“Hello to you too,” London said. “Are you going to let us in? That cold front moved in this morning and now my ass is literally frozen.”

“Do I have to let you in?” Taylor asked.

London and Samiah both gave her that look—the one that said she had two seconds to start acting right before she got her butt handed to her.

Taylor stepped out of the doorway and flung her hand out. “Fine. Come in,” she said.

They both entered, making her tiny studio feel that much smaller. London held a cloth shopping bag and Samiah had a tray of something.

“Sorry I haven’t replied to the group texts lately. I haven’t been in the mood to talk,” Taylor said. “Or to do anything social, to be honest.”

“Yeah, we gathered that,” London said. She pulled a paper sack from the bag. “Thus the wine.”

“And the charcuterie board,” Samiah said, holding out a platter with artfully arranged fruit, crackers, cheese, meats, and olives. She brushed past Taylor and went into the living room. “Oh, we’re watching…cartoons,” she said as she set the platter on the coffee table. “I guess that’s”—she looked to London, concern creasing her forehead—“good?”

“Don’t read too much into it. I watch this movie at least once a week,” Taylor said. She picked up the remote and turned off the TV.

“So where are we in the breakup process?” London asked. “Are we wallowing, or are we still in the angry, ‘fuck that guy and the horse he rode in on’ stage?”

“I hope we’re in the eat our feelings stage, because I skipped breakfast,” Samiah said, removing the plastic lid from the platter.

“I’m not in any of those stages,” Taylor said as she grabbed paper cups and napkins from the kitchen and brought them over to the coffee table. She pointed to the literature from the assessment center. “I’m moving forward and looking toward the future.”

“Ooooh, you had your evaluation.” Samiah lifted one of the pamphlets from the coffee table. “How did it go?”

“It’ll be another week before the diagnostician provides the formal report, but I already feel more confident after talking with her. I can do this,” Taylor said, unable to squelch her excitement now that she had people to share it with.

That’s what these two did for her. They were her sounding board, her support system; they would never understand just how much they’d come to mean to her.

“Ah, I get it. You’re in the ‘all right nah, look at you’ stage,” London said with a finger snap. “It’s what we’re all striving for, girl. Good for you.”