By Friday evening, her cold had eased somewhat. Her misery? Not so much. Running out of Austen movies without Gwyneth Paltrow in them meant she had no escape from the mind-numbing self-loathing that inched into her consciousness whenever her mind stilled. She needed distraction. And thankfully, distraction came in the form of a dainty knock on her door at dinnertime. Marley stood on the threshold, oblivious to Reena’s troubles, with a glimmer in her eye and a bottle of sangria in her hand.

“Hey, Reena. I just got home, but Shayne’s upstairs with a ton of his grandmother’s jerk chicken and that pumpkin rice you like. Apparently, he needs to talk to you. Can you come for dinner?”

She took a deep breath. Being around people sounded good. Being around people meant not being inside her own head anymore. “You’re my savior, Marley.”

She followed Marley up to her apartment to find Shayne carefully transferring Jamaican rice and chicken from the microwave to the dining table. It smelled amazing. Shayne’s grandmother came from Jamaica and always sent Shayne home with a freezerful of food whenever he visited. Reena greeted Shayne before plopping herself at the table, watching Marley pour their drinks into tall glasses.

“They had this new sangria at the liquor store,” Marley said. “No aspartame. I will never understand why every food or drink company assumes anything girly has to be sugar free or low fat. Fake sugar tastes like—”

“Despair,” Reena interrupted. Even without Marley’s stellar metabolism, Reena wouldn’t let “substitutes” touch her lips. No fake sugar, no fake butter, or, shudder, fake meat.

She lifted the glass and took a sip. The fruity wine tasted surprisingly rich and complex. Full-bodied and almost voluptuous in flavor. The taste a perfect antidote to her mood. She sighed with pleasure.

What would it be like to share something like this wine with someone every day? To feel this warm comfort of companionship instead of having to wait for a friend to invite her out?

“You okay, Reena?” Marley eyed her as she scooped rice onto her own plate.

“Yeah, fine. Getting over a cold and a little stuffy.” Forcing a smile, she took another sip. She hadn’t told them about losing her job. She didn’t want to be the one who brought a dark cloud to their carefree get-togethers. Plus, Marley was family—and she couldn’t let her unemployment get back to her parents.

“Great. Now, Shayne, tell us what’s going on,” Marley said. “He’s been practically vibrating with this secret news.”

“Give me a minute, Grams forgot the pepper sauce.” Shayne stood. “You have any more of that habanero hot sauce, Marley?”

“Yeah, in the cupboard over the stove,” she said as Shayne walked away.

Reena took a bite of her chicken, the smoky, spicy flavor clearing her lingering sinus congestion in one bite. “Oh, man, your grams makes the best jerk chicken.” She made a happy moan as she kept eating.

“This news has something to do with Anderson, right?” Marley called out.