On Wednesday, I was super busy with meetings and a lot of new projects we are starting. Like I’d planned my day down to the second. I had shit to get done.
I got a call on my cell phone from a New York number and I answered it, even though I was literally walking into a meeting.
It was one of the recruiters from the New York office.
“Do you have time to chat really quick? I just wanted to know your timeline of when you plan to be here,” she said.
“Sure, I have a minute,” I said. “My aim is to be there within the next month or so. Of course I have some loose ends to tie up here and other things to figure out.”
She didn’t even acknowledge what I said. “Can you tell me about your sales within the last year and how you contributed to the overall sales?”
I wasn’t expecting that question, but I pulled out some bullshit answer as I waved to everyone walking into the conference room.
Again, she didn’t acknowledge my answer. “What weaknesses do you have?”
Was she kidding? Why did she think I had time for an impromptu phone interview? But still, I answered her just as Scott stepped out of the room, obviously looking for me.
“And how do you see yourself adding value to our team?” she asked once I’d finished.
Scott gave me a weird look, like he thought I was having a personal convo, and looked looked at his watch.
“I’m sorry, I’m walking into a meeting. Can we talk another time?” I said.
“Oh,” the recruiter said, sounding disappointed. “Sure, I’ll call you back tomorrow.”
After we hung up, Scott was still standing at the door waiting for me.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, the recruiter from the New York office called,” I said.
Scott had the nerve to look surprised and I was tempted to say something snarky back, but there was a room full of people.
I didn’t feel like things went well with the recruiter so immediately after the meeting, I updated my resume and started saving some jobs on job boards.
That evening, Kendra was able to sneak out of the house for a couple of hours to go to happy hour with me. I was kind of nervous to hear what she’d have to say about my announcement.
“Are you happy to have Brady home?” she asked.
“Mmhm,” I nodded. “He had such an amazing time and like, had some sort of revelation. He accepted a job in New York City.”
“Oh, really?” Kendra said, not sounding surprised in the slightest. “How do you feel about that?”
“Well, I’m going with him so,” I said.
“Oh. When’s that happening?” Kendra still didn’t seem fazed by any of the news.
“He’s going next weekend. I’ll probably join in three weeks. I still have things to do work wise,” I said.
She finally seemed to take me seriously. “Wait, are you serious? Why so sudden?”
“It’s when Brady’s new job needs him. He’s really excited. And I’m excited for him. Like he never does anything and now he is. And I’ll probably get to transfer with work so I’m really excited about that too. Like, to be able to work with a different team and stuff. The opportunities are endless.” I realized I was trying to justify myself so she wouldn’t judge me and tell me it was a bad idea.
“What did your mom say?” Kendra wanted to know.
“Nothing. She’s happy for me, obviously,” I said.
“That’s amazing, Reese. You guys don’t have anything stopping you so why not? I’m so jealous.” She looked like she might cry.
I actually felt relieved that Kendra approved. Once I had her approval, I excitedly told her more about our plan, how Brady would go first and scout out the apartments we’d bookmarked – one that allowed dogs because Tucker has to come with us, the potential jobs I’d looked at, the exact day I wanted to book my one way flight for, etc.
The next day, I expected the recruiter to call me at some point like she said she would. After lunch I decided to email her, just to get a rough time frame when she might call as I had a lot planned for the afternoon. This bitch never called that day and never emailed me back. I was really mad and started “one click” applying to random jobs on Indeed.com to retaliate.
On my way home, Brady texted me asking if I wanted to get drinks with him and coworkers. Obviously I did so I had the Uber reroute and drop me off at the bar.
I was surprised to find out that Brady hadn’t made it yet, but Sydney and others were there. Totally missed her!
“Hey, Reese,” she said when she saw me. She had her hair in two Kim Kardashian-style braids which for some reason annoyed me. “You look really cute. Did you wear that to work?”
I was wearing a basic black outfit and I could tell she was really trying to be nice so I decided to play nice back. We exchanged some niceties and I pretty much spaced out the entire time. Do y’all ever do that? Like I couldn’t tell you a single thing we talked about and we talked for probably fifteen minutes. Sorry, Syd. You’re boring.
Once Brady arrived, we all sat around a big table drinking beer and wine and things were super normal and fine. I was loving the fact that soon Sydney would be left behind in Chicago, never to be heard from again. Good riddance.
That is, until I heard her say something like, “I think I found an apartment in Williamsburg. It’s with a girl my cousin knows and the current roommate is moving out…”
I was thinking, “Wait. Where is Williamsburg?”
And then I fucking realized that Sydney is moving to New York also. Immediately after my groundbreaking realization, I stared at Brady for two minutes until he looked at me back. He gave me a weird look when he noticed me staring and I rolled my eyes and didn’t say anything the rest of the time.
In the Uber on our way home, I said, “When did you plan on telling me Sydney is moving to New York?”
Brady looked surprised, but then suddenly not surprised. “Babe, she got a job there too. It’s not a big deal.”
“But why didn’t you mention that? I was obviously really caught off guard when she suddenly started talking about moving to New York,” I said.
“I would have told you, but I didn’t think you cared about what Sydney is doing,” he said.
“I don’t, unless it involves me,” I said back, matter of factly. I could feel Brady’s rebuttal coming so I added, “And it does involve me because now she’s going to be around a lot in New York also.”
“She’s my friend. I don’t see how her being in New York is a problem. At least we have someone else to hang out with.”
As if I want to hang out with that little pest! Brady is so off base sometimes. I wanted to slap him.
I finally heard back from the recruiter the following Monday. By then I’d applied to so many jobs that I was excited about, I’d forgotten all about the sales manager job.
“I apologize for the delay. Things have been so crazy here!” she told me.
We proceeded with a few formal interview questions then she started being nosy and wanted to know why I was moving and where we’d be living and stuff.
Speaking of which, Brady and I have it narrowed down to a few housing options.
1. A vintage townhouse in Greenwich Village.
2. A loft in West Village.
3. A 3 bed/2 bath mansion in Soho.
Brady is going to check them out this week while I send him additional options because there are so many amazing places and I am indecisive.
On Friday, the movers Brady hired came and packed up most of our shit. So I’m staying with Lexi for two weeks. I feel like refugee. Last night we went out for drinks and as expected, she got totally trashed. I was up until 3am babysitting her. In fact, I had only been asleep for 45 minutes when Brady texted me to say good morning. He started his new job today. I literally never thought Brady would start a new job. This is weird.
I’m sorry, I have to go. I’ll try to post again later this week. I’m busy with work, looking at apartments + jobs, planning a dinner for my birthday + going away and selling some of my things. Bye!
hot mess in high heels. 
I hate to be all doom and gloom, but its a major red flag me that Brady comes home from a trip he didnt tell you about until he was about to do it to tell you he’s moving to another city and its already in motion, despite his resistance to doing it when you said you wanted to do it in the recent past, but now come to find out ‘late night, private call, didnt even know brady had a girl’ Sidney is moving to NY too and he didnt want to tell you + it just so happens Brady is now acting like he’s got emotion in there all extra happy and excited about moving himself? Nah bruh. Red flag red flag red flag I’d be cautious if i was you.
I definitely don’t think Sydney has anything to do with Brady wanting to move to nyc. I’m mostly just mad he didn’t think it was important to tell me
Hmmmm….. Sydney wasn’t also in Peru, was she? Brady hasn’t been back that long. How is is that she is also moving to NYC and they’ve been discussing moving plans? Mind you, readers don’t have a real idea of what the true timeline of the happenings in your life is. So maybe there’s been far more time since the NYC move revelation happened than we think? It just all seems odd. She will come between you in NYC if you are insecure about it. They’ll both be fish out of water with a career in common and clearly some mutual affection (platonic or not). It’s a bad combo.
no, she wasn’t in Peru but obviously he was talking to her while he was there and she knew about nyc before I did. that’s what makes me mad
I think people are blowing this up a tad more than it deserves. You should definitely be angry at him for not informing you she was moving since he obviously knew about it and he knows she grates on your nerves. But I don’t think this is a sign they have some affair going on or are going to develop one. Even if Sydney is also moving she’s not going to be working with Brady anymore and you two live together. She’s not going to have the opportunity to hit on your man. Also isn’t Sydney like a literal child?
Brady wanting you to move with him definitely is a huge commitment from him. He has often complemented and said he admires how dedicated you are to your work. I don’t think he would ask you to move with him if he wasn’t serious about your future.
Don’t let this get you down. You guys are taking a huge step forward in your relationship!
If you were referring to what I wrote, I wasn’t implying anything about an affair although that is always a possibility. That’s not the only way to inspire discord in someone else’s relationship. And it wouldn’t even necessarily be intentional on Sydney’s part. I think Reese needs to have a real, open conversation with Brady about her bad vibes from Sydney.
she is a child! and she’s very annoying
I never comment, but I think this move could be very good for you. Before you go down to the potential negatives, I think you’ve made huge growth recently. You’ve focused on your career, working out, overall being a better you— all those changes I’m sure Brady noticed. Why would he invite you to hang out with someone he has more than platonic relationship with? Why would he ask you to move with him to NYC if he wanted to be with Sydney? If you go to NYC, leave the past in past and move forward. Take this opportunity to have a clean slate at work, with your relationship, friendships etc
thank you! I agree, Brady and I actually talked about a fresh start when we get to nyc. I expressed my concerns about Sydney and everything and we decided to let the past stay in the past
Just an example and maybe won’t apply here hopefully… but I had a friend who thought that it was difficult to make progress in her life and decided a fresh start in another place would be easier so she moved with her boyfriend to another state for his job. They’re no longer together and after the move, she realized he only wanted her along to have as company, they’ve gotten used to having each other rather than a progression in the relationship. Like how breaking up seems painful in the moment so you’d rather stick it out.
It’s a huge red flag to me that there was just a surprise, “I got a job offer and I’m moving, do you want to come with?” He didn’t place Reese in much thought or discuss, “so what do you want to do in terms of your career? Would you be able to move, what’s a good timeline for you,” etc. Do we know if Brady sees a much longer term in this relationship or is it we’ll just see what happens.
I want you to be happy Reese and I just worry this move hasn’t been very well thought out.
oh that’s an awful story
THIS. I think you’re spot on!
One thing I really don’t understand is that Brady knows that there is a huge conflict between you and Sydney. He knows that you have a problem with her and don’t like her, and it has caused problems in your relationship, yet he doesn’t seem to be distancing himself from her. If he cared about your feelings and your relationship, he would do what was best for you two as a couple, and stay away from from Sydney, or there’s just going to be this constant cycle of drama revolving around her.
This is what I keep coming back to as well. I can understand that he and Sydney are friendly (more than friendly if they are discussing move logistics with one another) and maybe there is nothing there. But what a HUGE coincidence that Sydney is moving to NYC at exactly the same time. Is the job in another hospital or within the same program Brady is moving to join? I’m curious.
I haven’t asked that.
My issue is, why doesn’t Reese like Sydney? I don’t feel like there’s a good reason for not liking her. Men and women can be platonic friends. Nothing about their relationships seems sexual at all to me. I feel bad for Sydney. What is Brady’s new job?
I don’t like her because I think she is sneaky and stays around knowing I don’t want her around. she’s annoying. she also wears workout clothing way more than what should be socially accepted.
I kind of agree. Sydney and Brady work at the same place, they can be friendly, hang out, talk etc that’s not an issue. But if your partner is obviously concerned about something then wouldn’t you typically be more open about the friendship and get everything out in the open so your S.O doesn’t freak out?
They’ve been discussing the move and job change, I assume Sydney knows you’re moving with… Brady says it’ll be nice to have someone else to hang out with… but neither of them mention it to you and that’s a red flag to me. You’re not getting the information from your partner, you’re hearing about things out of earshot and having to piece it together.
i agree
completely, completely agree!
Do u just care that he didn’t tell u or are u annoyed that she’ll be in nyc too? I’d pissed like thought we were gettin away from her lol
obviously both. hopefully she was stay in Brooklyn and away from us!