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at what was supposed to be a family restaurant. It was fast paced, but they

worked around her schedule. She’d started at nine and got off at two, which

left her more than enough time to get home and be there waiting at the bus

stop for Chloe. If that arsehole could have kept his hands to himself, she’d

still have her job. She’d been coming from the men’s washroom and she’d

been carrying an entire tray of food. He’d not so accidentally grabbed her

bottom as she went by, pinching sharply. She hadn’t even dropped her tray.

Without thinking, she’d backed into him, stepped on his shoe, and planted

her elbow in his side. Of course, she was the one fired.

“You’ll find something else,” Adriana assured her. “I have some

friends too. Let me ask around for you. I’m sure something will come up.”

“Thank you both. Really.” Taylor stabbed a piece of chicken and

smiled broadly. “This is amazing, by the way. Thank you so much for

having us over.”

“It’s my mom’s recipe,” Adriana said, and Juliana covered her hand

again, on top the table. Adriana smiled back at her, a soft, tender smile. A

lover’s smile.

That secret, shared smile between the two women touched Taylor

and cheered her up. Everything would be fine. She was a hard worker. She

knew that life sometimes got hard, but that was no reason to give up. This

was just another setback. Her friends were right. She would find something.

She had a small amount of savings to get her through. More

importantly, she had supportive, wonderful people around her who accepted

and loved her for who she was. She didn’t have to hide here. She could sit

with Juliana and Adriana and envy their obvious love. She could laugh and

smile when Joseph spat out a mouthful of peas he just couldn’t swallow.

She could hope, because she had a gorgeous, healthy, happy daughter.

She’d found another life in Austin. It might not be everything that she

wanted, yet, but she was going to work hard, and hope hard, and keep

smiling hard, until that changed.