Page 32 of Curvy Girl Summer

I was in need of a yacht talk with my sister. She would’ve found a way to get the family off my back. She would’ve encouraged the online dating shenanigans. She would’ve been completely supportive of whatever it was that I wanted to do with my life. We would’ve been on the boat, talking everything out, and by the time we got back to shore, all of life’s problems would’ve disappeared. I sighed.

I missed Aniyah deeply.

She felt like she could have it all. She felt like I could have it all—even if it didn’t look like hers. We would’ve gone out on the boat and—

I stopped midthought.

Sloshing water, I sat up abruptly. It was almost as if my sister sent a message from heaven. Unless I made some moves, I was no closer to having a boyfriend or having the yacht.

And I have seven weeks to change that.

Motivated, I climbed out of the tub with a renewed determination.

“I should take myself out for brunch,” I whispered as I dried off.

I mentally went over the list of restaurants that I wanted to try as I moisturized. And by the time I slipped into a cute pair of high-waisted floral pants and a pink top, I knew exactly where I was going.

I powered on my fully charged phone, and it started ringing instantly.

“Hello?”

“Do you want to meet me at Collective Kitchen?” Nina asked.

“Oh my God!” I exclaimed. “I just got dressed to go there!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“I already know what I’m going to wear so let me get ready!”

“Yes! Okay, I’m going to finish my hair, and then I’ll be on the way.”

We squealed excitedly before deciding to meet there in forty-five minutes.

When I arrived at the popular brunch spot, it was packed. I was glad I decided to get there early. I made my way to the front so I could put our name on the list, and then I found a spot on the bench near the door.

I pulled out my phone to send Nina a text to let her know we were looking at a twenty-five-minute wait. After sending it, I noticed the notifications on the TenderFish app icon. My eyebrows flew up as I clicked on it and saw the number of messages I had.

Whoa.

My eyes breezed over the many “hey, beautiful” and “good morning, queen” messages and landed on the message from Donte.

Donte:Hello, Aaliyah. How are you doing this beautiful Sunday morning?

Aaliyah:I’m doing quite well. How are you, Donte?

Donte:I’m great now that I’m talking to you. What are you up to today?

Aaliyah:I’m getting brunch with one of my best friends, and then who knows. What about you? What are you up to?

Donte:Right now, I’m waiting for my bacon to finish cooking. I woke up, went to the gym, showered, and now I’m making breakfast.

Aaliyah:So, you can cook?

Donte:I can do a little something. If things go well, maybe I can show you what I can do. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. What do you do?

Aaliyah:I’m a computer programmer. What do you do? And do you like it?

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