Page 166 of Strictly Business : A Lesbian Romance

on her own. A firm? A venture? Was it even possible to start one? Taylor

had no idea, but she knew that Christina had gone to college for business

and had a ton of experience in the industry. If she thought it was possible,

then it must be.

“I’m really excited,” Christina gasped. “I mean, right after I told

Michelle I was going to quit, I had to get outside and catch my breath. I felt

like I’d done something terrible. I’ve trained myself into thinking that there

is no way I could go out on my own because taking risks aren’t acceptable.

My whole life I’ve wanted my family’s— well, really just my dad’s—

approval, and I know he’ll think that I’m crazy. That made me feel like I

was going to have a panic attack, but then I had to tell myself that I could

do it. That I really could. That what my dad thinks about me doing it isn’t

relevant. He’ll either come around, or he won’t. I can’t live my life looking

to make him happy. I’ll always fail that way. And if I don’t even try, I know

that I’ll always fail, because I’ll always regret it.”

“What changed your mind? I’m happy you did. I think it would be

amazing to be your own boss. Actually, I know it’s amazing,” Taylor said

with amusement. “Look at me now. Living out my dreams. It’s been crazy. I

just— what made you want to do this right now? Right this minute? You

called me to tell me that you were swamped at work and now you’re here.

Which I’m really glad about. Just slightly astounded. In a really good way.”

Christina laughed. “Those are all really good questions. What changed

my mind? I guess that you did. You with your crazy ideas and your

enthusiasm and your drive to make things work no matter how many people

were going to tell you no. You weren’t going to take that for an answer. I

know if I hadn’t pitched your idea to Michelle, you would have worked on

your proposal and come back.”

Taylor was floored. It was astounding to think that she could have

inspired Christina to make all those changes. “Are you sure? I don’t even

know if I would have done that.”

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