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“Good. So you have a good start. You have your book, next worst-case scenario.”
“Why can’t we do best-case scenarios instead?”
“Because you already know what that looks like. Best-case scenarios are always what we hope for or secretly expect. When we plan we need to think about—”
“What could go wrong.” She finishes for me. Just like old times.
“Exactly. So… what would you do if no one buys it?”
“Keep working my regular job and write for pleasure.”
“You give up easy, Kal.”
“No, I don’t. But I have bills to pay. I need that nine-to-five,” she protests.
“But why couldn’t writing pay the bills, too?”
“Because that’s not up to me. If I don’t have a publisher, I don’t have a way to get it out there.”
“So you give up?”
“How about you stop acting like I’m some sort of quitter.”
“Why are you irritated with me? How about you stop treating your dream like it’s up to someone else to make it come true? If you want it, take it.”
“That’s not true, Remi,” she protests.
“Why isn’t it true?” I push back.
“Because,” she says like she can’t believe she has to explain it to me.
“Because what? Tell me, in your own words, why you can’t do it,” I challenge.
“Don’t say it like I gave up on it.” She sounds defensive.
“If you didn’t, who did?”
I hoist her higher and turn up the last curve to the house.
“You can’t let one setback stop you.”
“Oh, you mean like you’re doing?” she mutters.
It’s my turn to stiffen. I stop walking and slide her off my back. I turn around to face her.
“What? You don’t like the taste of your own medicine?” she asks, a smug smile on her face.
“They’re not the same thing,” I say slowly. I’m annoyed at the comparison she just made.
“How are they different? You’re out here hiding. I’m working a job I don’t love but need.”
“You’re fucking talented. If you didn’t find a publisher who was interested. That would be a setback. Meaning, it’s one closed door. Others will open.”
“If you believe that, then why are you out here, hiding?”
That comment slides right under my skin and I bristle.
“I’m not fucking hiding. And unlike you, I didn’t suffer “a setback”. My entire life shifted, fundamentally. Everything I thought about myself, my life, my family—very little of it is true.”
