I told Brady. I’d decided that if the roles were reversed, I’d definitely want to know and I would kill Brady if he didn’t tell me.

We ordered takeout pizza on Thursday night and I figured the best time to tell him was as we waited in the restaurant to pick up our pizza.

“Oh my gosh, so I have news,” I prefaced.

“Okay,” Brady said because usually when I have news, it isn’t good.

“Carly has a Tinder account and she’s meeting guys on there,” I said.

“Oh, jeez,” Brady replied, sounding disappointed.

“I know! She met a guy for drinks and plans on hanging out with him this weekend when Chris is out of town. Can you believe that? What should we do?”

He hesitated then said, “We should probably stay out of it.”

“Really?”

“It’s their relationship and I don’t want to get involved. I mean, it sucks that Carly is doing that, but…” Brady shrugged.

I’m not sure what I was expecting Brady to say, but I definitely wasn’t expecting him to say that he didn’t care. If it were my friend, I would definitely not stay out of it.

“Is Chris talking to other girls too?” I couldn’t help asking.

“I don’t know, Reese. It isn’t any of my business.”

At first I wasn’t going to continue, but I couldn’t help myself. “Is he hooking up with that Albino ballet girl?”

“Reese, I don’t know!” Brady exclaimed. “What does it matter? They can do whatever they want, it’s their relationship!”

“What does it matter?! They are engaged to be married!”

“What do you want to happen then?”

“Well, I don’t know. If it were my friend, I’d tell him,” I said.

Brady rolled his eyes and that was the end of the discussion. I can’t believe he just didn’t care. It bothers me that he was so nonchalant about cheating especially when his best friend is involved. Like that’s a huge deal. How can you not care?

When we got home with our pizza, we sat down and began to eat. Brady mentioned that he was planning a trip to San Francisco with his parents in a few weeks and asked if I wanted to tag along. I was still a little weirded out about his reaction to Carly cheating so I said no.

He gave me a weird look and said, “Okay.”

I watched as he started booking his flight and got sad thinking about him leaving so I said, “Wait, I will go.”

So now I’m going because I don’t want Brady to have any fun without me.

On Friday, we had a really good day at work. My team finished a major project that wasn’t supposed to be done for another few weeks. And then Mike walked past me giving out some assignments and he told Scott that I did a good job with time management.

Scott got a boner at my compliment and after lunch, he suggested we grab drinks after work. I figured it might be fun to bond with some coworkers so I agreed. I texted Kendra, “I’m getting drinks with my new coworkers. I don’t want them to know how crazy I am yet, what should I do?”

She said, “Only stay out for an hour. And no shots.”

At exactly 5:00 PM, Scott, Monica, and a guy in charge of operations named Brice, powered down our computers and walked to a bar near the office. I limited myself to two beers (and cheese fries) and even told my colleagues my plan.

After my two beers, Monica suggested a new bar. The bar she suggested is one of those places that get super wild at dusk, but since it was just after six, I figured I was still in the clear. Monica and I made a beeline for the restroom. When we came out, Brice had shots waiting for us. Scott was sitting there with his shot and a lime in each hand.

“Guys, I said no shots,” I said.

“Girl, I already bought it,” Brice said, pushing the shot toward me.

After that, Monica wanted to one-up him and ordered another round of fruity shots for us. I started to notice Scott getting up more frequently to get a beer and sometimes grabbing me one also. I’d finish about three quarters of a bottle then start on the next one Scott brought me because I kind of wasn’t in the mood for it.

Brice ended up needing to leave but Scott, Monica and I stayed. The place started getting fuller and louder and since I could feel myself getting drunk, I vowed to stop drinking.

“Reese, I just want you to know that I’m incredibly impressed with you. You have a lot of talent and I see you going far, not only with this company, but in your career overall,” Scott said loudly above the music and people.

“Thanks. I appreciate that,” I said.

“I think Mike is impressed with you too, and that isn’t easy to do.”

“He definitely doesn’t seem like he’s easy to impress, but I kind of like the challenge.”

Scott smiled at me. “You know, I think your boyfriend is very, very lucky. I think, I mean – you’re very good looking and you have such an infectious personality.”

“Thanks. I’d like to think so,” I said because I couldn’t think of how else to respond to that.

“Reese, you’re very, very good looking. I mean, you must be fighting guys off left and right.”

I smiled and nodded.

“You’re very assertive and I think that will take you far. You seem to know what you want and you aren’t afraid to go after it. I like that. That’s not a trait that everyone has, you know.”

“Yeah,” I smiled.

“If you want to move up with us, I can help you do that. I want you to trust me that I have your best interest in mind. I think you could probably take over my job in a year’s time and if that’s something you want, I can certainly help you get there.”

“Thank you. I totally trust you,” I said.

Monica, who had been sitting there with us the entire time, leaned over and said she was calling an Uber to go home. I took it as a cue for me to go too.

I texted Brady, “Come and get me please hurry! 😭”

And of course he replied, “I’m coming now. Are you okay?” because I’m dramatic.

“I’m fine,” I replied.

Monica left so Scott and I were alone.

“Thanks for all the drinks, boss. I owe you one,” I said.

“No, it’s my pleasure! You deserve it.”

When Brady texted me telling me he was outside, Scott got up and left with me. He doesn’t live far from the bar and was just going to walk home.

“All right, Reese. I had fun. Thanks for coming out,” he said and then he shook my hand.

On the ride home, I thought about what Scott said and how flattered I was, but also about how skeevy I felt when Andrew, my old boss, was saying similar things to me.

“So did you have fun?” Brady asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I’m just tired.” I yawned on cue.

I leaned my head against the window and scrolled through Instagram for a while until I felt the car slow down. I looked up and saw that we were at McDonald’s.

“Oh my gosh, we’re getting Mickey D’s?” I exclaimed.

“Yes, if you want,” Brady said.

I jumped up and down in my seat. “You’re the best hubby in training ever!”

Brady laughed.

When we got home, we ate our nuggets and fries and I almost told Brady about what Scott said to me, but I managed to stop myself. I don’t need Brady feeling like a. it was a bigger deal than it was. b. that I’m continuing to attract the wrong attention. and c. he has anything to worry about because he doesn’t.

Carly didn’t text me back all weekend. I’m almost afraid that Brady actually did end up telling Chris about what I told him and she’s pissed at me about it. But I know she would confront me about it if Chris did find out about her almost-affair. I’m also afraid to even bring it up to Brady again because he got so snippy with me the first time. I really hope she didn’t do anything stupid and if she did, I hope she and Chris get over it.