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Samantha wished it wouldn’t come to picking sides.
Just then, Hugo arrived.
Amelia greeted him at the door. ‘Come in. The girls are inside. We’re just getting started.’
‘Thanks for including me,’ he replied sheepishly.
Amelia served him tea. ‘You’re always welcome, dear. Take a seat next to Sam.’
She welcomed him with open arms. ‘Come to us!’
Hugo slipped off his flip-flops and dipped his feet in the warm water bath. ‘I hope I’m not messing with your feminine mystique.’
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Naomi said. ‘We were about to summon Venus, but we can wait on that.’
‘I’m not exactly from Mars,’ Hugo quipped. ‘She might make an exception for me.’
‘She may,’ Naomi replied. ‘As long as you’re ready to paint your nails and talk trash about boys, there shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘Count me in.’
‘Hold on!’ Jasmine said. ‘Before we dive into trash-talking, there’s something I’ve meant to ask Sam. How’s the blog going?’
She blinked, caught off guard. ‘It’s going, I suppose.’
‘Just checking in,’ Jasmine said. ‘I mean … you packed all that equipment. Consider me your accountability coach.’
Naomi yawned. ‘Don’t let us stifle your creativity, Sam. I know we can be a bit much.’
Jen offered her photography services. ‘If you need to stage a photo shoot at dawn, I’m your girl.’
Samantha sipped her tea. ‘Thanks.’
Hugo sighed. ‘I had a blog once. It didn’t last long.’
‘It’s a lot of work,’ Naomi said. ‘Have you decided on your niche?’
‘Travel is good.’
‘Travel is broad.’
‘Narrow the scope or go the clickbait route,’ Jen suggested. ‘Ten places to visit before you die, before you turn thirty …’
‘Before you marry your sugar daddy,’ Hugo chimed.
Jen laughed. ‘Good one!’
‘Before you marry for money, consider visiting Monaco or Marrakesh,’ Naomi droned with the inflectionless tone of a television broadcaster.
Jasmine pushed past the noise. ‘Narrowing your scope isn’t a bad idea. I have my go-to eco-tourism blogs. I check with them before each trip to make sure I don’t miss anything.’
Jen’s eyes went dreamy. ‘I live for a hotel room tour. Show me the bed. Show me the view. Show me the clawfoot tub.’
‘Double down on photography and video,’ Hugo suggested. ‘From now on I want to see a camera in your hand. It doesn’t matter if you piss people off. You’re making content.’
‘It wouldn’t kill you to hop on some dance trends,’ Maya said, reminding them all of her presence.
Suddenly her friends were social media mavens. Samantha mimed taking notes. ‘Hotel rooms. Dance trends. What else?’ She caught Jasmine’s eye and realized that she was doing the very thing she’d accused everyone else of doing, glazing over the hard truth with humour. It had to stop.
