I don’t know if I’ve mentioned my friend Elyse on the blog. She’s the kind of friend you can go years without speaking to, but when you reunite it feels like no time has passed. She was one of the first people I truly became friends with after I transferred. I kind of introduced her to the rest of my friends because she was a little different than us. Less glam and more studious. But seriously, out of all of us, she’s winning.

Anyway, she just got an advanced degree and is moving overseas so she had a big going away party in Arizona. I decided at the last minute to go because otherwise I don’t know when I would see her again.

I packed a bag full of literally nothing but bikinis, shorts and heels and flew to Phoenix on Friday afternoon. My friend, Lauren, landed about an hour before I did and she hung out at the airport waiting for me. Lauren recently got engaged to her boyfriend. She thought it would be cute to announce it on Facebook and everyone was in an uproar because she didn’t make it more personal. I personally didn’t care because she posted detailed pictures of the ring and that’s all I really wanted to see.

We took a cab from the airport to Elyse’s apartment not too far away. It was super hot and sunny which was a far cry from the cold gloomy weather in Chicago. I was super excited for a weekend away even though I missed Brady already. The party was scheduled for Saturday evening so we decided to stay in and have a girls night on Friday. Elyse lives with another one of our friends from college, Morgan, who was the one who planned the party.

We got champagne (much better than the nasty shit we drank in college), tequila and a spinach frozen pizza. I ended up getting really drunk off champagne and had a snap convo with my ex. He didn’t know I would be in Phoenix for the party and when he found out, he tried to get me to come to one of his friends’ places to hang out. I wasn’t drunk enough to go, but I never directly said no because sometimes the chase is fun.

The next morning, I woke up at 8:00 AM Chicago time ready to get my day started. Everyone else was still sleeping and had no interest in getting up which was annoying so I called Brady because obviously he would be up by then.

He didn’t pick up and it hurt my feelings. I tried a few more times in case he didn’t hear it the first time until I finally gave up and went back to sleep.

Eventually my ringing phone woke me back up. Brady.

“Hi,” I answered.

“Hey. I love you,” Brady said. He sounded half asleep.

“Liar. I know you were with your other girlfriend and that’s why you didn’t answer,” I said.

Brady laughed.

“Anyway, Lauren’s ring is literally to die for in person. Do you want me to see if she knows where her fiancé got it?” I asked.

“That isn’t necessary. I have it under control,” he said.

And because I’m annoying, I sent him a picture of me wearing Lauren’s ring. She said I could. Is that bad luck? I hope I didn’t jinx myself or Lauren’s engagement.

Anyway, after everyone got up we got brunch at the coolest restaurant. They had a live band (at 11:00 AM) and we all ordered egg whites, plain toast and two pitchers of mimosas. It was like we were back in college and poor again.

“So did you see it coming?” Elyse asked Lauren.

“He asked my sister what kind of ring I wanted and then she asked me, so yes I saw it coming,” Lauren replied.

“I would have killed her,” I said.

“At least he did well though.” Lauren admired her beautiful ring.

“Reese, when’s your boyfriend going to propose? I feel like you’ve been together forever,” Elyse said, turning to me.

“I know,” I said dramatically. “I don’t get what he’s waiting for. We already live together, have a dog together and he lets me spend all his money.”

They all laughed, but I wasn’t joking.

“He isn’t going to propose until he wants to,” Lauren said matter-of-factly.

“I’m not worried about it.” I sipped my mimosa. I know it sounds bad, but I feel like if I really, really try, I could make Brady do anything I want – including propose. But that’s not how it’s supposed to work so I won’t.

Elyse has been single for a long time and we discussed the possibility of her finding a guy in Portugal. She’s the cutest little blonde bombshell so it shouldn’t be a problem. And honestly good for her not letting a man distract her for getting her degree and getting out of the country before Donald Trump becomes president.

After we ate and were a little tipsy from the mimosas, we Ubered to the mall. I made a vow to stop drunk/tipsy shopping but honestly I forgot. I ended up getting a few pieces, but luckily we needed to get back to Elyse and Morgan’s place to get ready for the party.

We pushed back some furniture, made enough fishbowls to line the counters and propped open the patio doors leading out the shared pool. I was so busy slurping from one of the fishbowls that I didn’t notice the first few guests arrive. I hugged and caught up with some people I went to school with then I ran and changed into a tiny bright bikini and swiped on some nude lip gloss.

Back out at the party, someone had brought a bottle of champagne. Elyse opened it and sent the bottle around while we filled up our flutes. I couldn’t be bothered to get one out of the cabinet so I just used my glass from earlier. I caught up with some other people from college, all working cool tech and project management jobs. I was talking to Rene, a project manager, when I heard Devin arrive. I rolled my eyes deeply, which Rene thought was directed at her.

Devin made a beeline for me and slid an arm around my waist.

“You look beautiful,” he tried to whisper sexily, but I rolled my eyes.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

Devin pulled away and looked at me like I was crazy. “Elyse is my friend, too.”

“So you came all the way to Phoenix just for the party?” I asked.

“Yeah, just like you. Plus I had a free weekend so I thought I’d make a quick trip. Just my luck, you’re here too,” he smiled.

I rolled my eyes.

Devin made a big show of looking around the room behind me and himself then asked, “Where’s your boy?”

“He isn’t here obviously. He doesn’t have time for our shenanigans.”

Devin smiled conspiratorially. “His mistake.”

I walked away to find another fish bowl and Devin followed me.

“When do you leave?” he asked.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” I answered.

“Let me take you to breakfast. We gotta catch up.”

“No,” I said simply.

He clutched his chest like that was the ultimate letdown. “Come on. My treat!”

As if I needed him to buy a cheap breakfast meal for me. Five years ago I would have been ecstatic.

“Devin, no,” I said. “Go away.”

He grinned. “All right. I’m gonna go say hi to Elyse.”

I waved him off and started sucking down another drink. Lauren came and found me, throwing her arms around me. She’d changed into a similar mix match printed bikini because we are basically twins still.

“If I asked you to be a bridesmaid, would you do it?” she asked me.

“Of course. Are you asking me?!”

Lauren nodded. “I don’t have anything planned, but I know I want my main girls there!”

Just wondering, if someone asks you to be in their wedding, do you have to ask them to be in yours? Like just out of common courtesy?

Later on, a lot of us were sitting out by the pool just hanging out and dancing to ratchet music. I was laying back in a pool chair with a mug of rosé. I hadn’t seen Devin in a while, which was a good thing, and I assumed he’d left. I glanced up though and saw him walking out of the house with his tall basketball player friend. I sighed and turned away, closing my eyes. I heard Devin and his friend making their rounds and greeting everyone.

A few minutes later, I heard and felt someone come sit in the pool chair next to me. It was Devin. He was sitting on the side of the chair and his legs were so long that his chin was practically sitting on his knees. His friend was sitting over on the other side looking just as uncomfortable.

“Your dude’s crazy,” Devin said in a low voice. He reached out and grabbed my hand. “If I had the chance to wife you today, I would.”

I snatched my hand away. “You did have the chance, but you’re an idiot so…”

“No, you would just rather be with that pussy.”

I was enraged. I kicked my legs to the ground and stood up. “Dude, fuck off.”

Devin laughed, not even flinching. “Sit your ass down, Reese.”

Obviously I didn’t like not being taken seriously so I poked him really hard between the eyes. Devin stood up, a full foot taller than me.

“Okay, and?” I said, letting him know that his height didn’t scare me.

He lifted his arm, which I took as a threat, so I threw the remainder of my rosé on him. Because I only had a drop left and he’s so much taller than me, the remaining drops landed on his white t-shirt. Devin smacked my hand away, knocking the mug on the ground. It shattered on the concrete.

“You’re literally psychotic, get away from me. I don’t even know why you’re here,” I said.

He scoffed. “I’m psychotic? Look at you!” He gestured to my little body, in attack mode.

Devin started to walk away and I don’t know, I just wanted to keep fighting with him. Don’t call my man a pussy when you’re the pussy. I started to chase him.

“Okay, well congrats on being stupid!” I called after him.

Devin raised his hand and flipped me the bird.

“Cool. You’re still a piece of shit though!” I said.

“And you’re a bitch,” he called over his shoulder.

We’d reached the patio door, which was closed. Devin had to stop and open it which gave me time to catch up and assault him. I picked up speed and kicked out my foot to try and trip him or something. I don’t know. I just know that my legs are stronger than my arms so that was the way to go. I didn’t even make contact with him (I missed), but blood from my foot dripped down onto his leg, sock and shoe. I didn’t even notice I was bleeding.

“Ugh! What the fuck?” Devin exclaimed, turning back to look at me.

It took me a moment to realize that there was a trail of blood following me and that I must have stepped in a stray piece of the broken mug and cut my foot open.

“Reese, are you okay?” Lauren asked, running up behind me.

“She’s sick. Get her some help ASAP,” Devin said and went inside.

I assured Lauren that I was fine then went in search of my phone to call Brady. I was bleeding to death and needed instructions on what to do. Brady didn’t answer the first few times I called him, but Lauren and Elyse came to my aid with rubbing alcohol and bandaids.

When Brady finally called back, I was still sitting there bleeding through the bandaids.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” he asked after I picked up.

I started sobbing, naturally. “I literally can’t stop bleeding.”

“What? You’re bleeding?” he said, sounding panicked.

“Mmhm! I don’t even know what I happened! I want to come home!” I continued.

“Why are you bleeding? From where?” Brady asked.

“My foot. It won’t stop.”

“What happened?”

“I must have stepped on something. I don’t know. Should I call 911?”

Brady sighed. “No, just relax. You’re bleeding more because you’ve been drinking-”

“How do you know I’ve been drinking?” I demanded to know.

“Because I know you.”

I didn’t have anything to say about that so I repeated, “I want to come home.”

“You’ll be home soon, okay? I’ll get you from the airport.”

I sensed that Brady was trying to rush me off the phone so I asked, “Where are you?”

He replied, “Out.”

“Where? And with who?”

“I’m having drinks with John.”

“Just John? Where’s Kendra?” I didn’t like Brady being out alone with Kendra’s unfaithful husband.

“She wasn’t feeling well.”

“And John left her at home? Some husband he is!” I yelled.

“Okay, I gotta go. Love you,” Brady said.

It annoyed me so I hung up. An hour later, I was sitting on Elyse’s floor packing up all my stuff to leave. My flight wasn’t leaving until Sunday afternoon, but I wanted to be prepared. Being around Devin and alcohol brought out a side of me I thought I put to rest and honestly it was embarrassing. I needed to get out of Arizona and never look back.

When I woke up on Sunday morning I had a text message from Devin. It said, “Let me take you to breakfast in Scottsdale.”

What a fucking quook! Why was he even still bothering?

I replied, “No,” then got up to get ready for Sunday Funday with the girls.

Brady picked me up from the airport that night with Tucker in the car. Tucker doesn’t really like car rides, so I was pleasantly surprised. I was so glad to be home. I’m seriously so happy with how much I’ve changed since college and dating Devin and how lucky I am to have such a patient and sweet boyfriend. I may bitch about Brady a lot, but I think being with him has drastically changed me.

So I blocked Devin’s number again. Good riddance!

Anyway, since y’all asked, I’ll tell you about my high fiber vegetarian diet (that I strayed from slightly this weekend). For breakfast, I’ll usually have all my carbs and dairy, if I want it. I’ll have whole grain toast with butter or peanut butter or honey and chia seeds, scrambled eggs with cheese or hot sauce, and a side of avocado and/or tomatoes. I’ll usually have some sort of fruit for snacks throughout the day so diced mango or pineapple, a couple of cuties, a banana or applesauce or something. For lunch I’ll have soup or a salad with crackers or string cheese. And for dinner I’ll do beans, lentils or quinoa with vegetables. I like black beans topped with homemade pico and a side of avocado. I love cajun asparagus or broccoli, look up the recipe on Google! Sometimes I’ll indulge and make risotto, but only if I haven’t been feeling satisfied. I’m big into sweets (and alcohol) so eating like this makes it a lot easier to have dessert and not feel guilty about it. I don’t know if it’ll work for everyone, but I honestly feel so much better. It’s easier to wake up, I don’t feel sluggish in the middle of the day and I’m never bloated (unless I have beer). I literally have abs and I haven’t been to the gym in months!

K love y’all! Bye!

The past week at work has been so annoying. For a few days, Monica was really short and distant no matter how much I tried to talk to her. It was really weird because she wasn’t acting that way with anyone else. Even though it bothered me, I had so much more to worry about so I didn’t dwell on it. My meeting with Scott and Mike on Thursday went really well, so well in fact, that they agreed to get me absolutely anything I need to get sales to where they want them to be. Unlimited resources!

On Wednesday night, I bugged Brady about what he was getting me for my first Mother’s Day. He had the nerve to laugh and ask if I really thought I deserved something which I thought was rude. But then on Thursday morning right before he left for work, Brady informed me that he’d left his Amex on the nightstand.

I rolled over and said, “Wait, why?”

“Get whatever you want,” Brady said and I couldn’t argue with that.

I ordered two items from my favorite luxury website, net-a-porter.com and immediately when I got the order confirmation email, I forwarded it to Brady. It was a little pricey and I didn’t want to be accused of trying to hide it or anything.

Brady replied, “You’re welcome.”

After my beautiful net-a-porter splurge and really successful meeting, I was feeling super great and super happy so naturally, I chose that moment to talk to Brittany.

I texted her, “Why are you sending pictures of wedding rings to my man?” Our relationship is just like that so she would know not to get defensive.

“Lol, what do you mean? No idea what you’re talking about, girl,” she said back.

“Facebook! I have his password obviously.”

She sent back the eye rolling emoji and then a few minutes later added, “Psycho.”

She’s right.

About an hour later, she snapped me a tongue out selfie with the caption, “Your boyfriend says hiiiiiiiii!” Which I assumed meant they were chatting on Facebook again. So annoying and so bitchy.

Brady went straight to the gym after work and I didn’t even want him to come home. When he finally did, I was already in bed and sleeping and shooed him away when he tried to cuddle me.

On Friday afternoon, Monica and I were in the copy room together. Even though she’d seemed mad at me for a while, I was still super friendly and nice and asked how her work was going. She started opening up and explaining some of her projects to me.

There was a lull in our conversation and I grabbed my papers preparing to leave then Monica said, “Scott thinks you hate it here.”

I turned back to her. “What?”

“He thinks you’re really unhappy. He asked me what I thought the other day.”

“And what did you say?”

Monica shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t tell if you’re moody or just like, super serious now.”

“I’m not moody,” I scoffed. “I think everyone else is super serious so I kind of have to be too.”

She gave me a sympathetic smile. “The big guys are just freaking out about the numbers. I’m sure it’ll get better.”

I don’t know why, but it really bothered me. Why was Scott talking to Monica about me? If he feels that I’m unhappy, shouldn’t he talk to me about it? Isn’t that how you retain employees? You can’t just assume someone is unhappy and then not try to do anything about it.

I was still upset by the time I got home. I pulled out my laptop and started replying to emails in the living room then Brady arrived home soon after. I was still annoyed at him about messaging Brittany and my day at work didn’t help.

Brady stopped in the living room and said hello then went to put his stuff down. When he came back, he had Tucker and a bag of pretzels in his arms.

“How was your day?” he asked, sitting down next to me.

“Stupid,” I mumbled, not looking up at him.

“Why? What happened?”

“It was literally so stupid, I can’t even explain it. I’m probably not going back.”

Brady didn’t say anything, but I could feel him staring at me. His phone was sitting on the coffee table next to me and it lit up, alerting him that he had a new text message. Instinctively I looked over to see who it was. Hailey. I threw a fit.

“Seriously?” I exclaimed. “Why are you still texting her? Do you really have such low self esteem that you need a college student to stroke your ego?”

Brady’s brow furrowed and he started to say something, but I cut him off.

“And messaging one of my closest friends, you are so slimy.”

“Your friend messaged me – about you! You should know that because you read it! Here, take my phone and read all my messages. You can have all my passwords so you can control everything because that’s clearly what you want! You can have it! I don’t fucking care!” Brady stood up and slammed his phone on the coffee table. “Hailey is texting me because one of my patients died. I don’t need her to stroke my ego, I don’t fucking care about her! God!”

Brady stormed off, leaving his phone. I guess he really was serious. I didn’t appreciate him screaming at me so I sat there pouting and refusing to follow him. His phone lit up a few more times: emails, ESPN, etc. Nothing/no one important. Eventually I called Tucker to go out for his final walk then we got in bed with Brady.

The next morning, I completely forgot about our fight and woke up looking for my boo. He wasn’t in bed so I got up and found him in the dining room. He was shirtless and wearing glasses, while working on his laptop.

“Wanna go get food?” I asked.

Brady was resting his chin in his hand and he didn’t look up or move as he said, “I don’t want to talk to you.”

Jeez. I spun on my heel and walked out, unsure of what to do. I showered and got dressed then sat on the bed. Kendra was having brunch with John and John’s sister and husband so I couldn’t call her to complain. Carly wasn’t exactly the best person to call since I haven’t spoken to her about anything other than wedding stuff for weeks. So I finally called Preston.

“Hey, my love,” he answered.

“I miss you. Let’s hang out,” I said.

“I wish I could, doll. I’m working right now.”

At that moment, Brady walked in. He glanced in my direction, but made a beeline for the bathroom.

“Let’s go out tonight though. My friend is having a party in Wicker,” Preston continued.

“I’m always down for Wicker Dicker,” I said, loud enough for Brady to hear.

After I got off the phone with Preston, I went shopping to find something to wear that evening. I wasn’t even in the mood to shop so I ended up putting on an oversized plaid shirt and super tight ripped up jeans that I had at home. I met Preston at his studio then we Ubered to the party.

It was just getting started when we arrived. The host was a burley looking guy who Preston informed me was a drug dealer. After being introduced to the host, the roommate came and introduced himself to me and Preston. His name was Tony. The first thing he said after introductions was, “That’s a god-awful name.”

Preston and I looked at each other then Tony said, “I’m sorry. I’m rolling.”

I didn’t understand what he meant by that until Preston said, “And you didn’t share?”

“I didn’t know anyone else would be interested,” Tony said.

Preston assured Tony that he was interested and Tony told him they could exchange the molly out on the balcony.

They began to walk away and Preston said, “Reese, are you coming?”

I shook my head. “No. I’ll wait for you here.”

I feel like they were gone forever, but maybe it was just because I was stuck talking to the drug dealer host guy who had nothing important to say.

Preston finally came back and he’d taken off all his top layers and was just wearing a thin tank top and his shorts.

“Reese, babe,” he sang. “We’re going dancing. [He started twerking]. Are you coming?”

It was only like 11:30 at this point so I figured why not. We walked with Tony and another one of the roommates to a club not far from their apartment. Preston was over the top flirting with Tony which I found entertaining because Tony was too out of his mind to even notice. Someone ordered shots of whiskey and we all danced and talked.

About an hour and a half later, I grabbed Preston’s arm and said, “Let’s go, I’m tired.”

Preston shrugged away from me. “You can go! I’m having fun!”

Even though I know Preston is capable of taking care of himself, I didn’t want to leave him with these two men neither of us really knew. So I stayed even though I was literally yawning and sitting on a bench. Preston was dancing in front of me and firing off questions at Tony, who was sitting next to me.

Eventually someone got the idea to go find food, which I was obviously down with so we walked to a nearby taco spot. I ordered a huge meal consisting of three beef tacos, a cheese quesadilla, rice and beans. It was fucking disgusting. I took one bite and vowed to never stray away from my diet again.

Finally, after we’d finished eating, it was 2:30 AM and Tony said he was going home.

“What’s your number? We have to do this again!” Preston said eagerly and shoved his phone in Tony’s face.

After they exchanged numbers, Tony said, “It was nice meeting you, Reese,” and hugged me.

Then he turned to Preston and shook Preston’s hand. Preston looked wounded.

Tony started walking home and Preston flagged down a cab.

“Bye, love! Let me know when you get home!” Preston said, kissing me on the cheek before running to get in his cab.

When I got home, Brady and Tucker were laying on the living room couch with all the lights off and the tv on. I walked in and sat at the end of the couch and Brady watched me. We just stared at each other for a moment. I called Tucker over to me and he bounded over.

“Your daddy’s mean,” I said to Tucker in a baby voice.

“Your mommy is too,” Brady said back in a normal voice.

I looked up at him and I started bawling. Because of course. I picked Tucker up and went to our room to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and immediately called my mom to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. She had plans to go to dinner with my grandparents that night which made me happy that at least she wasn’t alone.

Brady wasn’t in bed so I got up to go find him. We hadn’t talked about anything and I wanted things to go back to normal. There was a light pink card standing on the nightstand. I picked it up and discovered that it was a Mother’s Day card signed from Brady and Tucker. Cried.

So things are fine now. We apologized and we are obsessed with each other again. Thank goodness. Having Brady give me the cold shoulder for a day and a half was not fun. Still waiting on that Facebook password though.

Ever since we got back from San Francisco Brady has been a little moody. Not mad or grumpy, but like sad. And distant. He’s been going to the gym a lot which he’s never really been into. I will admit that he was a little bit more muscular and toned when we first met, but now he’s just skinny from running. So he’s been spending a lot of his free time at the gym. It’s weird. I made plans to tag along one day, but of course I overslept and he went without me.

Sales at work have plummeted so Mike was in the office all last week. There are a lot of things that have contributed to the slump in sales (not to make excuses but): my team is lazy, Monica isn’t doing her job and our designers aren’t great. But of course, I didn’t tell Scott or Mike this, I’ve just been doing anything I could do to turn it around quickly.

One day I passed Mike in the hallway and without even looking up at me, he said, “Meet me in my office in 20 minutes.”

Naturally I was freaking out, wondering if I was about to become a stay at home against my own will. I prepared for the meeting by gathering a ton of data and projections that would be in line with my plans.

Twenty minutes later, I was standing outside Mike’s dark office. He clearly wasn’t in there and I started second guessing myself. Had I heard incorrectly? After I waited for about fifteen minutes, Mike finally showed up. He was barking orders at Kelsey and unlocked and entered his office without even acknowledging me. I followed them in and sat in a chair while Kelsey rattled off some of the things that were on his to do list. Mike listened to her while glaring at me. It was weird.

“Thanks, Kelsey. Please enjoy your lunch and I’ll see you when you get back,” he said once she was finished.

After Kelsey left Mike turned on his iPad and still didn’t acknowledge me. Ugh. The man has no social skills.

“So you wanted to see me?” I finally said.

“Yes. What’s going on, Reese? I thought I made my expectations clear,” he said, not looking up from his iPad.

“You did. I’m going to try out some new things. I noticed that some of our recent feedback said-”

Mike finally looked at me and cut me off. “I don’t care. You know what my expectation is so make it happen.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

His cell phone rang and I waited while he picked up, thinking he would make it a quick call. I realized that he was probably talking to whoever he reports to and I felt like I was intruding so I left.

Scott texted me a little while later and was like, “You had a meeting with Mike today? How did it go?”

I’m not sure who told him about the “meeting” (I wouldn’t even consider it that), but he was obviously freaking out about not being there.

“It went fine. It was brief,” I replied.

“Whenever you interact with Mike I need to know about it, Reese,” he lectured.

I rolled my eyes. Scott is such a control freak. And then he gets so frazzled. Like chill, dude. You should not have hired me if you didn’t think I could handle shit on my own.

Brady’s mom finally emailed me. I’d been refreshing my email nonstop waiting for the email to come in. I literally didn’t have a clue what she would possibly need to email me, but I was dying to know. I kept asking Brady if he had any ideas and he assured me that he was just as clueless as I was.

The subject of the email was: “Please read.” Straight forward, but unnecessary. Obviously I’m going to read it.

“Hi Reese. I hope this email finds you well. A few months ago, you mentioned that you’d like to get involved in the charity business and I’d love to help you if I can.”

How sweet, right? I can’t believe she remembered that I said that and actually took me seriously. She went on to tell me about this nonprofit organization here in Chicago that her colleague’s son is the director of. It’s an organization that helps raise money for children with extensive medical issues. It’s cool because they raise money in creative ways like having dinner mystery parties. Anyway, they are looking for people to join the planning commitee which is where I would come in. So nice of her to think of me. She attached the contact information for the director (who she’s already told about me) and who I obviously looked up on LinkedIn. I’m nosy.

The email had another attachment which Brady’s mom instructed was, “Some light reading.”

It was an article about decisions Christians must make or something like that. I didn’t make it past the first paragraph because it seemed like one of those judgey/guilt trip articles and I wasn’t in the mood.

So I just emailed her back saying that I would contact him and thanks for the information. I haven’t heard anything since.

Over the weekend, Brady had some friends over. I wasn’t in the mood to socialize, but I thought it would help Brady get out of his funk so I didn’t complain. I thought I’d be a good host and make drinks for everyone (Lindsey and two of her coworkers and one of Brady’s friends from home).

Lindsey and I ended up having a thirty minute conversation about hair, makeup and beauty and I was so engrossed in educating her in all things glamour that I didn’t notice Brady’s coworker, Maddie, walk in. Do y’all remember Maddie? Ugh. She needed to be in on the glamour conversation too if we are being honest. She was with two of her friends.

“Hey, Reese,” Maddie said, waving.

“Hi,” I said back.

“These are my friends, Abby and Allie.” She gestured toward her two friends. I’ve met Abby before a long time ago. She’s pretty boring and plain like Maddie is. Allie on the other hand looked like a grunged out Miss America with her bright teeth, thick brown eyebrows and blonde hair. I wanted to be her friend.

“Do y’all want a drink?” I asked, mostly to my new partner in crime.

“I’ll have whatever you’re having,” Allie said. She even had a sexy raspy voice. Am I turning into a lesbian? Did that one drug induced kiss change me forever?

I mixed up some margaritas and then Brady came rushing over.

“Can you make like four more of those? Thanks,” he said, hastily and then he left just as quickly as he arrived.

I gave a “Do I look like your fucking maid?” look and Allie caught it and laughed which I appreciated. I mixed the margaritas up in the blender and waited about thirty seconds for Brady to come get it.

When he didn’t, I grabbed the entire pitcher and set off to deliver it. I found Brady sitting just outside on the patio with some people I didn’t recognize.

“Here,” I said, shoving the blender at him.

Brady gestured for me to sit it down, but didn’t say anything. That annoyed me and I suddenly just wanted everyone to go home so I could hang out with my man. I scooped Tucker up and locked ourselves in the bedroom until everyone left.

On Sunday, I borrowed Brady’s laptop because mine was dead. He was preparing dinner (a fresh salad for me and a steak for himself) and I sat in his spot in the dining room sending a few emails. (Remind me to tell y’all about my newest diet. My body looks bomb and I have so much energy throughout the day) Once I was done, I went to Facebook and what do you know? Brady was already signed in. I wasn’t going to stick around and snoop through his things but an instant message popped up and it was from my friend Brittany! I almost died.

“Thought anymore about Houston? ;-)” she said. It was from April 22nd and Brady hadn’t responded.

They had exchanged some messages previously and while reading from bottom up, I gathered that they were discussing relationships and how hard dating is. Brittany is one of those girls who is always “talking” to someone, but never has a boyfriend. I scrolled up quickly to see how far back the messages went and saw a photo from Brittany. I recognized her hand with a tacky French manicure wearing a Kim Kardashian-esque rock on her left ring finger.

“This,” was what she wrote under it.

Brady walked into the room with my salad.

“Why is Brittany messaging you?” I asked, turning the laptop toward him.

He leaned down and looked at the screen then shrugged. “She needs someone to talk to?”

“Why is she talking to you? She’s my friend, not yours!” I realized what a huge baby I sounded like, but whatever.

“I don’t know.”

“Of course you don’t. Stop talking to her,” I said. I love Brady, but I’m sick of him.

Having seen enough, I logged Brady out and signed into my own Facebook. I feel weird about having to confront Brittany about talking to Brady. I think I’m afraid that I’ll tell her to back off and she will be like, “What? I’m not interested in your boyfriend, I’m not even attracted to him, don’t flatter yourself, blah blah blah…” And even though it’ll be a lie, I will feel really stupid.

Anyway, I have a formal meeting with Scott and Mike tomorrow that I should probably prepare for and get more than a couple of hours of sleep. Plus I started a huge home office reno that I’m dying to work on. I’m going for an early 1900s library inspired look and it’s going to be a lot of work to find books to stage in there.

Brady and I took a late night flight to San Francisco on Friday. Brady worked late and I was already packed so I decided to make a quick trip to Bloomingdale’s. Since I was kind of in a hurry I started picking up anything that caught my eye, quickly accumulating a huge arm full of stuff. A sales girl found me and offered to start a fitting room for me, but I was in such a hurry that I told her that I was taking it all.

About 20 minutes later, I’d maxed out one of my credit cards on all my bullshit and was tempted to call my driver and have him help me carry all my bags to the car. I got home and had to repack in order to get use out of all my new stuff.

When we landed in San Francisco it was around 9 PM pacific time and since we didn’t have plans until the next morning, we decided to check into the hotel then head to a bar. I didn’t know it at the time, but Brady’s mom booked the room for us (well, him) and was staying directly next door.

After we put our stuff down and changed into cute clothes for the bar, we headed out. When I opened the door to our room, Brady’s parents were standing in the hallway, about to come to our room.

Brady’s mom looked surprised and said, “Oh! Hello. We weren’t expecting you.”

“Hi,” I replied, smiling and waving.

His mom leaned around me to look at Brady, who was standing right behind me.

“Hi son. We weren’t expecting Reese,” she said.

I turned to look at him and he shrugged at us. “Okay, well she’s here.”

I smiled at him. It was the snarkiest I’ve ever heard him get with his mother. Usually he’s trying really hard to be nice.

“We are going downstairs to grab a bite to eat and maybe a glass of wine,” the dad said. He wiggled his eyebrows when he mentioned wine. “Can I interest you two in going?”

Before I could even think of an excuse or if I wanted to go, Brady said, “No thanks.”

I didn’t know what to say and I don’t think his parents did either. Brady’s dad clasped his hands behind his back and smiled. “Are you sure?”

Brady’s mom glared at us.

“Yes,” Brady said.

“We have breakfast reservations at 9:30 tomorrow. Hunter and Dominique are meeting us here at 9:05,” his mom said. “We were only expecting five so hopefully they are able to accommodate us.”

“I don’t have to go,” I blurted out. Brady’s mom seemed to be going out of her way to make me feel out of place.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re here now and we won’t leave you out. Just be ready at 9:05,” she said.

Brady started walking off so I waved and followed him. Once we were out of earshot I asked, “Did your parents piss you off today?”

“No, why?” he said nonchalantly.

“You’re actually standing up for yourself and not acting all cowardly. I’m proud!” I put my arm around him.

Brady gave me a look and kind of rolled his eyes. I didn’t say anything else.

We started ordering shots as soon as we got to the bar a few blocks from the hotel. There’s nothing like getting drunk in a city other than your own, am I right? Soon, we were the only ones dancing in the middle of the bar. We were causing such a scene that we caught the attention of an alternative looking couple with sleeves of tattoos, John Lennon glasses and ripped clothing.

The girl grabbed Brady’s wrist and said, “Bro, your girlfriend is so hot.”

He smiled at me and was like, “Yeah, I know.”

We all introduced ourselves and I found out that their names were Noelle and Will. Noelle mentioned that it had been way too long since she’d been with a girl and since I was drunk I just smiled and giggled at her.

I’m not sure how, but they talked us into going back to their apartment to smoke. I don’t even smoke! We got a cab and I sat in the middle of Noelle and Brady. Noelle started playing with my hair and saying how smooth and shiny it was.

“You must wash it like, every day,” she said.

I laughed.

Brady grabbed my knee to tell me something and I practically fell into him trying to kiss him.

“Love you!” I giggled loudly.

When we got to their apartment, Noelle lit a ton of candles and Will started preparing the weed. They were using a vaporizer which I had never heard of.

“How do I even do this?” I asked as we sat around the table.

Will explained the whole process and Noelle said, “You’re so cute.”

I smiled at her.

I could only handle two rounds of the vaporizer because I felt so fucking weird. Will explained how much better for your body vaping vs. smoking was and it definitely felt fresher, but something didn’t feel right. Even my drunk ass could tell that.

Eventually we made our way to the dark living room that was only lit by Noelle’s candles.

“How do you feel?” she asked me as she sat down next to me on the couch.

“Fine,” I shrugged.

She got up on her knees and put her hands on my shoulders, massaging me. I was too inebriated to feel uncomfortable and just closed my eyes and enjoyed it.

“Looks like you have some competition, man,” I heard Noelle say. I opened my eyes and looked at Brady, but he looked all weird and far away. I reached out to touch him, but I couldn’t.

“Reese, tell me something naughty,” Noelle said.

“Naughty?” I repeated, laughing. I must have sounded like such a maniac. Why was I laughing?

“Yes, naughty.”

“My ex boyfriend has a video of me giving him a blowjob and he won’t delete it because he likes to masturbate to it,” I said.

Noelle slid her hands down and pulled me into her chest. Suddenly her face appeared right next to me. “Oh my God, that’s so hot.”

“Right?” I replied.

Noelle closed her eyes and leaned in like she was going to kiss me so I closed my eyes and let her. Her mouth was super, super cold; it was freaky.

I don’t know how long it lasted before I felt myself being pulled away and my head landing in Brady’s lap. I was giggling uncontrollably and Will was laughing at me.

“I’m literally in love with her,” Noelle said.

I don’t remember much else about the night. I vaguely recall being dragged into a cab by Brady while I was screaming (no one called the police?) and doing some embarrassingly kinky sexual things when we got back to the hotel room. I keep getting random flashbacks of things I did and cringing.

The next morning, I woke up to Brady getting dressed. I felt like I’d been hit by a semi.

“What time is it?” I asked groggily.

“9:30. They’re all waiting for us downstairs,” Brady replied.

“Oh my gosh, why didn’t you wake me up?” I exclaimed, pushing the blankets off me. I was completely naked, obviously.

“I told my mom you weren’t feeling well. You can stay in bed if you want,” he said.

“I’d look like such a bitch if I didn’t come after all that. Just give me five minutes.”

I got up and washed my face and brushed my teeth then pulled my hair into a tight top knot. I dug through my bag and put on white jeans, a Wildfox jumper and sandals then I went into bathroom and started crying because I looked so ugly.

“What’s wrong with you?” Brady asked, following me into the bathroom.

“Nothing. I’m fine. Just go without me.” I grabbed a few Kleenex from the box and dabbed my face.

“No. You’re already dressed. Let’s just go and we can come right back,” he suggested.

I didn’t even protest and just washed my face again and followed Brady downstairs. Everyone was waiting in the lobby – Brady’s parents, Hunter wearing the baby and Hunter’s tiny pregnant wife.

Brady’s mom crossed the lobby toward us.

“What the hell have you two been doing? I told you we had 9:30 reservations,” she said through clenched teeth so no one else could hear her. As passive aggressive as she usually is, I’d never seen her that visibly upset.

“I’m sorry,” Brady said, sounding defeated.

His mom gave me a disapproving once over and turned back around.

“Glad you’re feeling better and can join us this morning,” Brady’s dad called which I appreciated.

“Thanks. I’m feeling a little better,” I said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hunter’s wife, Dom, roll her eyes and turn around, heading toward the door after Brady’s mom. The nerve.

The car ride to the restaurant was filled with Brady’s mom asking Dom questions about her pregnancy and the baby. To my surprise, they were both being really nice to each other and it seemed like they were getting along great. Dom was being super sweet and almost like soft spoken which isn’t her personality at all. It was weird and shocking considering how terrible their first ever encounter encounter went.

Our reservation was at a cute French inspired restaurant downtown. We sat down and as soon as the waiter came to take our drink orders, Brady’s mom said, “She needs water,” and pointed her bony ass finger at me.

I don’t know why, but it really pissed me off so I said, “And a mimosa please.” I didn’t even want a mimosa.

Hunter smiled at me and said, “I’ll have one as well.”

“Baby, you’re going to drink with your son here?” Dom asked him.

“It’s just a mimosa. Relax,” he said back.

“I don’t like you doing that and you know it,” she said.

I glanced at Brady’s mom to see if she was catching any of this, but she was discussing drinks with the server and her husband. Do y’all remember when she said I was controlling? If she thinks I’m controlling, I can’t imagine what she must think of Dom.

After the server left, they passed the baby to its grandparents. It was creepy seeing Brady’s mom actually smiling and baby talking. The baby is really cute though.

“What names have you brainstormed?” Brady’s mom asked after ten minutes of cooing at the baby.

“Well, we liked Luna before Chrissy Teigen ruined it,” Dom answered.

“I don’t like that,” Brady’s mom said with a completely straight face. “You have to set her up for success, Dominique. She’s already going to have it hard enough growing up biracial.”

I almost spit out my mimosa. I waited for Dom’s reaction, but she just nodded. “You’re right.”

I physically couldn’t stop myself from speaking up. “Isn’t it sad that in 2016 we still have to worry about that?”

“Worry about what?” Brady’s mom asked, looking at me.

“A baby being biracial. This country is a melting pot. Being biracial is like the norm these days.”

She scrunched up her face at me like that was the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard. She pointed her finger at me. “Drink your water.”

Excuse me? What does my water have to do with any of that? What a bitch. I glanced at Brady and he looked at me and bit his lip. It looked like an apology. At that moment I disliked his mother so much that I felt like crying.

I stayed quiet for most of the meal until Brady’s dad asked me how my crepes were.

“Fine,” I replied dryly.

“You got the lemon ones, did you?” he continued.

He was going out of his way to be nice to me after his stupid wife was rude so I started being nicer back. After we finished our food and we were waiting on the check, another server brought out a round cake covered in strawberries and whipped cream. The plate it was on had, “Congratulations!” written in chocolate. I glanced around and Brady’s mom looked delighted with herself.

“Thank you so much!” Dom gushed and then she actually got up and gave Brady’s mom a hug. I was super annoyed that the two of them were suddenly best friends.

After we ate a ton of cake and paid, we headed back to Hunter and Dom’s house. Brady’s mom hadn’t said a single word to me since our little tiff about race which was fine. The woman doesn’t have anything nice to say anyway. Brady and I sat at the kitchen island while Dom and Brady’s parents brewed some coffee.

“So how’s Tucker? Has he been spending most of his time staying with you or with Reese?” Brady’s mom asked, directing her question at Brady.

I couldn’t even stop myself. “Both of us. We all live together.”

Brady’s mom turned to me. “I’m sorry?”

I felt Brady’s hand on my elbow. Dom smirked at me.

“Brady, Tucker and I. We are all spending all of our time at Brady’s condo.”

“Reese, stop,” Brady said.

I turned to him. “What?”

“What are you saying, Reese?” Brady’s mom asked in a dismissive voice like she was sick of me talking.

Brady and I stared at each other and I could tell he was trying to tell me something with his eyes.

“Should I pour a mug of coffee for you?” Brady’s dad asked. I looked up and he was staring at me.

“I don’t drink coffee, but maybe Brady would like some,” I answered.

No one said anything for a little while until Dom dismissed herself to go check on Hunter and the baby. Brady’s dad sat a cup of coffee in front of Brady and then a glass of water in front of me.

“Hunter and Dominique don’t need us all bothering them all day so we’ve made plans to go to an art exhibit this afternoon. You’re more than welcome to come,” Brady’s mom said.

“We haven’t gotten a chance to spend anytime downtown and Reese has never been so we are going there,” Brady said.

She didn’t say anything back. Brady excused himself to use the restroom before we left and a few seconds after he’d gone, Brady’s mom whispered something to the dad and she walked out too.

“It’s certainly a beautiful day to explore San Francisco. It’s a great city,” the dad said to me.

“Yeah. From what I’ve seen, it’s really nice. Totally different from LA,” I replied.

“Oh, a world of difference. Hunter lived in Los Angeles for a year before settling in here and my wife begged him to relocate elsewhere.”

“A lot of my friends from college moved there after graduation and all they do is party. LA is definitely the place to be if you want to party until the sun comes up every night.”

Brady’s dad laughed. “And that’s no way to live as an adult.”

“For sure.” I sipped my water.

“How’s work? I think Brady mentioned that you recently changed positions again.”

I nodded. “Yeah. Same industry, but more on the sales and client facing side.”

“Do you enjoy that?”

“Yeah. It’s been good. I’ve had to change a lot of things so it’s been overwhelming, but it’ll be worth it.”

“Well, good for you. And continue finding your niche within that industry. It sounds like you know what you want.”

“Mmhm.”

A few minutes of silence ensued and since it was awkward, I decided to go find Brady.

“I’m going to go see what it is taking Brady so long,” I said, hopping down from the stool.

“I’m sure he will be back momentarily,” Brady’s dad called after me, but I was already heading toward the stairs.

I started climbing the stairs slowly and quietly because I could kind of hear voices. If Brady’s mom was confronting him about something then my nosy ass wanted to hear.

“It’s incredibly inappropriate and irresponsible,” I heard Brady’s mom say in a stern voice.

Brady’s dad came bounding up the stairs behind me. “Honey? Reese and I became worried so we are heading up the stairs right now.”

Brady’s mom appeared in the bright landing. “Oh. We are fine. Should we get going, honey?”

“I’d love to.”

Brady’s mom began descending the stairs and grabbed my shoulder to lead me down. Once we got back to the kitchen I asked, “Where’s Brady?”

“He will be down momentarily!” his mom snapped. I hate her.

Sure enough about a minute later, Brady came down the stairs looking defeated.

“We’re off. I hope you two enjoy your day,” Brady’s mom said, strapping on her Cole Haan cross body.

“We will see you later on this evening,” the dad added.

After they’d left, Brady announced that he was calling an Uber to take us downtown.

“What did your mom say?” I had to know.

“Nothing,” he mumbled, not looking up at me.

“Yes she did. Was it because of what I said?”

“Of course it was. Why did you feel the need to say that, Reese? You thrive on drama. You know my parents didn’t know you moved in.”

“I’m sorry. She just got under my skin today,” I apologized.

“Well good job because you don’t have to deal with the reprisal, I do.”

I didn’t say anything and Brady said, “Our Uber is here.”

By the time we arrived downtown, Brady was in a better mood and excited to explore with me. We did some light shopping and stopped in a few restaurants for drinks. After taking some touristy pictures, we decided to go back to the hotel to nap. I was still exhausted from the night before.

We got back to our room and Brady started chuckling. “Do you even remember last night?”

“Don’t even remind me,” I groaned. “What the hell is up with San Francisco weed? Every time I’ve smoked here, I felt like I was tripping on acid or something.”

“Honestly, it’s a possibility. It could be laced with anything,” Brady said.

“That’s so reckless. Why would you want to smoke laced weed?” I said.

Brady shrugged. As a pharmacist, that’s irresponsible. I was not impressed or amused.

I took a long shower and when I walked back in the room with just my towel on, Brady was laying down on his back.

“Come here,” he said, sitting up.

I tightened my towel and padded over to him. He grabbed the bottom of the towel and yanked it down so I was standing there completely naked. He ran a hand down my torso and down between my legs.

“Bradyyyy,” I whined.

“Yes, baby?”

“Get undressed.”

Soon he was on top of me, pounding hard. I felt like I couldn’t keep up. That doesn’t ever happen.

“Are you thinking about Noelle?” Brady asked me.

I giggled and grabbed his face in my hands. I was too out of breath to respond so I kissed him quickly. He started moving faster, clearly about to finish and then there was a knock on the door. A pretty aggressive knock. Brady stopped and looked around, confused.

“Yeah?” he called.

“Brady, we are leaving for the airport. We’re here to say goodbye,” I heard his mom say from the other side of the door.

“Fuck!” Brady muttered. He jumped off me and started getting dressed. I slowly climbed out of bed and walked to my bag to find something to throw on. I didn’t care if his mom knew what was going on. I was sick of being nice and trying to impress her when her mind was already made up about me.

I found a pair of running shorts and a gray Yale sweatshirt that I hijacked from Brady a long time ago. I was still trying to tame my damp hair when Brady opened the door.

“Our flight is in an hour and a half,” was his mom’s greeting when she walked in.

“I hope you have a safe trip,” I offered. I was sitting on the floor pulling my hair into a bun.

“Likewise,” she said looking down at me.

She and Brady hugged briefly followed by Brady and his dad hugging. It was only when Brady’s mom began walking toward that I realized she wanted to say goodbye to me too. I stood up and hugged her and when she pulled away, she said, “I have something I’d like to email to you so I will get your email address from Brady, okay?”

I nodded. What the hell did this broad possibly need to email to me?

“It was good to see you, Reese and hopefully we can all get together again soon,” she continued. How sweet.

I smiled and said, “Me too.”

We left early on Sunday morning and slept all day as soon as we got home. We didn’t even stop by Kendra’s to get Tucker. Brady’s mom drains all my energy. And I wasn’t even trying hard to be perfect around her this time. I don’t see how he deals with her. And I still haven’t received that email. I asked Brady about it and he seemed clueless as to what she would possibly need to email me about. He did say that she texted him asking for my address though. Isn’t that weird?

Speaking of weird and my ex boyfriend, he texted me last week saying he needed a favor. I texted back asking what the favor was and he called me. Devin and I don’t talk a lot these days, but we are still on good terms. Brady was watching tv in the living room so I went to our room to take the call.

“Yes, Devin?” I answered.

“My baby!” he exclaimed into the phone.

“No,” I said calmly. “What do you need?”

He explained that his company was sending a VIP guest (what does that even mean?) to Chicago for a show and he needed connects to some after party venues. “I know your fine ass knows everyone,” he said.

“Actually no. I’m so far removed from that scene. I’ve grown out of it,” I explained.

After that we just started talking. He told he about the girl he’d recently broken up with. Neither of them trusted each other and it just made a super toxic relationship. That made me feel guilty for sometimes not trusting Brady. We’d been on the phone for about 45 minutes when Brady walked in the bedroom. So then I felt guilty about being on the phone with my ex. Brady went in the bathroom and got in the shower and I ended the call with Devin. I didn’t tell Brady who I was talking to and I definitely can’t tell him now after my weird confession over the weekend. I cannot believe I even said that.

Anyway, I have a ton of work to do and I’ve already wasted enough time typing this. I’m dying to know what Brady’s mom is going to email me!!!

Oh, I forgot to add this. My parents are separating. They just can’t seem to get along. I mostly feel bad for my mother because she really wants to make it work and my dad is the one who wants to end it. She obviously loves him and said she’s been praying for God to fix it. She said, “When I said those vows, I really meant it,” and that made me incredibly sad. Especially because I imagine she’s going to be so lonely once my dad leaves. 

Hi y’all.

I’ve been so busy with work. After Mike went back to New York I started making some aggressive changes. Since he hated pretty much everything that was going on, I figured we should turn things around and go with different strategies across the board.

Scott heard me giving one of my team members an assignment and afterwards, he said, “So what made you do that?”

I explained to him my thought process and how it would impact sales and ultimately make Mike happy and Scott made a face.

“Well, that’s just not something we generally do. I’m going to shoot Kelsey a quick email and ask if this is okay,” he said. And then he pulled out his phone and actually started emailing her.

How annoying. What would Kelsey know? She knows nothing about sales or marketing or anything like that so it just seemed like a waste to even contact her.

Later on, Scott emailed me telling me that Mike said to do whatever I needed to do to end up ten percent in sales. Like duh. That’s what I was going to do anyway. I just think it’s so annoying how Scott won’t do things because he fears what Mike would say. That’s totally not me. Obviously I’m not going to do something completely ridiculous, but if I can justify it, I don’t see why I should get approval for every little thing I do. We are all capable of making our own decisions.

Anyway, Carly said she got drunk with the Tinder guy, he pulled out his dick and she got freaked out and left.

“I can’t believe you let it get that far,” I said.

“And I can’t believe you’re judging me,” she said back.

I texted Brady, “Don’t worry, Carly didn’t cheat on Chris,” even though he said he wanted to stay out of it. I wanted him to know that the situation was over and we could still continue to support their courtship.

He replied, “I wasn’t worried.”

I can’t even lie, I was. I feel like I don’t know any of my friends anymore. I did get a chance to hang out with Preston recently though. He got a new job too and has been busy with that and his boyfriend. We made plans to grab dinner at a fairly upscale restaurant in River North and Preston waltzed in wearing joggers, Nike slides, a denim button down and a J. Crew quilted vest. I love him so much.

After we sat down, Preston said, “Okay so tell me everything.”

Obviously I wanted to talk all about Carly’s infidelity, but I didn’t want to spill the beans if he didn’t know.

“Have you talked to Carly?” I asked.

Preston shook his head then his eyes lit up. “I haven’t, but guess who Kyle is dating?”

I shrugged. Kyle is a man whore and there’s really no telling who he’s dating at any given time.

“You remember Julia?”

“Ew, he’s dating Julia?” Julia is cool and I think she’s pretty, but I wouldn’t peg her as Kyle’s type. She’s much too serious and put together.

“No, but her younger sister. She actually just moved here. She graduated last year.”

I made a face. Guys’ mindset is the younger the better, I suppose.

“So how’s that fine man of yours? I haven’t seen him in forever,” Preston said, resting his chin in his hands.

I rolled my eyes. “He’s fine. He thinks I’m too aggressive which is annoying.”

“He should be thanking you for being so aggressive. If you weren’t, you two would still be dry humping and he’d be jizzing in his pants.”

I laughed. “Totes. But then again I would have hopefully moved on by now.”

Preston rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. You were obsessed with him even before you found out he had a dick made of gold.”

We both laughed.

“And now you’re waiting for that diamond. How jealous are you that Carly got a ring before you?” Preston went on.

“Not very considering she’s resorted to meeting guys on Tinder. So obviously she’s not as happy as y’all think.”

He gasped loudly causing the table next to us to stare. “No. Way. How do you know?”

“She told me. She said she’s trying to have fun before she settles down.”

“That girl has had enough fun for a lifetime. Do you remember that time she gave a random guy head in a port-a-potty?” Preston cackled. “I can’t believe she’s slutting it up on Tinder. Even I wouldn’t do that to my man.”

“I was surprised when she told me too. But Chris might be doing the same thing. Brady refuses to tell me,” I said.

“I always knew those two were freaks. I love it though,” Preston said.

When I got home I was a little tipsy and a lot horny from all the sex talk with Preston. I found Brady in the living room, with his laptop and a calculator out. He was wearing his glasses, but they were slipping down his nose and it was so adorable.

“Hey boo thang,” I greeted him.

“Hey. How was dinner?” he asked.

Instead of answering, I kissed him and dropped to my knees in front of him. “Good, but I missed you.”

“Oh yeah?” Brady said, sitting up straighter.

“Mmhm.” I started unbuckling his belt preparing to give him the best blow job of his life.

He came almost instantly. Like seconds into the action. Brady seemed kind of embarrassed and apologized, but I totally get it. We haven’t been having much sex lately so of course he came quickly. At least that means he isn’t getting it elsewhere, right?

The next night my friend from high school, Brittany, was in town. One of her guy friends was in Chicago for work and she tagged along with him. We decided to meet up for dinner and drinks and I brought Brady because she insisted. She’s in love with Brady and I’m kind of amused by it at this point.

Brittany showed up about a half an hour late and Brady and I were already on our third drinks. She waltzed in wearing a trench coat that was almost identical to the Burberry one I’d worn in. She recently cut her hair to a layered bob with subtle highlights and she looks a million times more mature and sophisticated. Don’t be fooled though, she still goes out 5-6 times a week, but to much classier establishments.

“Y’all!” she squealed when she saw us.

Brady and I got up and hugged her and she flagged down our server to order a drink.

“Chicago is so beautiful!” Brittany said once she settled in. “And there are so many good looking men here. I might never go home!”

I scoffed. “You’ll get tired of them quickly.”

Brittany looked from me to Brady and back.

“Anyway, tell me about your new job,” I said.

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m doing public relations for an entertainment group. I love it. It’s totally what I’m meant to do. We work with a lot of celebrities who come to Houston because my boss is super connected.”

“That’s cool. What celebrities have you met?” I asked.

“I’m not going to sit here and name drop, Reese.” Brittany smiled and looked at Brady like, “Aw, she’s so naive and dumb.”

I rolled my eyes.

“How’s work been for you, Brady?” she asked.

“It’s been okay.”

“Do you want to stay there indefinitely?”

Brady looked caught off guard by the question. “Right now, yes. In a couple of years, I’ll probably transition into research.”

I had no idea he had aspirations of doing research.

“That’s so cool. Did you know that Houston has some really good research universities?” Brittany said.

“I did know that.”

“So if you’re looking to relocate…” she sang as she swirled her cocktail straw.

“We are not moving to Houston,” I cut in.

“Your mom would love that,” Brittany said.

“She would, but I wouldn’t.”

She turned her attention back to Brady. “Would you ever move to Houston?”

He shrugged then glanced at me. “Depends on the opportunity.”

After we finished our drinks we headed to another bar. We were all pretty tipsy and Brady couldn’t keep his hands off me. I was standing at the bar trying to get the attention of the bartender and Brady was standing behind me with his hands on the bar on either side of me so I was pinned in.

“You look so good in this dress. I love you,” he whispered and kissed my neck.

I was wearing a tight gray midi dress with a thin bralette underneath and nothing else. I’m so anxious for warmer weather.

“I love you,” I replied. “Wanna leave soon?”

I felt him nod.

Brittany was sitting on a barstool next to us talking on the phone and I turned to her.

“We are leaving,” I mouthed and she nodded.

We closed our tab then I ordered a car to come and get us. Brittany was still talking on the phone, but put her hand over the mouthpiece to say, “I’ll just go with y’all.”

Whatever. When we got home, I quickly went to change into shorts and a sports bra. I checked my phone and saw that Carly had texted me a couple times.

“Why did you tell Preston? I asked you not to tell anyone, Reese.”

“I don’t even know why I told you anything. You can’t hold water.”

I honestly felt bad about telling Preston especially because he probably made her feel like shit about it. So I said, “I’m sorry! Preston of all people won’t judge you though.”

“Of course he won’t. Neither of you has any room to judge me. I’m just so annoyed.”

“You have every right to be annoyed.”

“Did you tell Brady too?”

I didn’t know how to answer this. I could lie. She would never know that I actually told him because Brady vowed to stay out of it completely. Or I could be an adult and fess up. I decided to be an adult.

“I did. I didn’t mean any harm though! I just didn’t want you to do anything you’d regret. I needed advice,” I said.

“Omg. You are seriously so stupid, Reese. I don’t see how anyone can stand you.”

Ouch.

“Carly. It’s fine. Brady isn’t going to tell Chris and you aren’t talking to that guy anymore. Everything is going to be okay.”

“Whatever. This is exactly why your life is the way it is lol.”

“What are you even talking about?”

Carly didn’t say anything back so I sent a bunch of question marks. She still didn’t respond so I decided to go find my man. I walked in the living room and found Brady sitting on the couch with Tucker in his lap and Brittany was sitting Indian style on the floor in front of him petting the dog. She’d taken her coat off and had on a low cut drapey tank top and I imagined Brady and Tucker were getting quite a show from where they were sitting. Brittany was basically between Brady’s legs and I couldn’t help thinking it was the same position we’d been in the night before.

Brittany turned to me and pouted. “Reese, I love your dog. You’re so lucky.”

“I know. He is cute, isn’t he?” I said and walked over and picked Tucker out of Brady’s lap.

Brittany stood up and grabbed the dog from me. “I’m taking him home!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Brady stand up and adjust himself then walk toward the kitchen. Ew. He was totally turned on by Brittany and Tucker. Pervert.

Brady ended up pulling his laptop out and working in the dining room while Brittany and I hung out in the living room talking. After about an hour or so, she needed to go back to her hotel so we said our goodbyes. Brittany went to the dining room to say bye to Brady and pulled him into a big hug before he could even stand up.

Mike’s been in Chicago. He was brooding around the office all week and we all tried to avoid him. One of my team members was working with a potential high profile client and I swooped in and sealed the deal. Mike got wind of it and approached me after a sales meeting.

“Congratulations, Reese. Good job. I’m happy for you and proud of you,” he said, sounding very robotic. But a compliment is a compliment and I beamed.

Later on in the week, he CCed me on a forwarded email to Scott. Apparently a company we were working with was inquiring about pricing and getting out of a contract and Mike said, “Scott, please have Reese take over this account as I know she will be capable of rectifying this situation.”

Scott immediately called me and started telling me what I should do and say when I reached out the company. Finally, I cut him off and snapped, “Scott, I have it under control!”

I felt kind of bad for snapping at him, but he needs to hear it. He hired me for a reason and Mike wanted me to take over the account for a reason. So get off me.

Literally one day later, Mike forwarded an email from the company that was thanking him for the changes in their contract (which is the work I did). The only thing Mike said in the email to all us was, “Good job, Reese.”

I was pretty satisfied with myself even though Mike didn’t seem like he really cared. I could tell he was impressed and loves having me around (but also, who doesn’t?). Lol, byeee.

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.

Mike was back at the office on Monday. Scott sent me a flurry of messages early Monday morning telling me exactly what Mike was looking for, suggesting exact phrases for me to say, buzz words to throw in, what not to say and do, etc. I totally get that Scott wants to make a good impression on Mike, but chill. I’ve never been someone who tries really hard to impress the higher ups. I believe in doing your job well and not having to pretend. That usually works pretty well.

The sales meeting went fine. Scott tried to do all the talking, but Mike told him that he wanted to hear from the team and basically shushed him. I wasn’t dying to talk to Mike or anything, but it was nice that he at least wanted to hear from me.

Mike concluded the meeting by saying, “Okay,” and then packing up his stuff and leaving the conference room. Kelsey quickly unplugged her laptop and chased him out of there.

“I’m happy with the way that went,” Scott said, as if the meeting went well by chance, not because I’d done well. It kind of felt like he wasn’t giving me credit which I didn’t like.

Later on in the day, Kelsey had to go run some errands for Mike, including overnighting something at FedEx. She stopped in the open area where Scott, my team and I were working to get something and informed us that she was running errands and would be back.

“Oh, while you’re at FedEx, do you think you could drop two boxes off for me?” I asked her. “They already have labels.”

“Did you just ask her to drop off a box at FedEx for you?” Scott asked like that was the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard.

I thought I was missing something, like an inside joke so I said, “Uh… Yes. Please?”

“Um, sure, that’s fine,” Kelsey said and she took my boxes with her.

After Kelsey was gone, Scott said, “I cannot believe you just asked Kelsey to run an errand for you.”

I gave him a weird look. “It wasn’t really an errand. She was going there anyway.”

One of my team members snickered and Scott turned to look at him. The two burst into laughter – incredulous laughter.

“I cannot believe you asked our senior Vice President’s assistant to run an errand for you! She’s his assistant, not yours, Reese. One of us would have been happy to go to FedEx for you.” Scott started off laughing, but got more serious as he finished his statement.

I was really surprised that it was such a big deal. I guess I didn’t realize that we have to worship Kelsey too, even though she is just an assistant. This company is weird.

I ended up staying at work really late because every time I tried to leave, Scott would pile more work on my desk. And the most annoying thing is that the work was really petty stuff like data entry and putting post it notes on things. Really just things that an assistant should be doing. Which is why I need one.

By the time I got home, I didn’t want to see anything work related ever again. Brady was sitting on the couch doing work and I sat down next to him.

“I’m so annoyed,” I said.

“Really?” Brady replied, not even looking at me.

“Yes! I’m exhausted. I hate having to be super fake for my superiors. We were all on pins and needles all day,” I went on.

Brady didn’t say anything so I added, “Don’t you hate that?”

“Mmhm,” he said and I could tell that he wasn’t even listening.

It kind of hurt my feelings so I left to take a shower. Then I made some tea and got in bed. Even though Brady and I are doing good, I’ve been looking at apartments. You have to keep your options open! Plus I’ve been seeing a ton of really cute and girly apartments on Instagram and I miss having my own space to decorate however I please.

Anyway, I’m dying to tell y’all this. Yesterday Carly randomly sent me a picture of guy with really nicely styled brown hair, a beard, and greenish eyes. He kind of looked like Chris, but smaller and more put together. Chris would never style his hair that nicely.

I texted her back saying, “Cute. Who’s he?”

And she said, “:-). Isn’t he? He’s a guy I’ve been talking to.”

I obviously wasn’t thinking she meant “talking to” like romantically because she’s engaged so I’m like, “What do you mean talking to?”

“Reese, don’t judge me. I met him on Tinder.”

Ew.

“Carly, wtf. Why do you have Tinder? You’re about to get married,” I said.

“Omg, I know!! Stop judging me. I want to have fun before I’m an old married woman.”

As you can imagine I was sitting there, trying to understand what I was reading.

“So have you hung out with this guy?” I asked.

“We met on our lunch breaks and got drinks lol. But I might see him on over the weekend because Chris is going out of town.”

I didn’t respond for a little while because I honestly couldn’t think of anything to say and Carly went on, “Don’t say anything!”

I finally said back, “Carly, don’t. That isn’t right. Chris doesn’t deserve that.”

“Brady doesn’t deserve a lot of things you do to him. Hello, Devin??? Chris is going to be okay. It’s not like I’m going to have sex with the guy.”

I’m not sure what point she was trying to make by bringing up Devin because I definitely didn’t do anything wrong by talking to him.

And so now I’m sitting on this news. I don’t know what to do. Should I talk to Kendra about it? I don’t know if y’all know this, but I have a huge mouth and I’m dying to tell someone. Especially Brady. Not because I want Carly and Chris to fight or break up or anything, but I really want to know his thoughts. And if Chris suspects anything. And if Chris is doing anything sketchy himself. (Ballerina girl?) What if they’re both using Tinder?

Luckily Brady has been working late the past two nights so I haven’t had the opportunity to tell him, but I can’t guarantee that I can keep this in. I know I shouldn’t interfere with their relationship and should let them deal with it on their own and etc, but I’m dying right now. And Carly texted me today about rehearsal dinner details like nothing was wrong. What the fuck is wrong with my friend? I need to knock some sense into her.

Scott had been mentioning his boss a lot – our VP of Sales and Operations – a guy named Mike. During the expansion, Mike has been working out of New York City (apparently his office was getting a major upgrade). Scott was always saying things like, “If my boss knew we were doing this, all of us would be out of a job,” and “This is one of Mike’s biggest pet peeves, we have to fix this before he gets back,” and “Mike hates when people spend too much time planning and spend no time doing.” He sounded terrifying.

One day my coworker, Monica, asked me if I thought Mike was good looking.

“I’ve never met him,” I answered. “He’s been in New York since I started.”

“Really?” Monica asked, sounding surprised. “Why didn’t you have to interview with him? He interviews anyone we ever hire. Even the janitors.”

I shrugged. “It all happened pretty fast.”

Since I’d never met him and Monica wanted to discuss his good looks with me, she pulled up his LinkedIn profile.

“Isn’t he handsome?” she asked, once his picture was up on the screen.

“He is,” I admitted. He was probably around Scott age (mid to late 30’s) with close cropped hair, squinty eyes,  incredible jaw and a half smile. He looked like a former football player with his big shoulders and no nonsense haircut.

“He’s a pompous dick. I think it’s the power that makes him sexy,” Monica said.

The next day we were all scheduled a Skype call with Mike. Beforehand I asked Scott what kind of leader Mike was.

“I mean,” Scott began. “He might yell a little bit, but he knows what he’s talking about. If he yells he has a reason to so the goal is to make sure he doesn’t.”

So again, he sounded really pleasant. We gathered in the conference room where a projector was set up. Scott gave us all a quick brief about what to do and say during the meeting and most importantly, who was allowed to speak at all (I wasn’t, but Monica was which I didn’t like).

When we called up Mike on Skype, he appeared at this weird angle like his phone or iPad was sitting in his lap. We waited a few moments for him to get situated, but that’s how we stayed. Monica texted me, “I’m where I’ve always wanted to be: in Mike’s lap.”

The meeting lasted just over two hours. It was mostly Mike bringing up reports and demanding to know why things weren’t going the way he wanted them to. No one really wanted to answer him so he started calling people out. And he had a New York accent so everything he said sounded really rude and aggressive. Monica was right about him being a douche and I wished I could have told him that things weren’t going his way because he was all the way in New York, but obviously I couldn’t. At the end of the meeting, Mike said goodbye and that he’d see everyone tomorrow.

After the meeting, Scott was visibly sweating and let everyone go to lunch except me. He wanted to have a talk so after everyone left we sat down.

“So Mike is going to be here tomorrow,” Scott told me, confirming the comment Mike made at the end of the meeting.

“Okay…” I replied.

“He will probably request a meeting with you since you’ve never met, but I’ll make sure I’m there with you. Let’s get a game plan in motion because he’s going to ask.”

So we were in the office until literally 10:30 PM coming up with plans to show Mike (even though Scott told me Mike doesn’t like plans, he likes actions). I was just really annoyed because I’d spent the past few weeks doing nothing when I could have been preparing for Mike’s arrival.

The next morning, I got to work at my normal time (a little after 8) and everyone was already running around. I walked to my office and spotted Mike walking toward me. A little brunette carrying an open laptop was trailing him, his assistant I gathered.

I assumed he was walking toward me to introduce himself so I stopped outside my door and waited.

“Can I help you with something?” Mike asked.

That’s when I realized that he was literally just walking past and had no interest in meeting me.

“Nope,” I said and went into my office.

I tried to avoid him and his entourage the rest of the day, but he sent out a mass email inviting us to a meeting that afternoon. Scott immediately called me and told me that Mike wasn’t happy about the way things were going, hence the emergency meeting. I was feeling like since I was so new that it wasn’t my fault that things weren’t going well, but Scott assured me that it was all of our faults.

Mike started the meeting by telling us he was disappointed with the way things were being run without him and gave a list of five things he wants us to focus on in the next few weeks.

“The way things are going right now, we won’t make any money. We will go out of business. Does everyone realize that?” Mike said.

We all nodded. We went through his list (things like “follow up and follow through” and “all hands on deck”) then he told us that he couldn’t possibly go back to New York with the way things were going so he was going to leave his family there and stay in Chicago with us. Great.

Later on in the day, Scott called me to his office. When I arrived, Scott was sitting at his desk, Mike’s assistant, Kelsey, was sitting in a chair and Mike was leaning against the desk.

“Reese, come in. Grab a seat,” Scott said, sounding overly cheerful.

I sat.

“So Mike, this is Reese. We’re very excited to have her,” Scott went on.

Mike and I obviously already knew each other even without the formal introduction, but I still said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

He stared at me with his beady little eyes and intimidating eyebrows. He placed a hand on his chin like he was thinking and then Mike said, “I’m not going to settle for less than ten percent over plan this quarter.”

I nodded. “Me neither.”

“Do you know where we are now?” Mike challenged.

Before I could even prove that I did know, Scott cut in, “Reese and I have had many conversations about our sales being down. With your goal of being up ten percent, we do have some ground to cover.”

Mike didn’t even look at Scott and continued talking to me. “Our P&L is a direct reflection of you. If your team sucks, you suck and ultimately we all suck.”

I nodded.

“Kelsey, pull up the financial statement for last quarter,” Mike said.

Kelsey nodded and began looking on her laptop for it.

“I need a Redbull, Scott,” Mike said.

Scott jumped and announced he would go find one. Poor Scott. That’s totally something Kelsey should have been doing, but with her being tied up, someone had to do it.

When Kelsey pulled up the document on the laptop, she sat it on the edge of the desk and Mike motioned for me to come look.

“How much did we bring in last quarter?” he asked me.

The pressure of them both watching me made me nervous and I scanned the document for the answer even though I’d seen similar ones tons of time at my old job.

“Um,” I began, buying myself some time.

Mike’s huge arm came down in front of me, almost grazing the side of my face, and pointed at a place on the screen.

“It’s right here. Have you seen this document before?” He sounded annoyed.

“I have.”

“You need to get better acquainted with it because this is your job.”

I nodded.

“Kelsey, send last year’s P&L to Reese. I know she hasn’t seen it,” Mike said.

For the next few minutes none of us said anything and it was uncomfortable. Finally, I said, “Do you need anything else?”

“No,” Mike said like it was the most ridiculous thing I could have asked.

When I got back to my office, I texted Monica, “He’s so nice and personable! I can’t believe you said he was a dick.”

She replied, “Really? He must like you then.”

I never got a chance to tell her that I was kidding. The following day was Friday and Mike was working from home, thank goodness. Scott called a meeting with me and my team so we could discuss the game plan we’d come up with. Scott assured me that when Mike came in on Monday, he would want to know exactly what I’d done since joining to company.

Needless to say, I was ready for the weekend. On Friday night, Brady and I got dinner with his friend, Jacob, and Jacob’s girlfriend, Stacey. Apparently Stacey had been bugging Jacob about hanging out with us, which is cute, so we got pizza and beer. Afterwards, they went home and Brady and I went to a bar to continue drinking. I’m not sure why, but the bar was super dead for a Friday night. It was fine though because we didn’t have to fight for the bartender’s attention. While we stood there drinking, I planned out our Saturday: shopping, grocery shopping, then doing some projects around the house. We are officially an old couple.

Brady pulled out his phone because he had a text and I couldn’t help leaning over to see who it was. Hailey!

I rolled my eyes. “What does she want?”

“She was asking the name of a bar I was telling her about-” Brady began and I cut him off.

“Is she even old enough to drink?”

He put his phone back in his pocket and changed the subject. I don’t even feel threatened by her or care about her anymore, I just think she’s annoying.

Anyway, I spent all day dreading going back to work and seeing Mike. He’s already invited everyone to a sales meeting tomorrow first thing in the morning and I don’t know what to expect. Luckily though, I pulled together a list of some of the things I’ve done like reevaluate sales goals and stuff, even though I know none of it is going to be what Mike wants to hear.I texted Scott asking what I should expect and he hasn’t responded so I guess we will see.

I love Philadelphia. I honestly didn’t think I would, but I had so much fun. When we got there on Friday we went to a bar attached to its own craft beer brewery. Brady and Chris, being the frat boys they are, could not pass up a good craft beer. It’s a place Chris spends a lot of time and  he knew a lot of the workers plus gave us a ton of tidbits that made it obvious that he’s done the brewery tour more than once. It was cute.

“They have these really good pizza grilled cheeses, Reese. You’ll love them,” Carly informed me. It sounded right up my alley so I ordered that along with a citrus beer.

“So how’s the wedding planning?” I asked, while we waited for our food. Brady and Chris were next to us carrying on with their bromance.

“It’s going surprisingly well. My mom has been a huge help. Oh! Let me show you which bridesmaid dress we decided on,” Carly replied. She had sent out an email with all the dress options to all of us and asked our opinions. I wanted to go with a long, strapless blush pink option with an attached beaded belt. It was the most expensive so no one else chose it.

Of course, the girls chose the $160 blush high neck option. Carly also showed me her wedding dress options, all of which were super sparkly vintage inspired gowns with intricate back detailing and sleeves. Totally not my style, but they were all beautiful. Carly couldn’t decide on one so she’s still looking. In case you’re wondering, I want a strapless mermaid gown with a ridiculously long train and no lace anywhere. I hate lace.

After the bar, we headed back to Carly and Chris’ place. Brady and I had gotten a hotel, but it was still fairly early so we decided to continue hanging out. Their apartment is so cute. Super updated and trendy with the historical charm it was built with. They got a cat named Olive, who is actually so cute and I’m not even a fan of cats.

We played some drinking game that involved pennies, I can’t even remember the details because we all got so drunk so fast. I think it was pretty fun though.

I woke up to the cat walking all over me. We’d passed out and Brady and I were snuggled on the couch.

“You guys!” Carly called out, in a really unnecessarily high pitched voice. “Get up. We are taking you to the best brunch in America!”

I just looked at her.

“They do tequila sunrise mimosas,” she added.

“Okay, I’m getting up,” I said.

In total it took us about three hours for all four of us to get ready in their one bathroom. Then we trekked a few blocks in the cold to the restaurant. I complained the whole time that we should have called an Uber and Carly said, “Gosh, Reese, have you always been this much of a complainer?”

I gave her a dirty look because that’s rude and she smiled innocently. I know she was kidding, but usually Carly would never make snide comments like that. But whatever.

When we sat down I immediately started grilling Chris about what he wanted his groomsmen (Brady) to wear for the wedding.

He shrugged. “I dunno. I was thinking everyone could just wear their own suit.”

I gasped. “No way! Carly is going to be standing up there in a freaking beaded gown and y’all are gonna be wearing your work suits?” I made a face.

Brady and Chris laughed.

“Does it really matter what the guys wear? A black suit is a black suit,” Carly said.

“But don’t you want everyone to be uniform? Think of the pictures!” I said.

She shrugged. “We are going for a more rustic theme anyway.”

I gave Brady a look that told him that our wedding party is going to dress exactly how we want. I’m not sorry.

So Carly started going on about her rustic inspired wedding, all the mason jars and wooden pallets and burlap she planned on using. I almost asked if she was renting out a barn for it too. It sounds like my Pinterest nightmare. Not my style at all.

That night we went to a party at a beautiful townhouse on the river. It was hosted by some girl named Lena, who apparently Chris knew from work. She was super, super pasty white with white blonde hair and wore a white lacy bra top and a white maxi skirt. She looked fucking creepy. Her townhouse was bomb though. It had that historic firehouse look complete with exposed brick and the spiral staircase. She had it decorated almost like an Anthropologie store with candles everywhere, plants hanging from the ceiling and a ton of mix matched furniture. I was totally into it.

When Lena let us in, she squealed with excitement then air kissed Chris on both cheeks.

“These are my friends, Brady and Reese. And you know Carly,” Chris introduced us.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. Come in,” Lena said.

I looked at Carly as we walked in and she shrugged.

“Help yourself to the bar,” Lena instructed, pointing to a bar with a ton of various liquor bottles out and colorful mugs stacked up.

“Cool, open bar,” Chris said so we walked over there and made drinks.

At this point there were only a handful of people at the party, probably four little cliques of people so Lena left us to go entertain another group.

“I think I’m going to cut my hair,” I announced. “Maybe like a blunt bob.”

“Reese, no!” Carly gasped. “Not before the wedding. What if I want you to wear an updo?”

“It’s fine. It’s rustic,” I replied.

Carly rolled her eyes at me and mumbled something and I sipped my drink. I wasn’t even completely serious about chopping my hair off, but jeez. The guys can wear whatever humdrum suit they have in the back of their closet and I can’t cut my hair? Rude.

A few minutes later, Lena came up behind Chris and wrapped her arms around his torso. “I’m so glad you’re here!” she exclaimed.

Chris turned, but didn’t push her off. I glanced at Carly, who was looking down at her drink.

“So!” I said. “Lena, you and Chris work together?”

“No!” she laughed. “His company works with my company. I’m a dancer.”

“Oh! What kind of dancer?” I asked, barely able to keep a straight face. This broad was a stripper.

“Ballet,” she said as it was obvious. Although after she mentioned it, I did notice her rigid ballet posture. “I work in the city.”

We all looked at her and she added, “New York City.”

“Nice. Like Black Swan?” I said.

I heard Brady chuckle next to me.

“Black Swan…cute. No, it’s nothing like that,” Lena said. “Honestly, it’s not really like a job. Ballet is what I live and love and it just so happens to pay my bills.” She gestured around her apartment. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t get Dance Moms out of my head even though she was an (tiny) adult.

“So what exactly does your company do with ballet?” I asked Chris.

“We deal with all of the scheduling. They have a certain budget and our systems guarantee that they stay within that budget,” Chris explained.

“Oh,” I said, not following. “So are you the liaison, Lena? How did you and Chris become friends?”

Lena, who still had one of her little white sickly hands on Chris’ side, glanced up at him then back at me. “I don’t know. What’s with the interrogation?” She kind of laughed.

“What interrogation? I asked you like two questions.”

Lena looked down her nose at me and rolled her eyes then turned to leave.

“Bye, White Swan,” I said, not even loud enough for her to hear.

“Reese, stop,” Brady said.

“I hate her,” I told the group. “What a bitch. Chris, you can find better friends.”

“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about me being friends with her anymore now,” he laughed nervously.

“Reese, you are so immature sometimes. Like, I can’t even deal right now,” Carly said.

“What did I do?” I exclaimed.

Brady grabbed me, shushing me again.

Carly turned to Chris and said something, probably apologizing for my behavior even though I think I was doing her a favor. Someone has to stand up for their relationship.

Needless to say, we left soon after that. Lena didn’t dare come back near us so Chris went to find her to say goodbye then we all walked (in the cold) to a bar for food. Carly and I were totally back on, ordering mozzarella sticks and screaming when the techno remix of “Rude” came on.

We ran to the bathroom to have a heart to heart, just like old times.

“You didn’t care when that girl had her hands all over your fiancé?” I couldn’t help asking.

Carly shook her head. “No. I’ve met her before. She’s like a hippie. She doesn’t mean any harm.”

“Yeah, but still. It was kind of inappropriate, don’t you think? Like, hands off,” I said.

“I don’t know. Who cares. Everything isn’t a huge deal, Reese. You’re so impulsive. You can’t let things get to you.”

“I’m just really protective of my man. I think it’s weird when people aren’t.”

“Yeah, well. I don’t have a reason to be.” She held up her left hand and flashed her ring.

Which I guess is a valid point.

“I have something to tell you, but you have to promise not to say anything or make it a big deal,” Carly said next.

“What? Tell me!” I exclaimed.

“It isn’t even that big of a deal, chill,” she shushed me.

“Then tell me now,” I said.

“Okay. Chris told me that Brady asked him how he knew he was ready to propose to me.”

“Yeah? And what did Chris say?”

“Chris told him that he just knew. We both knew we wanted to spend our lives together and pretty much spoke it into existence.”

“So what now? Is Brady going to propose to me, do you think?”

Carly shrugged and shook her head, confusing me. “Chris said he asked and Brady kind of freaked out and said no. So I guess not?”

I pouted.

“You can’t bring it up to Brady though, okay? He just got freaked out and didn’t know what to say.”

“He should have said yes!”

“Me and Kendra were talking and we think Brady is afraid of you because you’re so unpredictable. I mean, it’s fun and all, but he can’t do unpredictable. He’s too type A.”

I scoffed. “He needs unpredictability in his life. Without me, his life would be boring and routine. He even told me that!”

I can understand where Carly and Kendra are coming from, but I think opposites attract just like a lot of y’all have said. Can you imagine if Brady dated a girl like him? How tragic.

So anyway, Philly was great and I already want to go back. I think I just really miss Carly and even Chris and how much fun the four of us used to have together.

My first week of work was pretty uneventful. I’ve been mostly shadowing Scott and getting settled in. I haven’t spent much time with my team, but they seem okay. There’s already one girl I’m not sure if I’m going to like. She’s really sarcastic, which is great because I am too, but that’s not exactly the best first impression you can make on someone especially your new boss.

We were in the office and Scott wanted to show me something on the computer, but my credentials weren’t working so he asked the girl (Jamie) to log in with hers. She began typing then snapped at me, “Don’t look at my password!”

Like, okay. As if I need your password, peasant. Later on we were talking about the dress code and culture of the office and Jamie said, “Honestly, I just wear leggings everyday.”

I replied, “I don’t even own any leggings.”

Which I guess technically isn’t true, but I probably only have three pairs total. Leggings just aren’t my thing.

“How do you not have leggings? It’s 2016,” Jamie said.

Stacey 2.0? I figured she must have felt like my leggings comment was shady, but it wasn’t and I was over the top nice to her the rest of the day. She didn’t really seem to warm up to me all that much though.

Brady had several friends coming to town for the weekend and the first arrived on Friday evening. He’s a kid Brady went to college with named Eric. He’s visited before and he seemed fine. He got in at around 6:00 and got an Uber from the airport because Brady and I were busy getting ready. We planned on going to dinner then having a few drinks. But when Eric got to the house, he and Brady were so excited to see each other that they immediately started drinking. At this point I’d decided I was limiting myself to two drinks at dinner so I just spent a ton of time getting ready while they drank. I put on a dress, leather jacket, booties and a shit ton of face highlight.

We met up with another of Brady’s friends at the restaurant and the three of them got a beer pitcher and I got a modest blueberry mojito. It kind of seemed like a boys night, but I felt like I had to stick around and babysit because Brady was getting really drunk. I know he can take care of himself, but I’ve really taken on the doting wife role. I was yawning all through dinner and Brady was like, “Aww, babe, are you tired? Let’s get you another drink.” And eventually I had two full drinks in front of me plus the one I was working on.

We didn’t get home until 3:30 AM. I was exhausted and crabby, obviously. At first every time Brady ordered a new drink, I’d tell him it was his last then he would pout and say he wasn’t ready. Have the roles reversed? That used to be me all the time.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade and dyeing of the Chicago River was the next morning so we had to wake up at 6:00 to get ready and meet the rest of Brady’s friends. I literally cried because we got no sleep. Brady made bacon, eggs and oatmeal for all of us then some sort of orange juice cocktail for me while they all drank beer.

I wasn’t feeling the super festivey St. Patty’s Day green so I wore an olive green shirt dress (still green though so it counts), my Converse, a jacket and Ray Bans. We met up with Lindsey and some of their friends from back home.

Lindsey, who was wearing white jeans and a green “Chicago” sweatshirt, took one look at me and said, “Reese, where’s your green?”

I replied, “Literally my entire dress is green.”

She laughed and hugged me.

After the parade, we elbowed our way to an Irish bar that one of Brady’s friends had VIP passes to. How do you have VIP passes to a bar? Some people take St. Patrick’s Day so seriously.

Anyway, we got in and ordered these disgusting leprechaun shots and two towers of green beer. Soon, Brady was super drunk and ordering rounds of shots for everyone. Maybe I’m getting old, but I just wasn’t in the mood to drink that early. But I figured if I started drinking, it would force me to be in the mood.

At around 3:00 pm I was sobering up after a long morning of obnoxious PDA with Brady. So sorry to anyone who witnessed us making out. We went to a different bar for food and I figured we were winding down and probably going to head home after we ate. But someone ordered more shots.

“Oh my gosh,” I groaned. “Can we not do this right now?”

Brady started dying laughing (how was that at all funny?) and said, “Do what?” Then he took his shot. I was not amused.

We were out until midnight. Fucking midnight. They were raging all day and every time I tried to go home, Brady would whine and beg me not to. And he was so drunk and cute that I couldn’t. Plus there were a lot of girls out who were also drunk and cute so.

On Sunday morning I woke up feeling like complete shit, but we had plans to have brunch with Brady’s out of town visitors. Can you believe Brady woke up at 9:00 am ready to hit the streets? Obviously I don’t know how to rage anymore because I could barely get out of bed. And then all those psychos ordered Bloodys at brunch. I never wanted to see alcohol again.

“How are you even alive right now?” I asked Brady.

“What do you mean? It’s St. Patrick’s Day,” he said as if that somehow explained anything. Brady and I weren’t together last year for St. Patty’s Day so I wasn’t aware that he’s so into it. He isn’t even Irish.

Tucker and I stayed in bed the rest of the day while Brady cleaned. Lindsey stopped by for dinner and I couldn’t even pull myself out of bed to greet her.

“Can’t hang, Reese?” she laughed.

Nope.

Luckily I was back to life on Monday for work. I’ve gotten pretty close with the girl who is in charge of our client experience, Monica. We usually go to lunch together and talk about our lives. She has a long term boyfriend who she’s hoping will propose soon. I know y’all are probably going to say that I need to stop going to lunch with her. Whatever.

But anyway, Monica doesn’t retain information well and it’s so annoying. Scott will tell us both something and literally five minutes later she will come find me and say, “Wait, what did he say?” and she asks me how to do stuff all the time. Like, it’s my second week! I’m honestly just not impressed with her performance. I wonder if that’s what people at my old job said about me, lol.

And another thing about work, I don’t mean to complain but maybe y’all can give me some advice. Scott has stopped really teaching me anything. Anything I want or need to know about my job I have to go find him and ask him, which is fine, but I feel stupid and like I need a ton of guidance. I don’t, I just want to do things correctly. I get that I’m in a senior role and have to be a self starter, but I can’t do my job without knowing anything. I feel like that isn’t setting me up for success. And I don’t want to sound like a baby and complain to him about it.

So Brady and I made last minute plans to go visit Carly and Chris this weekend in Philly. I’m so excited because I’ve never been! But whatever we do, I am not drinking. Did you ever think I’d say that?