“I’m not going to answer that for you.” I twist my body so I can look her in her eyes. “I am going to say that life is too short to be unhappy. One day everything is fine, then the next day you’re diagnosed with cancer. And then you’re gone. If that happens. If, god forbid, you’re taken from this earth tomorrow, would you be happy with the life you lived? Would your boys at least have the comfort of saying, At least she lived her life the way she wanted to? No matter what your happiness looks like, you can not only do it, you deserve it. It’s your duty to show yourself and your boys how to live life to the fullest. And that happy life might be leaving Justin or it could be fighting for your marriage. But whatever it is, you’re going to do it. Because you’re still Lavonne fucking Lamar and you’re alive and a badass.”

“I’m a badass and I’m alive,” she repeats after me, and a fire seems to have lit from within her. “Damn girl.” She reaches for the drink she put down sometime during her rant. “You should be a therapist.”

“Well”—I mimic her and take a sip of my drink too—“with as many as I’ve gone to, I was bound to pick up something.”

Her eyes crinkle at the corners and for the first time today, a real smile crosses her face, but it falls away just as fast as it came. “I don’t get it.”

My eyebrows pull together. “Don’t get what?”

She seemed to just have the breakthrough. Is she already trying to talk herself out of it?

“You seem to love dedicating your time and energy to other people. Me, Quinton, from what Liv and Marie said, them. You just talked me through shit I’ve been avoiding for months in a span of—what? Thirty minutes?” She puts a hand on my arm and I’m not sure if it’s to offer support or keep me on the couch when she knows I want to run. “You said I deserve to be happy. That it’s my duty to be happy. But where’s that same energy when it comes to you helping yourself?”

Wait. Hold up.

How did she manage to flip this on me?

“I’m happy.” I gesture to the suite that we’re in. How can I not be happy and grateful for this? “My dad died. Of course that fucking sucks and I get sad. But death is part of life. I couldn’t do anything about that. So you know what I did? I changed what I could. I got out of a toxic work environment and found my dream job. I love my job and I have great friends. I’m happy.”