Page 87 of Ideal Life

Sam took her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you, Libby. You have no clue how much this means to me.”

But Libby was pretty sure she did—to Sam, Talia meant everything.

They soon parted ways when Sam took Roger and Jenny to check in for their flight to London. Libby and Jacob headed to their hotel.

It was nice, nothing special, but they realized they were pretty spoiled by where they usually got put up.

“Guess we should get used to it,” Libby said. “If we give up being travel YouTubers, no more ocean bungalows in the Maldives.”

Jacob shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed. “You know, we have done an amazing job with saving what we’ve earned in the past, what, decade that we’ve been doing this? We can pay for ocean bungalows in the Maldives on our own. We can take our baby with us all over the world on our own dime, without putting her on camera, if that’s what we decide we want.”

“I know, and I love you for that, hon.” Libby put her arms around him and sat next to him on the bed. “But we still need something to work toward. I’m not the kind of person who wants to ‘retire’ at thirty-three. I’ll drive you crazy if I don’t have some kind of job or goal to work toward.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m happy being a stay-at-home dad, but you would be like a tigress pacing in a cage within two weeks of not having some kind of job.”

Libby kissed him. “So, about that…”

A few hours later, she arrived at Ideal Life’s office. Libby had thought about just showing up unannounced, but she was glad she’d decided to call her sister first, because Talia had been out at a meeting earlier.

The elevator arrived in the lobby, and Libby moved to step inside, but Talia burst out from it.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t even know you were in the country!” Talia enveloped Libby in a hug, and Libby let herself melt into it. There were many times, growing up, when she’d needed the comfort of her big sister’s arms, and being here with her felt so right.

Libby squeezed her sister for a second longer before letting go. “I wanted to surprise you.”

Talia raised a brow, assessing her.

“What, I can’t fly halfway across the globe because I miss my big sister?” Libby said.

“Of course you can, but I know you too well, and the way you’re shuffling your feet means there’s something else on your mind. Is the baby okay?”

“Don’t worry; the baby’s great. But you’re right—there is something else I wanted to talk to you about. Can we go upstairs?”

When the elevator opened on the Ideal Life offices, a young woman with red hair stood waiting, bouncing on her toes.

“Oh my god, Libby, it’s really you,” she gushed. “I am such a fan. You and Jacob are living the dream. I want my future to be a combination of Talia’s and yours. You are, like, the most successful sister duo ever.”

Talia smiled. “Libby, meet Erin Berg, our intern. She’s whip-smart and has been such an asset to us this summer.”

Libby shook Erin’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Erin. And you must really be excellent, because Talia tends to attract the best people to work with her.”

Erin blushed. “Thank you. Um, sorry to bother you, I know you two probably have a lot to do, but could I beg you for a selfie? My roommate loves you, too, and she’d die to see a picture of us together.”

“Of course!” Libby was so used to posing with fans it only took a few seconds for Erin to get a variety of great shots.

They left her in the reception area furiously sending the photos to her roommate.

As soon as they reached Talia’s office and the door closed, though, Libby shed the public version of herself and got down to business.

“So, Sam called. He said you needed me.”

Talia sighed and flopped onto the purple couch. “I’m sorry. We’re… going through some stuff. But he really shouldn’t have done that.”

“No, actually, I think he did the right thing.” Libby sat down and took both of her sister’s hands. “He’s worried about you. He told us everything, including this”—she tapped the watch face—“and about the Omni deal and that you need to get out of it. And Talia… honestly, you look like shit run over by a truck five times. Maybe ten. Only your sister can tell you that to your face. So it’s not just Sam who’s worried. I am, too.”

“I’m—” Talia began.

“No, please, let me finish,” Libby said. “All my life, you’ve been the one who was fine. It didn’t matter if you really were or not; for my sake, you had to be. It’s impossible to count the number of times that you’ve been there for me, whether saving me from our parents forgetting they had to feed us, saving me from myself when I said yes as a freshman to prom with that asshole senior, or always being the first to like my and Jacob’s videos from the very start of our careers when we filmed grainy, shaky footage and didn’t know a thing about what we were doing.