But her sister and brother-in-law were about to be swept up in the trappings of new parenthood. Samiah had shied away from thinking about the adverse changes that would result from the blessing of her future niece’s arrival.

She would be alone.

Having friends she could turn to, vent to, friends to just be there for her because they understood what she was going through—was that something she wanted to just toss away? No one else could relate to the week she’d had the way those two could.

More than that, she liked them. She adored Taylor’s quirky sense of humor and London’s wry wit. It had been so long since she’d had true girlfriends—not since high school—that she’d forgotten just how cathartic it could be. Although the thought of veering away from her well-laid plans gave her heart palpitations, maybe she could try to be at least a little flexible.

Maybe it was time she revisit her master plan, toss aside those items that seemed hell-bent on giving her angina, and replace them with something that would make her the talk of the Internet for a different reason.

Like my app.

“Give it a rest,” Samiah told herself with an exasperated sigh.

Ever since Taylor had put the question to her on Sunday, asking whether there was something she’d always wanted to do that she hadn’t done yet, thoughts of the app she began developing soon after she moved to Austin niggled at her conscience like an annoying, persistent gnat. It wasn’t the first time the idea had tried to worm its way onto her checklist, but Samiah was determined to keep it on the back burner until she checked off the items on her initial plan.

Except now she wasn’t so sure she wanted to stick with that plan. There was something about having her most humiliating experience broadcasted for the world to see that made her want to rethink everything.

What if she’d devoted some of the time she’d wasted swiping through profiles of guys who never seemed to live up to their online personas to working on her app? Where would things stand right now? Would people be using her app at this very moment, making connections with other like-minded people in cities all around the country? Around the globe?

How much of her own potential had she sabotaged by sticking so doggedly to her master plan? She was halfway through her checklist; what did she have to show for it? Sitting at her desk in a deserted office building, eating a granola bar for dinner as she worked on a project that listed her as one on a team of six?

Becoming one of those workaholics who threw everything into her job while the best years of her life flew by had never been a part of the plan. So why was she here?