Showing up when it’s inconvenient is the whole thing. Convenient loyalty is just being nearby.

Convenience is why most people are around, and it is not a character flaw; it is just not evidence. Being in the same building, free on the same night, headed the same direction anyway, none of that required anything of you. The test arrives when there is a cost: the five in the morning ride, the long drive, the shift you gave up. What you do then is what you are to somebody.

Look at the next month for one inconvenient thing you could do for a specific person. Then do it without mentioning the cost. And when somebody did that for you once, remember it out loud sometime.