Page 138 of The Plus One Pact

"So, share now. How much?" she asks.

"Almost two-hundred thousand dollars," he says.

Her eyes go wide. "More than Daniel."

He beams. I recognize the expression from Meredith. It's younger sibling pride. The thrill of finally beating the older sibling.

She waves her hand. "Let's not go too deep on such a boring topic." She looks to Ivy. "And you're a therapist, yes?"

I nod.

"Do you work for an employer?" she asks. "Or do you run your own practice?"

"I run my own business." I don't see clients anymore, but I do make money talking to people.

“And how does that do?”

"Well enough that I pay my own bills and save," I say. Well, as long as we don’t lose our sponsors.

"But it can grow or shrink at any time?" she asks.

"It's like any business, yes." I nod.

"And right now? Is it growing or shrinking?" she asks.

"Uh, I don't have the numbers offhand," I say.

"Mama, give Ivy a break. She didn't come here expecting an audit," he says.

Amara nods, accepting this concept but not quite backing down. "Can you ballpark it for me? How much do you expect to make this year?"

"Not as much as Romeo," I say. "But enough. And we do well. If you give me five minutes, I can check a few numbers, let you know how things are growing." Or continuing to decline.

She nods and motions for me to go.

Romeo objects. "We aren't here to go over my girlfriend's business."

We're not. But now that she's asked, I'm curious. How did the last two episodes land? How are we doing?

I've been caught up in this strange set of family circumstances I haven’t even been thinking of it.

As Romeo and his mother affectionately bicker, I sneak to the bathroom inside, and I pull up my podcast app.

We're there. On the front page.

Featured.

My episode on Romeo went viral.

My emails are flush with people who want more details, listeners who think I've gone too far, advertisers looking to buy promotion on an up-and-coming podcast.

Everything we want.

I forward an email to Meredith.

She replies with a text.

Meredith: I saw! We're killing it, Doctor O. Pretty soon you won't even need my stories anymore. Keep milking that cash cow, girl. With how well episode two went, I’m promising the listeners a series.