Page 17 of Unstoppable You

“Supposed to rain tomorrow,” I said. Great. I was talking about the flipping weather.

“Mmm,” she responded. Guess she wasn’t going to make much of an effort either.

I was just about to escape to the bathroom when our server came to take our orders. I put in my usual order and James selected the classic breakfast plate with eggs, bacon, sausage, two pancakes, and cranberry juice.

She crossed her legs under the table and winced. I was familiar with the feeling.

“My legs always hurt so bad after class,” I said. There, that was something.

“I know. You go in so confident and then get your ass handed to you.”

I managed to find a little laugh in the back of my throat and her shoulders relaxed a little.

“I’m still not sure if moving back was the right idea,” she said, as if she was thinking aloud.

Shit. I didn’t want to talk about this.

“Why did you?” I blurted out. As if I wanted to know!

Well. Maybe a teeny tiny part of me wanted the gossip.

James lifted her eyes to the ceiling and sighed. “Combination of factors. The city was getting more and more expensive and I just wasn’t feeling…connected, I guess is the right word. So many of the people I tried to make friends with would be there one minute and the next they’d get a job somewhere else, or move back home, or decide the city was too expensive and vanish into the woods. Western Mass. Same thing.”

She waved a hand and I suppressed a snort. Did she just make a joke? I didn’t recall James ever saying anything particularly funny.

Our server returned with our drinks and she grabbed at her cranberry juice as if she was desperately thirsty. Or trying to stave off a UTI.

I pulled my latte closer and took a cautious sip. Delicious. I couldn’t wait for the caffeine to hit my veins.

“Anyway,” James said once she’d drained her glass in a few gulps. “I didn’t know where else to go so I just came back here. Seemed as good a place as any.”

Huh. Interesting. She was so nonchalant about it for someone who’d been like “bye bitches!” the minute she had her diploma and a college acceptance.

“Plus, it’s so much cheaper. I can’t believe how much bigger my apartment here is.”I wouldn’t call my place cheap at all, so Boston prices had to be through the roof.

“And you didn’t have a job or anything keeping you there?” I finally asked. Okay, okay, my curiosity had officially taken over and I was going with it. We were already here, and she was talking so I might as well find out.

“I work from home,” she said, not meeting my eyes.

“Me too. I mean, part time.”

She nodded. “I know.”

Right. She followed my social account. That was how she’d messaged me in the first place.

Was her job a secret? Was it embarrassing? Now I wasreallyinterested.

James inhaled through her nose and leaned back in her chair, as if she was bracing herself. “I’m a baby name consultant.”

“What the hell is that?” I blurted out. “Sorry.”

She waved that elegant hand again. “I usually get that reaction. I meet with parents and help them choose names based on the meanings or cultural significance or find ones from history. Names can be important.” She would know. I’d never heard of a girl named James before.

Intrigued, I asked the question that I had wondered for many, many years. “Whydidyour parents name you James?”

She shrugged. “The ultrasound tech must have messed up, plus my mom was absolutely convinced she was having another boy. So when I came out and obviously wasn’t, they named me James anyway. It came from my grandfather.”

Oh. That wasn’t as good a story as I had always assumed.

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