and quit every single one of her projects,” she says, each word wrapped around a smile. “Evidently, you really gave her a piece of your mind.”
I chuckle into her hair. “That rumor is mostly true. I did drop out of three of her projects. I told her very calmly that I won’t be working with her ever again, but I wouldn’t say that’s a piece of my mind.”
She runs her nails lightly across my stomach. “You know you didn’t have to do that.”
“I did have to. Integrity matters, and I won’t be associated with anyone who chooses not to have any. I’m not working with Alex again either.”
“Really?” Her hair brushes across my chest when she tilts her head to the side. “I didn’t hear that. What did Alex do?”