“Hey, ladies, what’s up?” she greeted. “What are we talking about?”
“The twist on Taylor’s new project,” London supplied as she tilted her computer screen up. “Oh, just an FYI, I can’t stay on for too long. I have rounds in another fifteen minutes and I need to return my stepmom’s call before the end of my break.” She shoveled in a forkful of salad.
“Well, since you have to leave us soon, why don’t we talk about your project,” Samiah said. “How is your search for a hobby going?”
London had decided that finding a way to disconnect from her stressful career was what she needed the most. Becoming a renowned pediatric surgeon had consumed her every waking minute since medical school.
London put up one finger as she continued chewing. She swallowed, then said, “The hobby search is . . . Yeah, it’s going nowhere. I tried Googling hobbies, but when I typed the H in the address bar, my previous search on hepatoblastoma came up, and I got distracted.”
“Who has to Google hobbies?” Taylor asked.
“Me,” London said. “How about if I make sitting on Samiah’s couch and drinking wine my new hobby? I’m so good at that.”
“Ha ha,” Samiah deadpanned. “Joke’s on you, because that’s actually close to one of my suggestions. I just read about this shuttle that takes you from Austin to several of the wineries in the Hill Country. We can make a weekend of it and stay at one of the cute bed-and-breakfasts out there. Should I book it for next Friday?”
“Wait! I can’t!” Taylor blurted. Sweat instantly pebbled along her hairline. “I—” She briefly closed her eyes. “I’m not sure I can go on vacation right now. I have to consider my clients.”
“Can’t you reschedule?” Samiah said. “It’s just a couple of hours away.”
“I just . . . ” Taylor started. Shit. This conversation had taken the wrong damn turn. “The truth is, I’ve hit a bit of a rough patch. Financially.” Understatement to end all understatements. “I honestly can’t afford to do anything extra, even a short weekend.” She shrugged. “I’m trying to look on the bright side. I could be living out of my car,” she said with a shaky laugh. “Of course, there’s a pretty good chance I will be living out of my car if I can’t pay my rent this month.”
London’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “What are you talking about?” she asked, leaning in closer to her computer screen.
“That’s my question too,” Samiah said.
Well, this had gone sideways in a hot-ass second.
Taylor massaged her temple with her free hand. Was there anything she regretted more than making this phone call? Maybe stealing Skittles from the commissary back when they lived at Baumholder Army Base in Germany. Or that time when she used bleach to dye her own hair when she was in the seventh grade.
Okay, so she’d made her fair share of effed-up decisions in the past, but this group call definitely ranked up there.
Yet . . .
If her friends were willing to play the part of sounding board, why not go ahead and let them? She was tired of shouldering all of this on her own.
“Taylor?” Samiah said.
“I’m broke,” she admitted. “That’s it in a nutshell. I made a bunch of dumb moves while trying to find new clients, and now I can’t pay my rent.”
“What kind of dumb moves?” Samiah asked.
“And exactly how broke are you?” London added.
After weighing each question, she determined Samiah’s was the least demoralizing of the two. Addressing that one first, Taylor told them about the discount coupon site she’d signed up for in an attempt to drum up business for Taylor’d Conditioning.
“I use those websites all the time,” London said. “It’s how I discovered my favorite bakery.”
“Yeah, well, those deals work just fine for bakeries because people like cupcakes and scones. They’re more likely to become repeat customers. Most of the people who bought my coupon were the same people who join a gym on New Year’s Day and stop going by the second week of January.”
“Guilty,” Samiah said with a shrug.
“I’d hoped to keep at least a few on as clients.” She shook her head. “Instead, I’ve been working my ass off for seventy-five percent less than my normal fee, and I haven’t been able to make a dent in the mountain of debt I’ve been sitting on.”
“I’ll ask again, how broke are you?” London said.
“If I say it out loud, I’m going to throw up.”
“Come on, Taylor,” Samiah said. “I have some money put away. I can make you a loan.”
“No. No way.” She shook her head. “I knew you would say that. I am not borrowing money from you. From either of you.”
“I didn’t offer any,” London said. She put both hands up. “Not that I wouldn’t. I just have to make my student loan payment first.”
“It doesn’t matter, because there will be no loans,” Taylor said. “Seriously, who goes around offering to loan someone they met just a few months ago twenty thousand dollars?”
She clamped a hand over her mouth. Shit.
“Um, wow,” London said. “Twenty thousand, huh?”
“I’m not sure I can send that much through Apple Pay,” Samiah said, not missing a beat. “But maybe I can send half through Apple and the other half through Cash App? I’ll do that once we end the call.”
“Stop it! I’m not taking any more money from you!” She still owed Samiah the eighty-dollar booking fee from her stint in the city jail. Taylor dropped her head back and sighed up at her apartment’s water-stained ceiling. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but I got myself into this mess. I’ll figure a way out of it.”
“Will you figure it out before or after you get a crick in your neck from sleeping in your car?”
“If you angle your head just right, you won’t get a crick in your neck,” she retorted.
“This isn’t funny, Taylor,” Samiah warned.
Who was she telling?
“I know,” Taylor said. “But I think I’ve found a solution. Maybe.” She paused for a moment before asking, “Have either of you ever heard of Jamar Dixon?”
“The football player?” Samiah asked.
Taylor sat up straight. “Wait, you know about him? How? You don’t even watch football.”
“Actually, I do watch when Daniel is here on a Sunday afternoon, but being from Houston means I can’t escape high school football even if I tried. Jamar Dixon went to Katy High. He was one of the top recruits in the country his senior year. He went pro, but I can’t remember which team.”
“The Bears,” Taylor provided. “He was injured during his rookie season. Apparently he did a lot of rehab after surgery, but I guess the Bears thought he was still too much of a liability to keep him.”
“How do you know all of this about him?” Samiah asked.
“He signed up for the boot camp workout I held in Zilker Park earlier today. He wants to hire me to be his personal trainer.”
“Wow,” Samiah said. “Fancy.”