Jamar nodded, the corners of his mouth tilting up in a wan smile. “Yeah, I got this,” he said. He wrapped her up in a gentle but fierce hug and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “I couldn’t have chosen a better big sister if I tried. Love you, Drea.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Taylor increased the volume on The Princess and the Frog as Ray the firefly started to sing about Evangeline, the evening star that he was convinced was his long-lost love. This part got her every single time. Poor Ray, putting all his hopes and dreams in an unattainable object that would never be what he needed it to be.

“You and me both, Ray,” she muttered. “You and me both.”

She reached for her phone, then quickly set it back, facedown, on the sofa. She’d done so unconsciously, but she was determined to break the habit of automatically picking up her phone whenever her mind wandered. Especially on a day like today, when she was actively avoiding social media.

Despite muting everything to do with football, she’d continued to catch tidbits about the biggest story in sports. It seemed as if the entire freaking Internet had gone wild after Hill Sports Management tweeted their announcement about “some big news” regarding Jamar “Diesel” Dixon. The chatter surrounding his attempt at a comeback had reached levels that made the viral video with Craig from a few months ago seem like nothing.

Taylor refused to be a witness to any of it. If Jamar thought performing for cameras was more important than his health, well, that was his prerogative. She decided it would be better for her mental health if she stayed off social media and avoided live TV for the next twenty-four hours. She would watch Tiana, Naveen, and the rest of the bayou crew on repeat as she strategized her own future.

Taylor grabbed the packet of materials she’d received from the assessment center. For the first time in forever, her initial reaction to the thought of going back to school was not accompanied by mind-numbing dread or baking a pan of brownies. She still wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the idea—she doubted she would ever feel excited by the thought of sitting in a classroom. But there was an optimism flowing through her that she hadn’t experienced in far too long.

This was a new journey, and she was eager to take that first step.

Taylor had been all but certain before ever walking through the doors of the assessment center that she would be diagnosed with an LD, as the diagnostician had referred to it. But she hadn’t expected to get a possible ADHD diagnosis as well.