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Jade watched as Aja lovingly pushed Miri away and made her way over to her boyfriend, standing between his legs. Walker whispered something to her that had her smiling shyly and ducking her head. It was so sweet that Jade’s teeth ached, and she made it a point to look away.

After accepting congrats from her husband, Miri grabbed the beer out of Jade’s hands and took a generous swig. Her best friend eyed her for a few long moments, the kind of understanding in her gaze that only came from a long time of knowing someone so intimately. It made Jade squirm in her seat.

“What?” she whined. “Stop looking at me.”

Miri did not stop. “Ms. Joyce told my mama that some pretty Asian girl showed up at her house looking for you the other week.”

“My mama couldn’t hold water if you strapped it to her damn back.”

“You got her coming to your folks’ house?” Miri laughed. “I didn’t know it was that serious.”

Jade grabbed her beer from Miri and tipped it back until the bottle was drained. “Please don’t start. It’s not like that.”

“I know it ain’t. I just don’t understand why.”

“Because…” She hesitated. The only answers she had were the ones she’d spent months regurgitating to herself in her head. She had convinced herself that they were solid, but the realization of how flimsy they actually were was almost embarrassing.

“Because,” Miri continued for her, putting her hands on Jade’s thighs and leaning in close, “you’re as stubborn as a mule, and you refuse to accept that something can be simple.”

“There’s nothing simple about any of this.”

“Because you keep making it hard, Jade,” Miri scoffed, sparing a look to her left, where Leo leaned on the island counter, blowing up a balloon at the request of his nephew. “This is not me pretending like I know everything, I swear. But I do know that sometimes the best thing to do for yourself is get the hell out of your own way.”

“I’m so scared of fucking everything up,” Jade said, looking down at her hands. “I never feel like I’m doing enough. There’s always… more. Something else to do. Someone else to prove myself to. It never ends.”

Miri sighed. “You can’t control them. Not what they want or how they feel or what they think, definitely not what they do. I think that’s why you’re so lost right now—you keep trying to, thinking you’re going to get any outcome other than disappointment.”

Jade bit into her bottom lip, not hard enough to break the skin but enough to curb the tears she wanted to shed in response to her best friend’s words.

“How long have you known me?” Jade asked.

Miri’s eyebrows furrowed. “Shit, longer than I’ve known myself, I think.”

“And in all that time, have I ever been able to shake off the weight of other people’s opinions that easily?”

“No.”

It was a simple answer. Straightforward. And it came so quickly and without hesitation. It was more devastating than anything else Miri had said. More damning. More terrifying.

“But so what?” Miri continued. “You’re not dead, girl. It’s not too late to change that.”

“Where would I even start?”

“If I were you, I’d start by telling your coach to get the hell over himself and go from there.”

Jade snorted. “Oh, so you really want me to lose my job, then?”

“You’re sitting here convinced that you’re about to anyway. Falling apart at the seams and shit. What do you have to lose?”

“Literally everything I’ve spent my whole life working for.”

“There are other teams. More opportunities. And there’s definitely plenty of future left.” Miri stared her down. “You’re thirty-two years old, bitch. You getting head coach now would just be a stepping stone to something bigger anyway. Not getting it only means that your path is going in a different direction.”

“When the hell did you get so smart?”

“When I learned that my head didn’t actually have to live in my ass.”

A deep, rumbly snort could be heard from across the room. Jade rolled her eyes when a few heavy footsteps followed until Leo was standing behind Miri, his hand immediately going to her waist.