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wouldn’t respect her. Her coworkers wouldn’t respect her and, worst
of all, it destroyed her job security. It threatened not just her heart, but her
livelihood.
    As far as Sydney was concerned that sort of carelessness was a
luxury she couldn’t afford. As a product of the foster care system, she had no
one to depend on but herself. If the unthinkable happened and she lost her job,
she was on her own. There were no loving parents for her to rush back to. There
was no safety net. Hell, she didn’t even have a kindly uncle who could lend her
a couple hundred bucks if she needed it. All she had was her cat, Grommet. And
even he was kind of grouchy. If she was lucky, he might deign to curl up on her
lap if she bumped the air-conditioning up.
    She was completely on her own.
    If she lost her job, she could lose her savings. Her house.
Even her foster-siblings would feel it, because she’d been helping a couple of
them with college tuition.
    Just to give herself the kick in the ass she needed, she dug
through her purse for her cell phone and scrolled through their numbers. Five of
them had sort of stuck together because they’d all been at Molly’s at about the
same time. She passed over Marco and George. They were both good guys if she
needed advice on car care or barbecue, but they’d be useless at this sort of
thing. Jen was studying abroad this semester and who knew what time it was in
Spain. So Sydney pulled up Tasha’s number.
    Tasha answered on the third ring. “Hey, what’s up?”
    “Nothing.” Sydney aimed for a breezy tone but landed somewhere
near strained. “Just thought I’d call and see how you’re doing.”
    There was a pause of obviously stunned silence. “On a work day?
Are you sick?”
    “No. Of course not. I’m fine. What, I can’t call you just to
check in?”
    “On a work day?” Suspicion strained Tasha’s voice. “I mean,
sure, I guess you can. You just never have in the past. Oh, my God, were you
fired?”
    “No! I mean…” Sydney forced a chuckle. “Calm down. Nothing’s
wrong. Dalton’s not in today, that’s all.”
    Thank goodness she had a handy excuse because apparently Tasha
saw right through all her half-truths.
    “I just…” Sydney fought the sudden urge to spill the beans.
To tell Tasha everything. To share her burdens. Get a second opinion. The
problem was, people usually came to her for help, not the other way around. So
instead, she asked, “How’re your finals going?”
    And thankfully Tasha let herself be distracted.
    “Ugh. Just awful. Political Theory is knocking me for a
loop.”
    “I thought you liked that one.”
    And distracting Tasha was as easy as that. Fifteen minutes of
griping later, Sydney was wrapping up the conversation when Tasha inadvertently
delivered the wakeup call Sydney needed.
    “I just can’t wait for this semester to be over so I can blow
off a little steam.”
    “Just don’t do anything too crazy, okay?” Sydney said, that
familiar need to protect her sister rising up inside her.
    “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do.”
    Tasha’s words were like a stab in the gut. If that was the
barometer, then Tasha could be in serious trouble.
    “Just be safe.”
    Tasha chuckled. “I know the drill.”
    “Yeah, I know you do.”
    “Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” Tasha asked her out of the
blue.
    “Yeah. Great.”
    “Because you just missed an opportunity to remind me to call
you if I needed to.”
    “Oh. Sorry. You know you can always call. Anytime, day or
night.”
    But of course, Tasha never did call. Like Sydney, Tasha was
über-responsible, superpredictable and determined to make a better life for
herself than the one fate had handed her. She was also the last of Molly’s
foster kids Sydney felt really close to. And soon Tasha would graduate from
college, get a job and maybe move away. Maybe she wouldn’t need Sydney
anymore.
    Sydney didn’t like to admit it to herself, but she still needed
Tasha. She