The New York recruiter called me on Wednesday to have another phone interview. I was furious and ready to just block her number.

She started in on asking me things and I actually cut her off. “I’m in New York. Do you want me to come by the office?”

“Oh, yes!” she said, sounding excited. “That would be great.”

Because I wasn’t doing anything except repotting some plants I got at IKEA, I told her I’d come that afternoon. I showered and put on a black dress, Alexander Wang booties and a fucking rain jacket because it was so gloomy out. I took the 1 train uptown to the office.

Our NYC office is located in a beautiful skyscraper. I was whisked up to the 40th floor and waltzed into the glass enclosed office. The receptionist was about 19 years old wearing a chic oversized sweater and had long red hair. Little known fact about me: I am obsessed with natural gingers. I think it is gorgeous. If they have the fair skin and freckles to match, I’m dead. It’s so fucking cute.

“Hi, how can I help you?” she asked me.

I let her know that I was there to see the recruiter and she gave me directions to get to recruiters desk. I was a little confused at the open office concept. Everyone’s desks were out in the open and not divided by cubicles or anything. Where was the privacy? How uncouth.

The recruiter was sitting at her desk that had a huge bouquet of flowers on it. She also looked about 19 years old, but very well put together.

“Hi, you must be Reese! Thanks for meeting me,” she said, standing up. She was wearing a chic pink tweed shift dress and white heeled booties.

She pulled up a chair for me to sit next to her at her desk. Before I could even begin the monologue I had planned (in front of my surprise audience), the recruiter, whose name is Sarah, said, “We’d like to offer you the sales manager position. If you are still interested.”

Obviously I was still interested, otherwise I wouldn’t have been there.

I said, “Oh, great!”

“We can pay you the same as what you were making in Chicago,” Sarah went on.

I assumed the sales manager job was a bit lower than my job in Chicago so I wasn’t expecting the same rate of pay. Obviously New York is more expensive though so I assumed that was why. I wasn’t about to question it.

“Okay. I guess I accept,” I said back.

Sarah looked relieved. “I’m so happy. You can start on Monday, can’t you?”

“Sure.”

She grabbed my arm, obviously happy that I had accepted. “Thank goodness. The sales team hasn’t had a leader in so long and things are starting to get bad.” She leaned in close. “There is going to be some fallout. These people have not had any accountability. I’m just warning you.”

Thanks for the heads up.

Back outside, it was beginning to get dark. I checked my phone and saw that Brady had texted me, saying we should meet up for drinks. He’d be getting off in the next hour-hour and a half and I told him I’d meet him at this cute hotel bar not far from home. I love a good hotel bar and I rushed right over even though I’d have to wait a bit for Brady.

I ordered a glass of champs (because everyday is a celebration, right?) and enjoyed my own company at the bar. After I’d downed my first glass of champagne, the bartender who had come over a few times to ask where I was traveling from, etc, slid another glass in front of me.

“Courtesy of the gentleman on the other side of the bar,” he told me.

I glanced over and saw the culprit – a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair and a tie. It’s been so long since someone has ordered a drink for me at the bar that I didn’t even know what to do. Especially since I am in a relationship.

The guy looked up at me and, not wanting to seem like the ungrateful bitch that I am, I raised my glass to cheers him. Whatever. I continued sucking down my free champagne and to my dismay, the kind gentleman got up from his seat and made his way over to me. For fuck’s sake.

“I was just getting ready to leave, but I thought it’d be rude not to come over and say hello first,” he said.

“Oh. Hello,” I said back. You can take the bitch out of Chicago, but…

“Where are you here from?” he asked.

“I live here. I just like to hang out in hotels. I’m actually waiting on my fiancé,” I said. I quickly hid my ringless left hand.

My admirer looked disappointed. “Such a lucky man. Can’t believe he’d leave you waiting this long.”

Excuse me?

“Well, he got called in last minute to do surgery as he’s an oncologist. One of his patients had a nineteen pound tumor and it was obviously an emergency. He will be here soon,” I said, stretching the truth just slightly.

“All right then. Hey, well I hope you enjoy your evening and I hope he shows up soon,” the man said.

I rolled my eyes as he walked away.

By the time my life saving fiancé showed up, the guy was gone. Ugh. I wanted to show off. Clearly I was lying, but at least when Brady showed up, my story would play out better.

Anyway, Brady showed up with his little laptop bag and glasses and Oxford shirt. He’s so fucking cute. His new job is really demanding though and I’m already over it. He’s working in a hospital with all these little pharmacists under him. I can’t imagine him telling people what to do, but it’s so cute. And he is enjoying it which I love for him.

I told him about the meeting and what Sarah had said.

“At least you have a job now. Even if it isn’t exactly what you want, it buys you some time to find what you do want,” Brady said.

I’d been thinking the exact same thing.

The rest of the week I spent sprucing up our new place. We ended up going with a townhouse in Greenwich Village. It is what my vintage dreams are made of. The apartment takes up the entire first floor of a townhouse and has 2 bathrooms, a massive bedroom and an outdoor terrace/garden. They didn’t allow dogs at first, but Brady negotiated and we were allowed to bring Tucker. What kind of asshole would say no to Tucker?

I wanted to go with a vintage luxe vibe. Think brass, marble, faux fur, plants. Very Art Deco. I ordered a bunch of stuff online, but soon discovered how complicated getting large packages delivered in New York is.

Over the weekend, Brady, Tucker and I explored our new neighborhood. We had brunch, bottomless Bloody’s (which was absolutely disgusting), filled our fridge with tons of organic food, went to the park, etc. I was actually exhausted for work on Monday.

I was actually really excited to start work though. My week of leisure was fun, but I really do like working and having a purpose. I strutted in on Monday morning and my girl crush, the ginger named Gabby, helped me get acquainted. She showed me my desk which was smack dab in the middle of the open room. That was going to have to change immediately. I had to get my computers and monitor set up and decorated a bit then right before lunch, I got to attend my first meeting.

I will be working alongside Brett, who I guess is the equivalent of my position in Chicago. He is the epitome of a salesman with his polo shirt and dress pants. He’s around my age, addicted to Red Bull (and probably cocaine) and talks unnecessarily loud. He reminds me of the guys in college who would stand in the middle of a crowd at a party and chug a fifth of vodka for attention. I immediately liked him.

After the meeting, he came over to give me a run down of everything. After we spoke, he said, “Well, rad dude. We’re stoked you’re here.”

On Tuesday, I came in with my homemade green tea latte and egg and avocado sandwich. I’m on a high protein, low fat and dairy diet now. It’s been fun. I think technically I’m supposed to stay away from avocados, but I eat them daily.

“I really love your outfit. You always look great,” Gabby greeted me when I walked in.

Obviously I’d tried hard to look great – I was wearing a printed mock neck dress, mustard colored booties and my new no-nonsense work bag.

“Thanks so much!” I replied and we began talking. I found out that she is a graduate from Parsons who wants to break into the fashion industry which I think is adorable. It’s like the Devil Wears Prada.

We ended up going to Whole Foods together for lunch and getting salads. Gabby told me about all the awful dates she’d been on lately. I thought all the stories about how bad New York men are were fake. I let her know that I’d be a great wing woman (I love to be a wing woman). She’s 25, which is young as I am looking for older friends these days. I’m trying to get my life together.

By Friday, I was ready to kill everyone except my darling, Gabby. Sarah is so annoying and loud and always everywhere I am. You know the people who laugh at literally everything? I can’t think of a more annoying characteristic. My entire team is completely lazy and talk too much and need their hands held for everything. I can’t fucking stand it. I spent the entire day Friday coming up with a huge game plan to get things back on track. I have to wear headphones and listen to music constantly because of our open concept office. Sarah came over and disturbed me to check on how I was doing, and I almost strangled her.

The following weekend, Hunter came to visit. I was not ready to see him again. And I was not prepared. Brady opened his phone and said, “Hunter’s flight just landed,” while we were having drinks at a bar.

“Where?” I asked.

“Here,” Brady said back.

I almost choked and prayed we wouldn’t have to actually see him over the weekend. On Saturday morning, Brady and I woke up naked and hungover in our nearly empty room. Our bedroom is so spacious that our furniture doesn’t fill it. Such a great problem to have!

“Do you want to shower first or do you want me to? I told Hunter we’d meet him for brunch,” Brady said.

Wtf, seriously? I just wanted to lay in bed and hate myself for drinking until 4am. I told Brady to shower first so I could get as much time in the bed. We met Hunter at a restaurant not far from Times Square.

“Heyyyy, Reese,” he greeted me with this super affectionate voice. I hadn’t seen Hunter since our maybe-encounter in which I’d called him “baby” in my sleep and getting caught FaceTiming him with Lexi and Dom.

“Oh, hey. Good to see you,” I said, sounding really cold.

He looked really, really good. Like his facial hair was super tame and trimmed and his hair was back in a neat bun.

“And you!” Maybe it’s my imagination, but Hunter looked at me straight in the eye for several seconds longer than he needed to.

Brunch was fine. They talked about their parents mostly which is crazy boring. I had anxiety worried that Hunter would bring up the FaceTime thing so I didn’t say anything.

Finally, I just needed to talk. “So what brings you to New York this weekend? It’s such a long way for you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s a long way. I’m here for work next week, but I thought I’d come out a few days early. Wanted to see you guys and everything,” Hunter replied, with this really playful and flirtatious smirk.

I looked away, totally grossed out, but not that grossed out by the way he looked at me. I didn’t say anything for the rest of brunch.

That evening, Brady and I had plans of meeting people out, but ended up falling asleep on the couch at 7pm. Brady woke up a little later and jumped in the shower without even waking me up. I woke up when Brady was walking through the house in just a towel.

“Where are you going?” I demanded.

“Out. Are you coming?” he replied.

It was around 11, but that was fine and I got up and got ready. I put on boyfriend jeans, leopard heeled mules and a graphic tee. Because casual.

We Ubered to a bar in East Village where Hunter and a guy Hunter and Brady knows already were. The boys wanted to talk about Donald Trump and all of his scandals the whole night. I prefer not to talk about that man at all.

We all hung out and drank until around 1:30am, when Hunter announced he had to get going.

To me in particular, he said, “Gotta get back to the hotel. Check in with the ball and chain, you know, Reese?” He was smiling really big and seemed to be happy to be going back to his wife.

Wait. What? Why would I know anything about that? Did he think I was Brady’s ball and chain?

“No, I don’t know. You’re never worried about your wife whenever you’re out with us,” I said.

Brady didn’t seem to be listening until I said that.

“What do you mean? I’m always worried about the wife,” Hunter said. He still had that stupid smile on his face.

I didn’t bother saying anything back. I didn’t have anything nice to say anyway. On our way out, Hunter grabbed my shoulders.

“What do you mean, I don’t worry about my wife? I love her, you know that,” he said.

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” I asked.

Hunter walked ahead and turned around to smirk and wink at me. What? He is so weird.

I opted not to hang out with Brady and Hunter on Sunday. But then on Sunday night, I proceeded to have a gross dream about meeting Hunter in his hotel room. Have you ever woken up from a dream and just felt dirty? That was me.

Anyway, I have to go. I have a daycare to run (work to do).

The Friday before Brady left for New York, we decided to have a cute romantic dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Having him home was so nice. I felt less like a lonely, antisocial asshole. Plus, we really missed each other and we’re going out of way to be super cute and sweet. Brady kept referring to himself, me and Tucker as “our family.” He used the phrase a lot while we were looking at apartments. Kind of gaggy, but kind of cute.

At dinner, I addressed the elephant in compression pants in the room. Sydney.

“Isn’t it so weird that Sydney is moving to New York at the same time you decided to move to New York,” I said.

Brady finished chewing. “Yeah, it is a strange coincidence. I had no idea.”

Y’all know I don’t believe in coincidences.

“So when did you find out?” I had to know.

“When I got back from Peru. We’d both already had plans to move,” Brady explained.

“And don’t you think it’s so weird that you hate New York and threw a fucking fit when I wanted to move there with you. And now suddenly, you’re so excited for a career change,” I said.

He could tell what I was getting at and didn’t seem to appreciate it. “I am excited for this opportunity. It has absolutely nothing to do with Sydney. I didn’t even know she was moving until things were already in motion.” Brady chuckled.

“I don’t find any of this funny,” I said, keeping my composure.

“I know, but to imply that us moving to New York has anything to do with Sydney is completely ridiculous.” He shook his head.

I liked that he said “us” and I smiled.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a fresh start in New York? I think we went through a lot in Chicago, but I’d love to leave that in Chicago. The drama, the feelings about people, the related issues, the negativity…” Brady said.

“The feelings about people?” I repeated.

“Yeah. It would be nice if you didn’t come to New York still harboring all of those negative emotions.”

I kind of felt like he was right and I felt excited about that. Starting over in a brand new city? Not bringing all of my negative feelings with us did seem like it would help me be overall happier.

“I love that, actually. Can we leave Sydney in Chicago too?”

Later that night, we met up with Alex, Emily, Lindsey, Lexi and some others. A bit of a last hoorah if you will. During a moment alone, I asked Alex if he thought it was weird that Sydney was moving to New York.

“You know, New York is a place of opportunity. I don’t think it’s weird that two young people want to go pursue their dreams,” Alex said.

I rolled my eyes because he is so annoying. Pursuing their dreams? Really? Shut up.

The following week was hectic as I had so much shit still to do. I’d sent most of my clothing with the movers, but still overestimated how much room I’d have in my luggage. So I needed to ship things to myself.

I sold my car. Honestly, it was a relief to get rid of the thing. I never even drive anymore. My dad helped me and somehow found a buyer who was not located in Chicago so there a bit of drama surrounding getting the car to the buyer. My dad let me know that it was worth it.

I spoke with the recruiter in New York again. I was a little unsure why she still had interview questions for me and why she wouldn’t schedule one official interview instead of calling me at random times. Luckily though, she caught me at a good time and we were able to have a decent conversation. She didn’t give me any insight as to if my transfer was approved the last time I spoke to her. So I was moving without a job lined up.

I had a phone interview for a client relationship manager for a medium sized interiors company. I think it went okay, but their range is less than what I’m looking for. I am not in any position to take a pay cut, especially when my half of the rent is almost $1,000 more than I was paying in Chicago. Yes, I’m helping with rent.

And finally, Scott had me working like a slave my last two weeks. Every time I did literally anything (everything) he’d say, “You know, we are really going to miss you around here.”

He planned a going away party complete with pizza, cake, ice cream and rosé. I was so wrapped up in being excited about moving that I didn’t even think to be sad. But my coworkers who I don’t even care about doing something so thoughtful for me really touched my little heart. It started sinking in. I’d be leaving all my friends, Kendra, my fucking best friend, Mia and everything I know. It’s sad, but I didn’t cry.

I’m in New York now. I’ve been here for three days and I do not have a job. Yet. So that’s what I’m working on. If you don’t hear from me for a while, that’s why. Ttyl!