Taryn shook her head, her knee bouncing beneath the table. “No, I’m not eligible for a sabbatical yet. And they may not grant me a leave of absence at all. They could just let me go. It will for sure mess up my road to tenure. But…I have money saved up to get by for a while, if need be. And what else am I supposed to do?” she asked. “I can’t go back and start a new research project and forget this one. I can’t just file this away as ‘Oh well, that one didn’t work.’ This is the only reason I went into this field. Maybe this attempt will fail spectacularly, but I have to try.”
Her friends were quiet for what seemed like an interminable length of time. Taryn expected Rebecca, the most practical of the four of them, to tell her she could absolutely not risk losing her job. Or Liv to encourage her to take more time to think about it. She was half hoping they would talk her out of it because she was freaking out a little. What did she have if she wasn’t a professor? That was her life. But her friends said none of those things.
Instead, Kincaid slapped the table, rattling the cups. “Well, hot damn. We’ve got ourselves a project, ladies.”
The break in the quiet startled Taryn, and she turned to Kincaid. “Oh no, that’s not why I’m telling y’all. You don’t—”
“Oh, the hell we don’t,” Liv said, waving her fork at her. “If you’re doing this, we’re in, too. Your program needs to be in schools. Someone needs to freaking listen to the people who’ve actually been through this shit for a change. We aren’t going to make you carry that torch alone. I can help with the filming and photography. After being part of that documentary, I’ve been itching to branch out into short films anyway.”
“And we can all help with the initial fund-raiser,” Rebecca said. “The costume run was a big success. I can show you how I structured everything, got sponsors, and advertised for it. We could do something similar to get some seed money.”
“I have contacts who could get the word spreading,” Kincaid offered. “Plus, with my blog, I’m dialed into a pretty big internet community. They would help us share online once we have the videos.”
Taryn’s nose burned, and the view blurred in front of her. “Y’all are killing me.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised—not that her friends wanted to help and not that they hadn’t batted an eye when she said she was about to
leave her job. That was what they did for one another. No-strings-attached support.
They believed in her idea. Even though it was crazy. And risky.
No, they believed in her.
In that moment, it was all she needed.
She stood up and forced them all to their feet to give them hugs. They ended up in a weird four-person formation. Their heads next to each other and shoulders at odd angles.
“I love you guys,” Taryn said.
“We love you back,” Rebecca said, giving another squeeze.
They stayed that way for a second longer until Kincaid burst out with, “Yes, we love each other and this project is going to kick ass, but am I the only one who’s going to bring up the fact that Rebecca is so obviously pregnant and no one is discussing this amazing piece of information?”
“Kincaid!” Rebecca shrieked, jerking upward and breaking the group hug. Taryn almost stumbled backward at the sudden shift, and Knight started barking.
“Dude,” Liv said, giving Kincaid a shocked look.
Kincaid put her hands up, the picture of innocence. “I’m just saying. Not drinking champagne. Meat making you nauseous. Superhot husband who obviously can’t keep his hands off you. Could you be more knocked up?”
“I’m not—” Rebecca’s eyes went wide. “Oh shit.”
Before they could process that Kincaid had just broken news to Rebecca instead of the other way around, Rebecca was rushing off to the food truck.
Kincaid turned around and gave Taryn and Liv an oops look. “So…more quiche?”
Chapter
Fifteen
Shaw was kneeling by a weight bench, wiping down the equipment after his last training session Thursday evening while music blasted through his earbuds. His muscles were sapped, and the music was too loud to let him think. Mission accomplished. He was about to finish up when he caught a shadow moving across the wall in front of him.
“Riv?” he called out, turning down the music and wiping the last spot he’d sprayed down. Rivers had said he was heading out a while ago to have drinks with a friend, but maybe he’d forgotten something. However, when Rivers didn’t answer, Shaw turned around, finding himself face-to-face with the woman he thought he’d never see again.
“Oh.” He yanked the earbuds out of his ears and got to his feet, the sudden silence almost as jarring as the sight of her. “Taryn.”
She was in casual clothes tonight—tight jeans, knee-high boots, and a pink sweater that fell lower on one side, giving him an enticing view of her bare shoulder and a bra strap that blended with her skin tone.
She gave him an apologetic smile and adjusted her glasses. “Hi. Sorry if I scared you. Rivers let me in.”