Page 164

breath.

Her purse was unusually light without her work laptop and the files she

usually brought home with her. In fact, Christina felt wonderfully light all

over. Michelle was still in the office for another half hour or so. The

conversation that Christina was going to have wouldn’t be well received,

but that wasn’t going to stop her. She knew that she might be crazy. She

might fail. She might be humiliated. She might have to admit that she just

couldn’t make it. Admit it to everyone, even her family, but if it happened,

it happened. She was tired of being too afraid of failing to take a risk

herself.

Sometimes there were more important things than a person’s pride.

Chapter 23

Taylor

“I quit.”

“Excuse me, what?” Finding Christina outside her apartment door just

two hours after a phone call where she’d said she’d be busy all night was a

surprise. Hearing those words come out of her mouth before she said

anything else, like a normal greeting, was a shock. “Quit— quit this? Me?”

“No!” Christina said sharply. “Taylor, of course I don’t mean you. Can I

come in?”

Taylor was so confused. She had no idea what Christina could have quit

then. Her job? Certainly not her job. That wouldn’t make any sense.

Christina liked her job well enough, but for her, it went deeper than that.

Taylor had buzzed Christina in when she’d rung at the front door

downstairs. She moved back now. They ended up in the living room. Chloe

was in her room watching a movie on the laptop. She was allowed an hour

of screen time per day and she’d chosen to finish the movie she’d started

the night before. Taylor figured that as soon as Chloe realized Christina was

there, she’d come bounding down the hallway with extreme eagerness.

“Sorry,” Taylor said again when they were sitting on the couch. “You