“What are you doing here?” my mom asks when I walk into her studio on Monday morning. “Don’t you have to be at work?”

Her hair is fiery red this time. She changes it every other month. She wears tights and a loose dress. She’s paired it with bohemian jewelry, and instead of looking like a hippy, she looks eccentric and elegant.

I shake my head. “Jen sent me out to run errands. I decided to take a detour.”

My mom smiles at me. “Coffee, then,” she says and walks to the small kitchen they installed in the back to put on the pot.

I sit down in one of the waiting chairs at the front of the studio. I feel guilty about the lie, but I can’t bear to tell her the truth. Everyone knows choosing creativity above a solid degree in business or science makes it harder to succeed. My mom and stepdad started an art studio, and they are successful. I chose to be an interior designer, and I’m not successful at all.

In fact, I don’t have a job to take a detour from. It’s been nearly a month, and none of my searches have come to fruition, either. I’m here because I’m starting to get desperate. Stress is gnawing away at my insides.

“Where’s Chris?” I ask when my mom joins me in the waiting area. The sun falls through the large windows, and it feels the same way it always feels at home, calm and peaceful.

“He’s at a meeting with a prospective artist,” my mom says. “I think we’re going to get this one.” She smiles.

Chris is a good man, and he supports my mom no matter what, even though he’s less creative and less eccentric than she is.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to work with your soulmate every day. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have a soulmate, period. At twenty-eight, I’m still young enough to find one. I keep telling myself that and ignore the hollow feeling that opens in my chest when I think about a forever kind of love.

I smile. “That’s great, Mom. You guys have really built this place up.”

My mom looks around the studio and nods. She and Chris started the studio after Keagan and I finished our studies and moved out. Until then, they’d both worked dead-end, nine-to-fives that drained them of all life to put us through school and college. Now that we’re on our own, they could take the risk, and it paid off.

Chris is my stepdad, and he’s a great guy. He’s the only dad I’ve ever known. Mine took off before I can remember. Chris brought Keagan with him. The two of them changed our lives for the better. My mom was happy and Keagan and I knew each other from school. It wasn’t always easy to live together. At first, we were strangers thrown into a boat called family, but we made it work. We’re so close now, some of my friends with siblings are jealous.

Once upon a time, he was the popular guy at school that my friends urged me to date. When he became my brother, things changed. You can’t date your brother. Even if, back then, you might have wanted to. Now he’s a pain in my ass like any big bother, even if we’re practically the same age.

I glance at my watch. My stomach turns with stress, twisting into a knot of nerves. I don’t think the people from the last interview I went to are going to call me back. They’ve all been dead ends. My landlord is on my case about rent. If I don’t fork it out soon, I don’t know where I’ll go.

“What’s wrong, honey?” my mom asks. Her eyes are on my face, and she looks concerned.

I shake my head. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

I look out of the large windows. The street is quiet in the Art District. I don’t want to burden her with my problems. Even though the studio is doing well and my mom and Chris are happy together, they have just enough for the two of them. I don’t want my mom to feel like she should support me again. And she will, because she’s my mother.

“You know you can talk to me, sweetheart,” she says. “What’s going on?”

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. I put my hands on my knees and try to pull myself together. It’s hard to keep things from my mom. She’s always been my best friend. It stems from a time when all we had was each other.

“I’m not really here because Jen sent me,” I say, carefully.

Mom waits for me to say what I need to say. Her hands are folded in her lap. She’s the epitome of patience.

“I lost my job.”

She doesn’t freak out. She only raises her eyebrows.

“A month ago,” I finish.

My mom shakes her head. “Honey, why didn’t you say anything? A whole month. What happened?”

I shrug. “Jen says that I don’t have the right ‘energy’.” I make sarcastic quotation marks with my fingers in the air, and my mom rolls her eyes.

“That’s just a hippy way of saying she’s intimidated by you. I told you, you’re so much better than she is.”

I nod. “Yeah. The problem is that there’s a very small demand for interior designers in LA. Apparently, the market is pretty saturated, and I can’t find another job.”

“So, start your own company!” my mom says and smiles at me. “You have your mother’s business mind. I know you can do it.”

Thanks, Mom,” I say. I know she believes in me. “It’s a great idea. It just won’t happen fast enough for me to pay my bills.”

I swallowed, trying to get rid of the nerves that have become a constant fist in my stomach.

“How much do you need?” my mom asks.

I shake my head. “I’m not here to ask for money. I was just feeling lost. Really, I need a lot more than you can afford to give me, and I really don’t expect anything.”

My mom looks concerned again.

“If I don’t come up with my rent by tonight, I have to move out.” A lump rises in my throat. “I don’t know where to go.”

I didn’t want to cry in front of my mom. Not because she would mind it, but because I’d told myself I would be strong. Tears well up in my eyes, anyway. I’m angry at myself for buckling.

“Sweetie, don’t cry,” my mom says, leaning over and squeezing my hand. “It’s going to be fine. Everyone has dips. Remember how bad things were for the two of us just before we met Chris? And look how good things are now? You just keep faith.”

I nodded, sniffling. Faith. It was easy to talk about faith when things were going well. Not so much when times were desperate.

“Why don’t you call Keagan?” my mom asks. “You know he’ll help you.”

I shake my head. “I can’t do that. I don’t think he’ll like me invading his space. You know what he can be like.”

My mom laughs. “He’s not that bad. Sure, he’s full of crap sometimes, but he’s just like Chris. And it’s more than lovable.” She smiles at me. “Give him a call. You know he adores you. He’ll be more than happy to help. You two have always had a special bond.”

I nod. “I was a bitch to him on Saturday,” I say.

I feel bad. I was rude to him when he kept asking me about what was wrong. I didn’t want to tell him why I was in a bad mood. Julie, one of my friends, was already paying for my alcohol because I had no money. It’s hard for me to accept cash from others.

“So, apologize,” my mom says. She’s got answers for everything. Like it’s that easy. “Don’t let your pride get in the way. We can’t always be strong all by ourselves.”

That’s easier said than done and my mom knows it. She’s as stubborn as I am, although she’s not as independent.

“Keagan’s life is just so put together,” I say. “Especially with the company, now. I don’t know how to call him and tell him my life has fallen apart.”

My mom shakes her head. “He’s not going to turn you down. Trust me.”

“What makes you so sure?” I ask.

She smiles at me, and I don’t like her expression when she does. Her smile is secretive, and I hate it when she gets like that.

“Just a hunch, honey. Call him. You don’t have other options, anyway. And he’ll help you. I’m not saying you should mooch off of him. Just stay with him until you get back on your feet. Some bonding time might do you good, anyway.”

She smiles at me again. I shake my head. I don’t want to call him and admit defeat. It’s hard to do when he’s so successful. But my mom is right. I don’t have much of a choice anymore. I don’t have anyone else I can turn to.

When I leave the studio, I get in my car and dial Keagan’s number. It plays over the car’s stereo so I can talk while I drive. The phone rings for a while. I expect the call to roll over to voicemail, then he answers.

“Johnson.”

“You sound so professional over the phone,” I say.

“Dana,” he says, and his voice is immediately warmer. “What a surprise. How are you doing?”

I swallow. I can’t do this over the phone.

“Fine. I was wondering. Are you free tonight?”

“Why?” he asks without giving me an answer.

“Do you want to go out to dinner? Catch up? We haven’t really spent time together in a while.”

I hear him turning pages. He’s checking his schedule to see if he can fit me in.

“You can’t be that busy,” I point out.

“Says who?”

He’s teasing me. I can hear the smile in his voice. He’s always teasing me, getting on my nerves.

“You haven’t said no, yet,” I say.

Keagan chuckles.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see you tonight. Where are we going?”

“We can go to Far Bar again,” I say. “It’s casual, and the food is good.”

“No,” Keagan says. “Let’s do something nicer. I don’t want to spend my life in a bar. Meet me at Bestia.”

“The Italian place?”

“That’s the one.”

I drive when the light turns green.

I hear more page flipping. “I have a meeting with some technicians after work, but I’ll meet you once it’s finished. Let’s say seven? I should be done by then.”

“Sure,” I say. “I’ll see you later.”

I hang up and let out a breath. The call went better than expected. At least, he’s willing to see me. I don’t know how I’m going to ask him for help, but I’m going to have to do something. Desperate times, desperate measures.

Honestly, I just want to be able to relax for a change and not worry about the future.