My Future Self Called To Save My Ruined Life Chapter 09

My Future Self Called To Save My Ruined Life Chapter 09

After my assistant left, I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

Savannah.

That name hadn’t crossed my life in a long time.

Zoey had mentioned her during a video call last month.

Savannah and Liam had split-apparently Liam cheated on her with a first-year grad student.

“Karma,” Zoey had said.

“They deserved each other.”

Savannah’s career had gone nowhere.

Her relationships were a mess.

Rumor had it she was trying to pivot into content creation and asking everyone she knew for help.

I didn’t know what she wanted from me today.

Funding.

A job.

Or that cheap line-“We were best friends for four years.”

Whatever it was, my answer was the same.

There was no place for her in my world anymore.

That night, I walked to a small bar along the Silverrun River.

It was a habit I’d picked up since moving to Westbrook-one night a week to myself, a glass of wine,

watching the light dance on the water.

My phone buzzed.

A message from Professor Kleinman.

[Jessica, have you considered the MIT joint project? They’d really like you on the advisory team.]

I typed back:

[I’ll have an answer for you next week, Professor.]

Then I set the phone down.

MIT.

Another name I’d never even dared to dream of.

I raised my glass to the river’s reflection and gently clinked it against the air.

“To you, twenty-two-year-old Jessica.”

“Thank you for picking up that call.”

“Thank you for choosing yourself.”

The wine went down with a slight bitterness, but the aftertaste was clean and sweet.

Just like the last few years.

Bitter at the start.

Hard in the middle.

But the ending-that ending I’d earned myself.

I remembered a line I’d read a long time ago:

[The moment you decide to live for yourself, the whole world makes way for you.]

I never used to believe that.

I thought love was everything.

I thought giving meant being valued.

I thought best friends were forever.

What I finally learned was this: The only harbor that never fails you is yourself. The only bet worth

making is on your own life.

I set my glass down, stood up, and walked out of the bar.

The Westbrook night wind swept off the river, damp and cool.

I pulled my coat tighter and walked with a light step.

Tomorrow there would be new projects to review, new meetings to attend, new worlds to conquer.

And I would never, not ever, slow down for anyone who wasn’t worth it.