Page 34 of My Rules

“Yep.” I take a seat at her kitchen counter. “Something smells good.” I try to change the subject.

“It’s the least I can do when you’re helping me.” She begins to dish our dinner into bowls.

“About that.”

She keeps serving.

“You know you don’t need to do this photo thing?” I tell her. “I can loan you some money.”

She stops what she’s doing, as if annoyed.

“What?” I reply.

“I’m sick of relying on men. I want to be financially independent. Why is that so hard for everyone to understand?”

I knew she was going to say that.

“If you don’t have the time to help me with Foot Finder, that’s fine. I get it.” She puts the bowl down in front of me with a thud. “Trust me, uploading pictures to a pervert website is the last thing I ever imagined doing.” She slumps onto the kitchen stool beside me. “I feel like such a failure. I think I’ve hit rock bottom. If anyone ever found out about this, I would die a thousand deaths.”

Shit.

I need to be a better friend.

I take a bite. “You’re the best Italian cook I know.”

“Except that I’m not Italian.” She keeps eating.

I go over her choices. “Look, I don’t necessarily think Foot Finder is a bad thing; it’s a different thing, but not a bad thing.”

Her eyes search mine.

“Well, why don’t we put it this way ... if you always do what you’ve always done, you will always be where you always were.”

“Yeah ...” She stares at me for a beat. “That’s a good way of thinking about it.”

“And who cares what anyone thinks anyway.” I keep eating. “I don’t give a damn what people think of me, and you should be the same. Being financially independent is a good goal to have and something to be proud of.”

She gives me a lopsided smile. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“You always have a way of making me feel better.”

“Yeah, well ...” I shrug. “Don’t thank me yet. We haven’t even set up your profile properly. We need to come up with a name before we can go any further.”

We eat in silence for a while.

“What name do you think?” she asks.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about this, and if you want my honest opinion—”

She cuts me off. “I do.”

“Maybe we make it more like a porn name, something super sexy that would appeal to a mass market.”

“Not foot related?” She frowns.

“I don’t know; it doesn’t allure me.”

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