I literally didn’t see Brady all week until Thursday because he worked late Monday, I traveled Tuesday and Wednesday and he worked late Wednesday night. When I got back on Wednesday, Preston called me and wanted to get drinks to tell me about the latest drama in his life. I felt like I hadn’t seen or talked him in forever so I couldn’t wait to catch up.

I squealed when I saw him waiting outside his boutique for me to pick him up.

“Hey princess,” he said, getting into the passenger seat. We hugged quickly and then pulled apart.

“What’s this?” Preston asked, tugging on the sleeve of my jacket.

“Free People,” I explained.

“Oh. Chic.”

We drove to Wicker for pizza and drinks and gossip. While we waited for our skinny veggie pizza to get to our table, Preston said, “I have so fucking much to tell you.”

“Spill.”

“I met up with this sexy man from Grindr on Sunday. He was visiting from LA and we went to dinner. An hour later, his dick was down my throat.” Preston sipped his beer with a straw. 

“Preston.”

“I know. Anyway, we had so much fun that he’s already booked me a flight to LA for the end of February.”

“I’m jealous,” I said.

“You should be. Also, I’ve been talking to Mr. Murphy. Before you say anything, he reached out to me and wanted to apologize for everything that happened.”

I nodded.

“Apparently he realized what a manipulative twat Dillon is so he came crawling back. Obviously.”

“And you’re going to take him back after all that?”

“I didn’t fucking say that, Reese.” Preston rolled his eyes dramatically at me. “But I’m willing to hear him out. And if he gets me a good enough gift, I’ll consider rekindling things with him. I was thinking a Rolex. I found one I love and it’s only $15,000.”

“Ooo, let me see!” I enthused.

We spent the next twenty minutes looking at possible watches for Mr. Murphy to buy him.

“But I don’t know, I kind of love being single. So much freedom,” Preston said, putting his phone down. “But I also need to settle down after that pregnancy and STD scare.”

“What scare?” I asked.

“Well, I was hooking up a lot and not always using condoms. I was starting to see…symptoms so I went to the clinic. Thank Ariana Grande it turned out to be strep throat.”

I laughed. I can’t tell you how many STD scares Preston has had. The first time he had one, he came to my office on his lunch break in complete shambles. We holed up in one of the bathrooms for two hours trying to figure out what to do. Finally, he set up an appointment with a clinic in the suburbs (so no one would see him, obviously) to get tested for everything, specifically HIV/AIDS. He was so nervous and vowed not to ever have unprotected sex or hook up with random guys on Grindr for money again. The results took a week to come back and when everything came back negative, he texted me saying, “I need a hot boy to fuck tonight.”

“Anyway,” Preston said. “How’s that man of yours? Have you talked him in to marrying you yet?”

“Not yet,” I said. “But we are toooooootally going to. Did I tell you he asked me to move in with him?”

Preston gasped. “No! Are you going to?” 

“Well, I didn’t say yes or no. Would that be weird if I did?”

“Yes! Does he know how messy you are?” 

“No,” I admitted. “But I’m getting a lot better. I can turn into a housewife. I think it might be fun.”

“Reese, if you’re ready to become a housewife then do it. I love you guys together. I can’t wait to be your bridesmaid.”

At that point Brady and I hadn’t even talked about me moving in since the first night he brought it up so I wasn’t even sure if he still wanted me to. Maybe he was just saying that to make me feel better after our fight. I told myself I would bring it up the next time I saw him.

Which turned out to be after work on Thursday. We got off around the same time and I made us glasses of wine to unwind.

“How was work?” I asked, sipping my wine.

We were sitting on the couch with our wine and my feet were in Brady’s lap but he was hunched over, trying to type on his laptop on the coffee table.

“It was fine. I’m trying to this done now so I don’t have to stay late tomorrow.”

“K, I’ll wait,” I said.

Brady kind of laughed. “How was work for you?”

“Fantastic because I didn’t hear from Andrew all day. It makes such a difference. I really feel like his main goal in life is to annoy me. Sometimes I wonder if he ever does any other work.”

“Perhaps if you prove to him that you have everything under control, he will leave you alone.”

“Perhaps.” For some reason, I just don’t feel like that’s the case. 

“Did you find out if you’ll be able to take off for Mexico?” I asked.

“With the way things are going now, I won’t,” Brady said and my face fell. “But things will be better by then so we should be good.”

“It better be. This trip is non-refundable.”

“Don’t worry.” Brady patted the top of my head like I’m a puppy.

“Plus I bought of ton of new cute stuff to wear. Let me show you!” I grabbed his laptop from the table so I could show him all the stuff I recently bought online. I love showing Brady my new purchases because he says things like, “The color of that dress will complement your skin very nicely,” and “Your legs will look amazing in that.” He has no idea what he’s talking about but it’s so cute that he tries.

I went to Gmail so I could pull up my sales receipt, but Brady was already logged in. I went to sign him out because I didn’t want to snoop or be caught snooping, but before I could I saw an email from Cartier.com. 

Holy shit. 

I quickly signed him out before I could read what it was about. The first thing I thought of was Arianna’s blog when Lukas proposed to Liz with a Cartier ring (these fictional blogs are becoming a part of my life lol) so I thought Brady was proposing. It’s not like he wears any jewelry or anything so I didn’t know why else Cartier would be emailing him.

I showed him the new bathing suits, coverups and dresses I ordered and he obviously loved everything. Then he got up and headed to his room and before I followed, I texted my mom saying, “Is Brady proposing?”

I told him that he had to get my parents permission before proposing to me so if he was, she would have to know. Although, I’m not sure when he would’ve gotten the chance to ask them.

My mom immediately replied, “He is? OMG I’m so happy, I can’t wait to help you plan!”

And I was like, “No mom, I’m asking you. Is he?”

She said, “Oh idk.”

Ugh.

Even though my mom knew nothing about it, I was still convinced that Brady was proposing and I was so excited. I skipped to his room where I found him in just his undershirt and pants. 

“Hiiiii,” I sang to my soon-to-be fiancé. I stopped in front of him and kissed him before dropping to my knees. Time to give bae the best blow job ever so he knows I’m the one.

After he came, we got in bed and he tried to keep fooling around, but I wanted to ask him about me moving in.

“Hey,” I said, taking my shirt off. “Were you serious about me moving in here?”

Brady shrugged. “It’s up to you. I don’t mind.”

I wanted to be like, “Of course you don’t mind, it was your idea!”

But instead I said, “Do you want me to?”

“Um, sure. I wouldn’t make you sign or lease or anything so it wouldn’t be as conplicated if it didn’t work out.”

“Heyyyyy!” I swatted his shoulder. “Why wouldn’t it work out? Why would you even say that?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to throw that out there in case that is what you are having reservations about that.”

“I’m not worried about a lease or anything like that. I’ve just never lived with a guy. Not even a gay guy,” I said

He laughed. “I’ve never lived with a woman either. Except my mother but I don’t imagine that counts.”

I rolled my eyes at him mentioning his mom. “What if we live together and hate each other?”

“Then we probably shouldn’t get married,” he smirked. “I don’t see why we would hate each other though. You are here quite frequently anyway.”

I love conversations like that with Brady. It was fun/funny, but we were still being honest and opening up to each other. I decided that I think I will do it. I just don’t know what kind of fights we might get in to living with each other, but I know it will happen. 

On Friday, Andrew was in Chicago and we spent the majority of the day at the store and on conference calls. He treated me to lunch and told me that some of the NYC bigwigs will be visiting the new store in Tennessee next month so we need to prepare. By the end of lunch I had a twenty seven item to do list written. God, he stresses me out.

Andrew told me he was staying in the city for the weekend and asked where the good places to go out at night were. I told him that my friends and I usually stick to River North/Streeterville and named a few of the bars I like. I thought nothing of it. 

I stayed at work so late on Friday night that I was too tired to do anything except go home, shower and get in bed. 

I called my mom on Saturday morning. Before I could even say anything she started complaining about my dad. Apparently she ordered something really expensive online (wouldn’t tell me what it was) and when it came my dad signed for it, realized what it was, and sent it back. My mom was rightfully pissed and complained to me about every little thing that my dad does and she puts up with. So she thinks he should put her with a “little” shopping.

Once she was done venting, she said, “Anyway, how are you, babe?”

I immediately told her what I saw in Brady’s email.

“Ooo, Cartier!” she gasped. She pronounced it “carty-air.” She acts like such a poor person sometimes. “Your dad still always gets me Tiffany. Cartier is way better!”

“What if Brady got me an engagement ring, Mom? What will I do?” I asked.

“You love him. You’ll say yes. I was already married with a toddler by the time I was your age. If he is willing to marry you, you need to accept.”

I think my mom is afraid that no man is ever going to wife me because I’m so crazy. She’s crazier than me and my dad married her so.

On Saturday night, Brady and I went out for dinner and drinks in River North. The plan was to eat then go to the bar and get drunk.

We walked in and as the host was seating us, I glanced to the back. It was pretty empty for a Saturday night (probably because of the impending snow storm) and I saw a group of really good looking tall men standing near one of the pool tables. I thought one of them looked like Andrew at first, but I was like, “Nah,” but then he waved.

“Oh Godddd,” I groaned.

“What?” Brady looked at me quizzically after we sat down.

“My boss is over there,” I said in a hushed voice. “Don’t look. Maybe he will think it’s not me.”

“Okay,” Brady whispered, but one second later he looked up at Andrew who making a beeline for us.

“Heyyy Reese buddy!” he bellowed.

“Oh hi!” I said pretending to be surprised. I stood up to give him a really fake one armed hug and Brady stood up too because he’s polite.

They introduced themselves to each other before I got the chance to.

“Brady!” Andrew said really loudly. “The one with the inconvenient birthday right in the middle of holiday season?”

We both kind of looked at him puzzled. I didn’t understand what he meant at the time, but later on I realized that he was talking about how I told him I couldn’t go to Tennessee because of Brady’s birthday. Rude.

Brady and I both sat down without saying anything and Andrew sank into an empty chair at our table.

“Is your girlfriend here tonight? I would love to meet her,” I said sweetly.

Andrew’s brow furrowed like he was confused for a brief moment then he said, “Oh, no. She stayed home. It’s just me and the guys tonight.” He gestured back to his smokeshow of friends who honestly all looked like a fucking hot ass baseball team.

“So Brady,” Andrew said turning toward him. “What is it that you do?”

I know for a fact that Andrew and I had already talked about this. But I figured maybe he asked just for conversation.

Brady had taken a drink of water so we waited a second for him to finish. “I work in a hospital as a pharmacist.”

“A pharmacist, huh?” Andrew was smiling devilishly. “So you owe more than you make?”

Brady laughed uncomfortably. “Fortunately for me, no.”

At that moment I wished we would have bailed out of there when we had the chance. I was honestly so embarrassed and Andrew didn’t even stop there.

“One of my guys couldn’t get into medical or dental school so he signed up for pharmacy school. Graduated with 150k debt and can’t find a job in his field. He’s working in business to business sales in New York now.”

Brady laughed again.

“But yeah!” Andrew said, sounding satisfied with the awkwardness he caused. “Feel free to come have a drink with us when you’re finished eating.”

Once he was out of earshot I whispered, “Ohmygod, I’msosorryabouthim, nowdoyouseewhatIdealwitheveryday?” 

Brady assured me that it was fine and he wasn’t offended. I was though. After we ate we got the fuck up out of there before Andrew could shove his foot further in his mouth.

We headed out and decided to walk down to another bar. It had started to snow a bit and a Hispanic couple stopped us and asked if I spoke Spanish (do I look like I do?). Brady told them that he did and they asked for directions to get to Union Station. He told them the best way to get there and they were really, really grateful. It was really sweet how thankful they were. It made me want to learn another language. You never know who you’ll might need to communicate with! Maybe I’ll do French. 

I told Brady how cool I thought it was and he told me the awful, racist things his parents said about Spanish speaking people. I literally gasped and said, “That’s disgusting.”

Remember when his dad asked me how I felt about what was going on at the US/Mexico border? Now it makes sense. He said when he told his mom he wanted to go to South America for six months, she told him not to and gave a list of completely unjust reasons why he would be unsafe. I can see why he kind of resents them. I think a lot of times children share the same views as their parents (because that’s what they’re taught) so it’s cool that Brady was smart enough to not let them influence him. His parents are so gross. I look at them completely different now.

Anyway, our night was uneventful other than that. When I woke up I was in a winter wonderland lol so I’ve stayed in bed all day and made my boyfriend bring me food. We are having a Super Bowl party and everyone’s invited! Seriously. Come party with us.

When I suggested that we stay inside and smoke and fuck all weekend I was kind of kidding. But that’s pretty much what we did. On Friday night I got tacos and tequila and went to Brady’s. I literally took off all my clothes and got in bed with a plate of tacos. I can’t believe that’s what my life has become. How revolting.

When we woke up on Saturday morning Brady wanted to go for a run. I pretended I didn’t have any shoes to run in (but I did from our last run) and used that as an excuse not to go.

“They’re right here,” Brady said and reached under the bed to pick one of my Roshes up. I could tell by his voice that he never believed my excuse. 

“UGHHHHH,” I groaned so loudly that Chris probably thought I was being tortured. “This is so fucking stupid. It’s too cold to be running. We are going to catch pneumonia and die.”

Brady looked at me, unamused. “You don’t have to go.”

I felt like a bitch so I put on my brightest smile. “Just kidding! Let me just get ready.”

So even though it was the last thing on Earth I wanted to do, I rolled out of bed and got dressed in Lululemon Wunder Under pants, a Nike half zip, my Patagonia, crew socks and a hat. 

I should have stayed home. I wasn’t motivated to run and didn’t even try to keep up with Brady once I got tired. Plus I was dressed in so many layers with the hat and stuff on that after a while I got hot.

“I’m hot,” I whined, slowing down until I was walking. I ripped the stupid hat off and unzipped my jacket.

“Come on, we are almost finished.” Brady slowed down and tried to kind of push me to keep going.

“Ughhhhhhhhhhh,” I whined super dramatically. I don’t see how people actually enjoy running. “Just leave me here. I’ll find my way home.”

Brady stopped running and walked with me the rest of the way. I know I’m such a brat, but I honestly think he was secretly a little happy about my tantrum because he didn’t have to pretend to want to run.

When we got home, I called the shower first and took a quick, forty five minute shower then started on breakfast while Brady showered. After we ate waffles we got back in bed. We fooled around (I honestly think I could survive on foreplay alone, anyone else?), napped then watched tv. Later on in the evening, Carly and one of Chris’s friends came over and we all hung out in the basement. While we were all talking, I found out that Carly and Chris have not met each other’s parents. I was kind of surprised because they’re both from around here so it would be so easy for everyone to meet. I made a mental note to ask Carly about it when we are alone. 

We smoked and I actually took more than like one or two hits from the bong. And at first I thought it was too much and that I had overdosed and was going to die. I sat there on the verge of tears because I thought these were the last moments of my life. Then the feeling passed and I felt fine. We all sat there for a long time then me and Brady went outside to sit on the patio. It was pretty nice out (high 30s in January feels like summer) and we brought out cheddar popcorn, marshmallows, craisins, and flour tortillas to snack on. Super gross.

We started talking about Hunter and how Brady still hasn’t heard from him.

“I haven’t talked to my brother in almost three months. It’s really fucked up,” Brady said and I felt so awful. I really wished there was something I could do.

“I’m sorry. We should go to San Francisco and find him!” I said.

Brady kind of laughed, but I was being serious. “No. He is completely capable of using the phone to contact me.”

“But what if he’s hurt or something? That Dom girl seems a bit off. What if she killed him?” There. I said it.

“Reese,” he said, pulling me on his lap. “I’m sure it’s fine. He’s probably just enjoying life as a newlywed.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t thought that maybe Hunter was simply in wedded bliss. He is probably totally fine and trying to impregnate his little troll of a wife. If I wasn’t so high I would’ve been kind of embarrassed about bringing up such a ridiculous scenario. Oh well. “Are you going to stop talking to your family after we get married too?”

“I wish I could stop talking to my parents now. Honestly, fuck them.”

“Brady!” I exclaimed, taken aback. “That’s awful.”

“They aren’t as nice as you think,” he said and I don’t even think they’re nice. “I would be fine with never speaking to them again.”

“They are your parents,” I said, putting my hands on either side of his face.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” he said, smiling up at me. “They do suck though.”

Then he started talking about how supportive my parents are and how they’ll obviously love me unconditionally. I was like, “Won’t your parents love you unconditionally too?”

And he said, “No.”

Which is really sad. I wasn’t sure how to make him feel better except saying that I would. Naturally we spent the next three hours talking about how much we love each other. Well, I think it was closer to ten or fifteen minutes, but still. It felt like a long time.

We went inside and took an entire jar of peanut butter in the bed with us. We passed spoonfuls back and forth while discussing how peanut butter is made.
 
I said, “Don’t they just melt a bunch of peanuts and then add butter and stuff?”

Brady started laughing uncontrollably so I did too. Now that I think about it, it did sound really dumb, but I sure thought it made sense at the time.

“I don’t think peanuts will just melt,” Brady said.

“Ohhhh.” I probably looked and sounded like such a stoner.

After we finished the entire jar of crunchy peanut butter we fell asleep. I didn’t get out of bed at all on Sunday. I think I had a hangover from all the food we ate. Honestly, I don’t mind smoking, but I can’t deal with the munchies it gives me. It’s disgusting and it’s unacceptable.

On Monday Andrew was in Chicago. We had conference calls all morning then went to lunch to discuss my “progress.” Ugh. I just knew he was going to tell me I sucked and needed to try harder or I would be fired. So we went to this deli and got sandwiches and Andrew asked how my weekend was. I gave him a really, really vague overview of my weekend (I went for a run and I ate a lot) and he asked what I like to do for fun. I hate that question. I made up some bullshit about how I like to work out (lolllllllll) and cook (hahaha).

Then Andrew was like, “What do you think you’re good at?”

This caught me off guard. “Um, like at work or in life?”

“Both. Either one.”

“I think I manage my time well,” I said after a moment.

“Yeah,” Andrew said, nodding. “I agree. Something I’ve noticed about you is that you always seem to use your time effectively. You hit the ground running when you come in and you’re all about your business. I admire that.”

I smiled and nodded. I definitely have him fooled.

“And you’re very assertive. I think that’s what this region was missing. I don’t think I’ll ever have to worry about things around here with you in charge. You aren’t hesitant about making decisions that will be best for the business.”

It was really weird, but Andrew was actually telling me that I am doing a good job and he is impressed and stuff. I wasn’t expecting that, but it definitely put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. And it actually made me want to work harder to show Andrew that he has a reason to be impressed with me.

He asked what I think I need to work on and without hesitating I said, “Communicating.”

Andrew’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

I explained to him how I sometimes have trouble expressing myself and how I bottle things up. He seemed really really surprised so maybe I’m not like that at work. Either way, he told me not to ever feel like I can’t discuss anything with him.

And finally Andrew asked what he could do to help me succeed in my position. I knew it was my time to suck up and kiss ass (which is completely necessary sometimes) so I said something along the lines of, “I think you’re great. You’re inspirational and I love that you push me and challenge me. I can tell you are going to be a great mentor.”

“Wow, thanks Reese!” Andrew beamed. “But seriously, don’t be afraid to come to me with any concerns. I’m here to help you, not scare you.” 

Lies.

After work I stopped by Kendra’s. When I got there I immediately noticed a pair of (ugly) men’s boots on her welcome mat and asked if John was there. She looked down at the boots and said no without offering an explanation or anything.

“Seriously, I don’t care if he is. Or if you’re talking to slash seeing him. I’m in no position to judge you even though I think he’s a useless prick,” I said.

“I’m so glad I have your permission to talk to him,” she said rolling her eyes.

So obviously, John is still a touchy subject.

Anyway, I can’t stop thinking about what Brady said about his parents. I don’t know if he was just being dramatic because he was under the influence, but it’s just so sad. I can’t imagine feeling like I would be okay never speaking to my parents again. I just feel really bad for him and I hope he gets to talk to Hunter soon because I can tell that’s really bothering him. And I mean, if he doesn’t talk to his parents and Hunter is AWOL, who else does he really have?

Tennessee was okay. Wednesday was the soft opening event so on Tuesday we spent the entire day making sure the store was ready for all the people who were invited. It really showed me how much I still don’t know about everything. Like there was a company installing the internet and phones and they asked the manager if they could cut a small hole in a wall to run the wires. She then asked me if that would be okay. And obviously I had no idea. I ended up telling the guys that they could as long as they promised it would be small and not noticeable.

So for most of the day I just answered people’s questions and granting approval to do things. I was basically just there to make sure everything was running smoothly. Everything seemed to be under control so I spent the majority of the day putting things in my shopping cart on revolveclothing.com. We called it a day around 5:30 or 6. Since I had nothing better to do, I invited the manager and store assistants to dinner at my hotel. I thought it would be a nice gesture from me (even though I charged it all to my company card) plus Andrew told me I should try to get to know my employees. 

Wednesday was busy. We had a really good turn out for the invite only soft opening so good in fact that the internet went down so for a little while we couldn’t accept any credit cards. The manager ran to me and asked what we should do and I had no idea either. So I just found the business card the internet installation guys gave me and called them. I had to stay on the phone for like two hours with them trying to figure it out which is really annoying and something I kind of feel like I’m too important to be doing.

Andrew called me in the morning and asked me to keep him in the loop so I did just that. I literally texted him after every sale and sent him pictures of the store filled with people (but didn’t tell him about the mild glitch with the internet). Honestly, I was just trying to annoy him like he annoys me and at first he was excited and told me to keep it up, then he stopped responding lol.

I left Tennessee on Wednesday evening and made it home in time to meet Kendra for happy hour. I got cheese fries and an extra dry martini. We had so much to talk about especially my new job. She told me that I needed to take it more seriously and I can’t just get away with doing nothing because I don’t have Diana there to back me up. I was a little offended by that because Diana was never like a crutch for me.

To change the subject I said, “I heard John spent the night with you the other night.”

Kendra’s mouth twitched and she didn’t say anything for a moment. I sipped my ‘tini.

“Carly told you that?” she finally asked.

“As a matter of fact, she did. Why didn’t you want me to know?” I said.

“Do you have nothing better to talk about?” Kendra huffed, crossing her arms. “Y’all are annoying.”

“You’re annoying!” I said back automatically then felt bad. “Just kidding. What did you and John talk about?”

“I’m not fucking telling you. So you can go back and tell Carly and the two of you can talk about it?”

“Kendra,” I said in my most mature voice.

“I don’t want to talk about this. Where’s the waitress?”

And she literally refused to talk about John at all for the rest of the evening. 

After that I went to Brady’s. He was working when I got there and was being really quiet. I asked how he was and how work was going and etc and he kept giving me short, one word answers. And then I got annoyed with him and stomped to his room. Fine. If he wanted to be antisocial and weird then whatever. Fifteen minutes later, Brady came to his room.

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just really tired,” he said.

I shrugged. “Why?”

“I’ve been working a lot more than usual recently. It’s draining.” He laid down on the bed next to me with his clothes and shoes still on.

Oh yeah. He has been working late like every single day. I’ve been so busy worrying about myself that I didn’t even notice. I suddenly had a realization: this was Kendra and John’s exact downfall. I’m such a self centered bitch sometimes. 

“Is everything okay? Why are you working so much?” I asked.

“Everything is fine. I’m just picking up someone else’s work for the time being and it kind of sucks,” Brady said. He sat up and started pulling his clothes off.
 
I’ve never heard Brady complain about work ever. I rarely hear him complain about anything. He’s usually so optimistic. So I knew this really must suck. 

“Oh. How long do you have to do that?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It’s fine.”

Brady got up and changed silently. I didn’t like him like this and needed to cheer him up as soon as possible.

“Wanna do something fun this weekend?” I asked excitedly when he came back to the bed.

“Mmhm. Like what?” He nuzzled my neck.

“Well, I don’t know. Whatever you want. We could stay here and smoke and fuck all weekend if that tickles your pickle,” I said.

Brady laughed. And then literally, three minutes later he was asleep.

I worked from home on Thursday. I had some reports to get to Andrew by the end of the day plus we had a big conference call with all of the sales directors, Andrew and his colleagues,  and the New York bigwigs.

Right in the middle of the conference call, I got a text from Carly that said, “Are you fucking kidding me, Reese?”

And I replied, “What?”

“You told Kendra what I said YOU’RE SUCH A FUCKING BITCH I’M NEVER TELLING YOU ANYTHING AGAIN YOU’RE HONESTLY THE WORST FRIEND EVER.”

“Carly.” was all I said back. Obviously she was being a little bit ridiculous and I needed to reel her back in.

“Reese, I told you not to tell her. I’m very pissed at you right now.”

“I was drunk.” This wasn’t 100% true.

“She’s so mad lol. What should I do?”

“She’ll be fine. Honestly, we all knew this was coming. I don’t even know why she’s trying to hide it. Over it. Wanna get drunk this weekend?”

At this point, I heard Andrew say, “Thoughts on that, Reese? You’re being awfully quiet.”

FUCK. 

I unmuted my phone and said, “Umm, can you actually repeat what you just said? I missed it because I was taking notes.”

“Sure!” Andrew said really cheerfully and then repeated his question. I managed to ramble a pretty decent answer. Andrew seemed impressed and took back over the conversation. 

I didn’t text Carly back until after the call was over. Andrew texted me afterwards too saying, “Nice job on the call today! Once you have a better grasp on things, I want you to participate more.” Compliments from Andrew are so few and far between that the text boosted my mood for the entire day.

I haven’t really talked to Kendra since Wednesday. I know the mature, best friendly thing to do would be to call and her let her know that I support her no matter what she decides to do with John. But I’m just like, no, fuck that. How many times has she inserted her opinion about my life in where it was unwanted and then made me feel like shit for not doing what she says? I just can’t bring myself to be the bigger person yet.

I flew to Tennessee on Tuesday morning to meet Andrew at the new store. We were going on a four day tour of all the stores I would be taking over so I could meet everyone. Andrew was nice enough to pick me up from the airport in his rental and we loaded my bags in. On the car ride there, Andrew asked how I was adjusting to the new job. I told him I was fine but there was a lot that I still needed to learn and adapt to. He agreed and said I would get it over time. Then he was like, “But other than that, how are you?”

I assumed this meant like generally in life so I again said that I’m fine and glad to get out of the Chicago cold and etc. I wasn’t about to go into detail about my personal life with Andrew because last time I did that, he mocked me for it.

But then he was like, “What does your boyfriend do?”

“Um, he’s a pharmacist,” I said.

“Nice! So you’ve got a smart one.”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Long term relationship?”

“Mmmmm,” I started. I really, really didn’t want to get into this with Andrew. I was being nice enough by answering his questions, but I just don’t want him knowing too much about my personal life.

Luckily for me, his cell phone rang and he answered it. From the sounds of it, it was his boss who wanted to talk sales and numbers and stuff. Then he was all like, “I have Reese here. She says hello and she’s so excited to visit the new store.”

I didn’t say any of that at all, but whatever.

We went straight from the airport to the store which was still a couple days away from the grand opening. I met the manager, who I’d interviewed over the phone and a few of the other employees who were all working on merchandising the store. Andrew and I went to the back office to work for a couple of hours. He wanted to go over sales reports and talk about stuff like average dollar sale, sales per hour, average unit retail, margin, etc. We didn’t talk about a lot of that at my old job, but I jotted down a ton of notes to make sure I was getting it.

We stepped out to grab a quick lunch where we continued to talk about numbers and sales. It was kind of exhausting having to use my brain that much. He kept asking questions like, “So the sales projection for the quarter for this store is $x, how much should each sales person be responsible for?” And, “If we want an average of $x spent per transaction, how many units would that be?”

Like I don’t fucking know. I suck at math. When we got back to the store, we helped set up the merchandise and then we did a store walk through. I pulled out the special Kate Spade notebook I got just for work and started taking notes. We got to a particular shelf that had some tote bags, picture frames, bookends, and other knick knacks in it.

“Now Reese, after reading those store documents and what we’ve talked about, what do you see wrong with this presentation?” Andrew asked me.

“Um.” I felt put on the spot and suddenly couldn’t think of anything I’d read about. “Well, I think it looks nice. Is the color story off?”

Andrew stared at me blankly. “Uh, no.”

“Okay, well it seems kind of odd for the totes to be displayed with the picture frames and stuff. Maybe we could put something else here.”

“Reese, why don’t you go back to the office and actually read the manuals I gave you?” Andrew said, sounding exasperated. “There’s some stuff I really need you to know in there.”

“Okay,” I said and just stood there. Andrew and the manager just stared at me and I realized that he was serious.

I spun around and marched back to the office. And then, y’all won’t believe this, but I just started bawling. I’m not used to sucking at my job like that and I felt like I couldn’t do anything right. But just as quickly as I started crying, I stopped. I needed to figure this out. I pulled my work binder out of my bag and started skimming until I found out exactly what was wrong with the presentation. The picture frames and tote bags were a part of the company’s inhouse brand while the bookends were from an outside designer. The inhouse brand should never be displayed with other brands. Duh. No wonder Andrew yelled at me. That was an easy one. 

I pulled myself back together and walked back out there, ready to prove that I wasn’t an idiot. Andrew and a really short girl were trying to lift a shelf and she was on her tip toes about to  the drop it.

“Reese, can we get a hand over here?” Andrew called and I rushed over to avert the impending disaster.

So we spent the next four hours or so doing manual labor around the store. By the time we got to our hotel, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I got to my room, dropped my things by the door, and collapsed face first onto the bed. And then I cried, again. What a shitty day. If this was how it was going to be then I wasn’t cut out for it and I needed to talk to Diana about getting my old job back. After I showered and got ready for bed, I even looked up flights to go back to Chicago on Wednesday.

But after a moment, I realized how ridiculous I was being. I could do this. I just needed to take it more seriously. I could tell that once I was trained and ready to take over the stores on my own, I would really like it.

When I woke up I had a text from Brady letting me know that he missed me. I hadn’t even had time to think about how much I missed him too. While I quickly got ready to take on the day, I realized how much I was dreading it. The day’s itinerary was: go back to the new store for a few hours, drop Andrew’s rental off then fly to the next store to visit. I was annoyed and tired just thinking about it.

I grabbed my phone and headed downstairs to grab a quick bite from the complimentary breakfast buffet. On my way out the door, I texted Brady, “I need to talk to you.”

To my surprise, he called me a few minutes later.

“Hi,” I said solemnly.

“Hey. Is everything okay?” he asked.

I realized that my choice of words and now solemn voice probably made it sound like something bad had happened and that’s why he called so quickly.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m just so fucking over this. Andrew is a complete asshole and goes out of his way to make me look bad.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. What happened?”

“He like expects me to know everything already. Yesterday he asked me this question in front of everyone and when I didn’t know it, he made me feel like shit about it. Like, dude. I just started. And the way he talks to me is just so degrading. He’s unprofessional and he’s inconsiderate and I really just want to come home!”

I stopped dead in my tracks because I’d arrived at the breakfast buffet and Andrew was sitting right by the door. And he was looking at me. Shit. Did he hear me? He smiled and waved so I assumed he didn’t.

“Anyway, how are you?” I said quickly into the phone. “Why aren’t you at work?”

“I am at work,” Brady answered. “But I stepped out to call you. Your message worried me.”

Oops.

I apologized for making him worry and told him that I would let him get back to work. He said it was okay and then he was like, “Don’t allow him to intimidate you, Reese. You’re much stronger than that.”

And that was the only pep talk I needed. Before we hung up, Brady said, “I love you,” and I felt weird saying it back since Andrew was still right there.

So I just said, “You too.” I hope that doesn’t make me a bitch.

Anyway, I had a much better day on Wednesday. I didn’t let Andrew intimidate me and I asked a ton of questions and took notes and felt like I was starting to grasp things. When we did the store walk through at the second store, I was even pointing out things that were out of place. And Andrew was being nicer.

On Wednesday afternoon, we got a rental car and drove about forty minutes to the third store and did a short walk through. Then we checked into our hotel and were flying to the next store in the morning. Thursday we flew to the next store, walked through it, visited a third party vendor, worked on some paperwork at a coffee shop then we flew to the city of the final store. When we got there it was around 9:00 PM and Andrew offered to treat me to dinner. He invited the manager of the store we were visiting the next morning and we met her at a little Italian restaraunt.

I didn’t know what to expect. Were we going to talk about business all night? Should I bring all my notes? But it turned out to be really chill. Andrew ordered a bottle of wine and we all just talked. I found out that Andrew has a girlfriend who works in PR and just moved to Chicago from New York City. So he said he’s in Chicago a lot. Andrew actually seemed like a real person when he was telling us about his girlfriend. The manager, Kristen, seemed really interested in knowing about their relationship and how they were handling long distance. She was asking a lot of questions that I kind of didn’t need to know the answer to. We also talked about college and the previous jobs we’ve had. Andrew has a background in sales and had a ton of stories about how he met millionaires and celebrities. Kristen was eating it up.

Toward the end of dinner, we were all kind of full and tipsy from the wine. Andrew suddenly said, “Reese, I know you probably think I’m being unreasonably hard on you.”

I looked at him apprehensively. “Uh, yeah.”

“Just like your employees are a reflection of you, you’re a reflection of me. So I’m going to push you. And I want you to push yourself and your team. I’m used to being the best.”

“That’s fair,” I said honestly.

“I have high standards, Reese, and you should too. Once you see that all of your bonuses and raises and reviews depend on the performance of your team, you’ll see why I am the way I am.”

I nodded. I guess it makes sense. It doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s an asshole to me though.

We had to wake up early on Friday morning to do a quick store visit then we got lunch and flew back to Chicago. Andrew was visiting his girlfriend for the weekend and said that if we had a chance, we should meet up to go over the sales reports. I made sure I was “busy” all weekend.

When I got back to Chicago, I got my car and drove directly to Brady’s. It was early afternoon so he was obviously still at work, but I just missed him and wanted to be there when he got home. Chris was home though and let me in. I got inside and took the longest shower ever then I got in Brady’s bed and fell asleep. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I fell asleep in just a towel while scrolling through Instagram.

I woke up later that evening when I heard something. It was Brady, trying to quietly get undressed from work.

“Hey!” I squealed. I was so fucking excited to see him after the week I had.

“Hey! I didn’t want to wake you,” he said and I jumped up to hug and kiss him. Literally love him.

Naturally we ended up having sex right away then laid in bed and I complained about work. The last day or two of the trip was actually fine, but I really just wanted Brady to tell me how amazing I am. Not sorry. He said he worked a ton that week too so we were both super tired. We fell asleep early and had brunch on Saturday morning.

I got dinner and drinks with Carly on Saturday night. I vented to her about how Kendra couldn’t even free up some time to hang out with me even though I was gone all week.

“I get that her job is important or whatever, but it’s just fucking rude,” I complained while shoving my face with sushi.

“Oh yeah!” Carly exclaimed. “I have something to tell you, but you have to promise not to say anything!”

“Okay,” I said. 

“Seriously!” Her eyes widened and she leaned super close. “If you tell Kendra I told you, she won’t ever speak to me again.”

“Carly. Just tell me.”

“Okay, well I went to Kendra’s on Tuesday night for dinner and when I was leaving her apartment, I ran into John. He was walking in when I was walking out and he had like an overnight back so obviously he planned on staying.”

“Oh my gosh,” I groaned.

“I know! And then I texted Kendra like, ‘I just saw John, are you hanging out with him?’ And she’s all, ‘We just want to talk. Don’t tell Reese!'”

Which is rude. Why wouldn’t she want me to know? It’s not like I’m going to judge her for talking to her cheating loser ex whose existence she really shouldn’t acknowledge.

Anyway, I was still so tired on Saturday night that I just went to Brady’s and passed out in his bed while he and Chris smoked. I’m technically supposed to be off today, but Andrew keeps pestering me with emails and I feel guilty not replying. I have to go back to Tennessee tomorrow, but luckily Andrew don’t be there so I’ll actually get to work on my own.

I stayed in my apartment literally all day on Thursday because it was cold and Brady worked until almost 10:30 PM. I asked Kendra, Carly and Preston if they wanted to grab drinks but they all claimed it was to cold to do that. So obviously I was the only one who was willing to risk frostbite to drink.

On Friday, I needed to get out of my apartment so I went into the store to work. The cute manager, Leah, was there and I basically took over her office in the stockroom to do my paperwork. I would come out occasionally and watch her work and ask questions about why she was doing things. She was really cool about explaining how the store worked to me. 

In the afternoon, one of the store assistants came for her shift and since the store was pretty slow I got to know them. At first they seemed like they were trying really hard to be professional and stuff in front of me, but then the assistant let, “At least this means Andrew won’t be in our store as often,” slip.

I politely demanded some dirt on Andrew and they let it all out. Apparently Andrew is a complete douchebag to everyone and not just me. Leah said that he once made her cry because he told her that her hard work was not good enough and she should probably be looking for a new job. But Leah also said she knows Andrew’s ex-girlfriend who said he is a womanizer and cheater. I can see it.

At around 3:00 PM I got an email from Andrew saying that he needed me to create an entire Google Doc and he wanted it by the end of the day. Seriously? Couldn’t he have told me sooner before I spent two hours gossiping about him? Ugh. So I had to work on that until 8:30. Leah and the assistant (whose name I forgot) spent the entire evening talking about how they planned on going out and getting drunk with some of the other people who worked there. I hadn’t been out in a while (at least it didn’t feel like it) and I suddenly wanted to hurry and finish my work so I could also go out and get drunk.

Preston and his latest Grindr hookup were the only two people who were down to go out which was kind of annoying. Brady and Carly were working and Kendra just flat out said no. Whatever. We went to a gay club and got really drunk, really fast. Like blackout drunk. I told myself I wouldn’t do that anymore since I’m 25 and an adult now, but you know. Things happen. The only thing I remember is dancing a ton.

I woke up on Saturday morning in Brady’s bed. I had no idea how I even got there. I found my phone tangled up in the sheets and saw that it was 9:30 AM. After a quick peek at my text messages, it appeared that Brady had come to the club to pick me up. And I was such a cunt to him. At around one o’clock he asked if I wanted him to come pick me up. Even though I clearly needed to go home home, I said, “Uh no, if I need you to pick me up I will tell you.”

And then he said, “Okay well I’m kind of tired, but I’ll try to stay up.”

I then told him to leave me alone. Of course at 4:30 AM I apparently called him to pick me up and when he didn’t come fast enough I texted him, “Hurry up or this hot guy is going to take me home.”

Brady replied, “I’m hurrying.”

I flipped through my camera roll to try to see what I’d gotten into the night before. I just found a ton of selfies with Preston and his cute date.

I felt terrible about the way I treated Brady and wanted to wake him up immediately to apologize.

“Hey,” I said, poking him. “Brady, wake up.”

Brady stirred and rolled over then opened one eye to look at me.

“I’m sorry about last night,” I said.

He closed his eyes and pulled me close to him. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.”

“Uh, yes it is.” I nudged him. “I was a complete bitch. I can’t believe I got that drunk.”

“It’s fine, Reese,” he sighed. 

“Whatever,” I mumbled, laying back down. I was mad at him for not being mad at me. Is that psychotic? I threatened to go home with another guy and he didn’t think it was a big deal? Cool.

On Saturday night, one of Brady’s friends was having an apartment party so we went. I decided that I wasn’t going to drink and be a hot mess and embarrass Brady which I thought would be easy since he was the only person I would know there. Well it turns out a girl who used to do my hair is best friends with the party host and was at the party. I hadn’t seen her (Heather) in forever. 

After Brady introduced me to a few people, Heather and I caught up over vodka waters. Isn’t it awkward when you cheat on your hairstylist and then see them out? They’re all like, “Wow cute highlights, who did them?” And then you have to make up excuses about why you started going to a new hairstylist.

So I hung out with Heather and gossiped about all the people we know for a while. I ended up getting much more tipsy than I planned on (of course) and mingling with everyone at the party. Everyone was so nice. I was having so much fun that I completely forgot about Brady for a few hours. Oops.

I texted him asking where he was and he told me that he was out on the balcony. After talking to a girl about the cheese plate for ten minutes, I went out to the balcony to find Brady. I found him standing out there with two girls and a guy.

“Hey,” he greeted me nonchalantly. It didn’t take me long to realize they’d been smoking.

“Hey you,” I said. The two girls were actually really pretty, but maybe I really am a changed woman because I didn’t even care about their little cannabis double date. 

“Are you Reese? You’re like, soo pretty,” one of the girls said. And then she started petting my hair. 

“Can you not?” I said as politely as possible. I pulled away slightly so she would get her grubby little hands off me.

Brady continued talking to the guys while the girls asked me a ton of questions like where I’m from, where I went to school, what I do, etc. They were nice enough, but I got sick of the interrogation so I said, “Okay enough with the questions!”

They both just looked at me, kind of scared to proceed. Looking back, I feel like a bitch because they were probably just trying to be nice. I went back inside because Brady was basically ignoring me. When we got back to his place, I sat up in bed and spent way too much money on J. Crew and Anthropologie buying new work clothes. Ugh. I can’t wait for them to get here though.

Brady is working late again tonight which is annoying but I guess I’ll busy myself with work. I’m traveling with Andrew this week so I must prepare!

On Monday morning we had a staff meeting with everyone in the office. Our staff meetings are usually on Fridays but sometimes Diana will call them randomly throughout the week. We talked about sales, marketing and the usual things and of course me leaving. 

And then Diana said, “I am happy to announce that after Reese’s departure, Whitney will be taking over the role as director of branding.”

Everyone clapped but I sat there, shocked.

“Whitney already has a ton of ideas and can’t wait to get started! Congratulations to Whitney!” Diana continued.

I feel like me talking about how much I hated the original girl basically got Whitney that promotion. The bitch better thank me.

I ran into Whitney later on and she was like, “Surprise! I’m the new you!”

I didn’t even try to hide my eye roll.

“Diana wouldn’t let me say anything, but it’s been in the works for a few weeks. She said I could paint your office. Well, my new office.”

Obviously it hadn’t been in the works for weeks when Diana had another candidate in mind, but I didn’t even have the energy to argue with her about it. And honestly, I think it’s shitty that Diana didn’t talk to me about it first. She obviously values my opinion since she had me sit in on that interview so I don’t understand why she didn’t ask me about promoting Whitney. But whatever.

So I spent the rest of Monday and most of Tuesday helping Whitney transition. On Tuesday afternoon Diana called me into the break room. She had everyone gathered in there around the table where she had a little white cake that had “Good Luck Reese!” written on it and margaritas everywhere. She gave this little speech about how amazing I am and how lucky the new company is to have me. 

And then we all had drinks which was nice. I didn’t feel sad or anything because I really didn’t feel like I was leaving or it was my last day. It was such a weird feeling.

After work, I was kind of tipsy from the drinks and wanted to see Brady. We didn’t really talk much or hang out on Monday because he worked late. And I was still feeling uneasy about the Maddie message and everything else. I hated the way I felt and wanted to go back to being obsessed with him. And I couldn’t do that until I figured what was going on with Maddie and Jessica.

So I texted Brady and told him I was coming over and he said he was almost home. When I got there, Brady let me in and tried to hug me, but I pushed him off.

“We need to talk,” I said seriously.

“Oh. Okay.” Brady looked nervous. I pushed past him to the dining room and sat at the end of the table where he usually sits. He followed me and I patted the adjacent seat for him to sit down. It was freezing in the dining room and made a mental note to tell Brady to put up some thermal curtains.

“How are you?” Brady asked really formally and sitting up straight.

I pulled my hair up into a bun showing him that I meant business. “I’m okay. Today was my last day of work so I feel really weird.”

“Are you sad?”

“Not really. I don’t know. I just don’t feel like I’m really leaving.”

“And you start your new job tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Andrew is flying in and we are going to meet at one of the stores. I have no idea what to expect. Anyway!”

We were getting off track.

“What did you want to talk about?” Brady asked.

“You. Me. Us. Maddie. Jessica…”

“Okay.”

Silence. 

Shit. I didn’t have anything prepared.

“Um, well I don’t like them texting you.”

Brady stared at me.

“I mean, I don’t like them texting you emojis. I don’t know what you guys talk about at work or anything, but I would consider that flirting and I don’t like it.”

Brady blinked.

“And I feel like we’ve fought about this a million times. I don’t want to stop you from having female friends, but I would feel a lot more secure if you were more…..open about your relationships with them.” Why did it take me forever to think of the word “open?” Too many margaritas.

“Okay.”

“Sooo, can you like say something that will make me feel better about you talking to and working with them?”

“I’m not sure what else I can say. Maddie and I are friends. I tell her about you all the time and she likes you. I’ve never done anything with her nor do I want to. I told her the text message was inappropriate and she apologized.”

I nodded enthusiastically, encouraging him to keep going.

“And Jessica… I haven’t spoken to her since you messaged her. I would not jeopardize our relationship to continue talking to her anyway.”

“But you did.”

“I didn’t realize then that I was…”

“When did you realize? You were obviously still talking to her two weeks ago because she knew we were spending Christmas with my family. And I know you were texting her recently because I saw it!”

Brady’s entire demeanor changed. His jaw tightened and he looked away.

“I didn’t go through your phone. It vibrated and I happened to glance at it.”

He pulled out his phone and unlocked it. “Look at what we were texting about. Go ahead.”

I didn’t expect that at all, but I knew that if he wanted me to read it then it was innocent. I felt kind of bad.

“That isn’t necessary,” I said. “But I think you could have been more upfront about the fact that you were texting her.” I sounded controlling. Maybe his mom is right. “Not to be controlling. I only flip out on you when you hide things. If you were open about it, I would be okay with that.” I think. 

“I agree. I should have told you that we were texting and why.”

“Maybe you should change the way you talk to girls. Stop flirting and stuff.”

I cannot imagine Brady flirting. Not sober anyway. I know I shouldn’t, but I always try to picture him and Jessica sneaking off into a room and her giving him head. I just can’t see it. Even when she was sending him naked pics, his responses were so uninterested and short. I can’t imagine how she talked him into letting her suck his dick at work.

“I don’t believe I’m behaving in any way that would make them think I’m flirting with them. But I’ll reevaluate our interactions,” Brady said.

“Well, you’re doing something. First Jessica and now Maddie. There’s a reason why they’re texting you these things.”

Brady’s mouth opened and shut then he nodded. “Okay.”

“So that’s basically all I had to say. I don’t want to fight over those basic broads anymore,” I said, sweetly.

“I don’t either,” he said and then he was quiet for a moment. “There isn’t any girl I want more than you. I wish you could understand that.”

Brady was looking straight ahead and awkwardly twiddling his fingers on the table. “Before I met you, all I ever did was work. It was the only thing I had to do. My life was incredibly mundane. Now I feel like I actually have something to look forward to.”

Silence.

“If you would like me to stop talking to Maddie, I will. She’s not worth losing you. You make me so happy.”

I wanted to cry/vomit. That was probably the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. Actually, it is. No one has ever told me I make them happy. My ex would have said that he was going to continue talking to his female friend and if I didn’t like it, too bad. And I know it’s kind of evil, but I was honored that Brady is willing to lose friends for me. Not that I would let him.

Neither of us said anything. I’m not into mushy or sappy shit at all, but I knew it took a lot for Brady to open up and say that. I didn’t know how to respond so I hopped up and slid on his lap. I hugged him hard and I could actually feel his heart racing.

Okay, obsession reinstated. 

“It’s freezing in here,” I said, abruptly.

Brady grabbed my little ice cube hand with his warm hands, brought it to him and kissed it. Then he flipped it over and kissed my palm. It was such a tender moment – kind of like the first night we met when I gave him a lap dance to “Fancy.” I can’t explain it, but it was just really intimate.

“I’m not going to argue with you about girls anymore. I trust you,” I heard myself say.

“Thank you. I trust you too.”

Wait. What was that supposed to mean? Of course he trusted me, I didn’t give him any reason not to??

We sat there for a few more minutes until it became too cold to bear. We went in his room and snuggled in bed. Instead of immediately having sex, we sat there and really talked about our future. I know we always do when we’re drunk, but we’ve never really talked about it sober. It was like we both let our guards down. And Brady suggested something that really surprised me. He said that when my lease is up in April that I should move in with him. I know. He said it kind of in passing, but I stopped him to clarify.

He was like, “I mean, if you want. You could save money. Chris is graduating in May and probably moving out of state. [does Carly know this?] I would find a new roommate anyway.”

I was torn between thinking “Dis tew much” and “Yes, I’m going to decorate the shit out of that condo!” But I didn’t tell him yes or no.

Now, I’m just really scared. It’s finally hitting me that this is getting serious. We’ve both met each other’s families and everything, but living together is like such a big step. I’ve never lived with a guy. What if we actually get married and stuff? I’m freaking.

To take my mind off that, I had my first day of my new job yesterday. Andrew and I met at one of the Chicago stores at nine am. I wasn’t sure exactly what to wear since no one gave me any direction, so I decided on a gray sweater dress, tights, brown booties and a faux fur vest. It wasn’t exactly business casual or anything but I thought it showed my style plus it was so cold.

“Reese! How are you?” Andrew greeted me enthusiastically.

He introduced me to the manager of the store, a hip young girl and she gave us a tour of the store. Andrew kept pointing out things that seemed to be out of place and saying things like, “This is probably why your sales are down. That needs to be corrected immediately.”

The manager was furiously taking notes on a notepad and suddenly I felt like I needed some notes too. So I started taking them on my phone. A few minutes after I started doing that, Andrew said, “Reese, you really should be paying attention to this.”

I gave him a weird look because I obviously was paying attention, but then I realized he probably thought I was texting since I was on my phone.

“I am. I’m taking notes,” I said, showing him my phone. All of this happened in front of the manager and I was super irritated at Andrew for trying to make me look bad in front of my new employee.

After that, I made sure to ask a lot of questions to prove that I was paying attention. After the store tour (where I got to watch Andrew harass/aggressively sell to the customers in the store) we went to a nearby Panera to have lunch and talk. Andrew gave me my work cell phone and let me know my business AmEx was in the mail. We talked about my weekly schedule: Mondays and Fridays are my “office day” to get all my paper work done and also the days I would have conference calls with him and all my stores, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the days I will travel and Thursdays are dedicated to working with third party venders.

I asked him about my training and he said, “You’ll be fine, Reese. I’ll give you all the tools you need to succeed.” 

I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.

He gave me a bunch of DVDs to watch and manuals to read today so that’s what I’m doing. I was supposed to actually go into the store to do it, but I told him I could do it from home because it’s way too cold to go outside. It was -6 degrees when I woke up so I think that’s legitimate.

Anyway, I better get back to work. I hope everyone stays warm! Unless you live where it’s warm in which case, I hope you sweat your makeup off.

My dad arranged to pick us up at 11:00 PM on Tuesday night when we landed and as we were waiting for our bags, I got really, really nervous. Even though Brady’s parents are kind of closed off and cold, I would say they are still fairly normal. My parents are not normal and our families couldn’t be more different.

On the way to meet my dad, I put out a disclaimer and let Brady know I was not responsible for any of their actions. Brady laughed and told me it was fine. Poor guy had no idea what he was in for.

My dad was waiting for us right outside the terminal. When I saw him standing there I realized he and Brady’s dad kind of remind me of each other with the tall athletic build, graying hair, and preppy attire. Maybe they aren’t so different? 

“Hi pumpkin bear!” my dad greeted me with a big hug. Pumpkin bear, seriously? 

“This is Brady,” I said, pulling away. I wasn’t as worried about my dad as I was my mom.

They shook hands and talked about how it was nice to meet each other. We headed out to my dad’s Honda Accord and loaded our luggage in. I let Brady have the front seat and he and my dad proceeded to have a conversation about cars the entire ride to my house. My dad was raving about his Accord and said, “I tried to get Reese to get a Honda, but she snuck off and got that BMW instead. I guess nothing was stopping her from getting what she wanted.”

My dad looked at me in the rearview mirror and I glared at him for trying to make me look bad. Brady probably thinks I make irresponsible financial decisions and won’t marry me.

When we pulled up in our driveway, I realized that our house just isn’t as grand and beautiful as Brady’s parents’. And you can see all the neighbors’ houses. Ugh. 

My mom was waiting by the door wearing a bathrobe with a glass of red wine in her hand.

“Oh my gosh, hi Brady!” my mom exclaimed, ignoring me. Before Brady could even put his stuff down she threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek, spilling her wine a little bit in the process. Oh my God. My mom was drunk on wine.

“I’m Jacqueline and that’s Scott,” my mom said pulling away.

“Mom, they’ve met,” I said.

“Brady, you’re so handsome!” My mom still had a tight hold of Brady’s arms like she was afraid he would run away. My mom is petite, she’s probably an inch or two shorter than me, but she was stopping him from walking like a linebacker.

“Um, thank you.” Brady’s neck was turning red. “It’s nice to meet you.”

My mom was still holding him hostage in the doorway and my dad said, “Jackie, let the boy go. They just spent hours on the plane and they’re tired.”

My mom pulled away and turned to me. “Hey babe! Fab coat. Do you guys want a glass of wine?”

“No, we’re fine,” I said. I needed to get Brady away from Drunk Mom ASAP. Plus my dad was right, we really were tired.

My dad helped us drag our luggage up to my old room which I was happy to see my mom had cleaned and removed her things from so it just looked like a normal high school girl’s room (i.e. disgustingly pink). It was so weird seeing Brady in my bedroom.

We got ready for bed quickly and my mom shouted goodnight from the hallway and told us she would make breakfast in the morning. I got undressed and put my hair in a bun and climbed into bed. I can’t remember falling asleep. I can’t even remember Brady getting in bed with me. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.

I woke up on Wednesday morning really early and got excited for Brady’s birthday.

“Heyyyyy birthday boy!” I squealed snuggling up next to him.

Brady rolled over and put his arm around me, but I think he was still sleeping. I climbed on top of him and pulled my shirt off.

“Brady, wake up,” I said sternly. “Let’s have sex before my parents get up.”

That got his attention. “Okay.”

So we did and then started getting ready. I really, really hoped my mom was out shopping or something, but she met us at the foot of the stairs.

“There you guys are! It’s about time you got out of bed. Breakfast is ready,” my mom said excitedly. She was definitely dressed like a Texas mom: boyfriend jeans and a cropped sweater, logo Tory Burch flats (she would), hoop earrings and a topknot that matched mine. She looked kind of cute actually.

Don’t be fooled – my family never has meals together. But my mom insisted we all sit down and have breakfast at the breakfast nook. Probably so she could compete with Brady’s mom. Yes, I’ve told my mom all about Brady’s mom.

I should also mention that my mom isn’t a very good cook. The eggs had a gray tint to them, the pancakes were soggy and it didn’t help that she used that gross precooked bacon that you make in the microwave.

We all sat around the table that we never use and my mom stacked our plates high with “breakfast.”

“So Brady,” she started immediately. “How are you?”

“I’m doing very well, thank you,” Brady said and then he took a bite of those questionable eggs. He didn’t immediately die or make a face so I figured they must be okay.

“Is this your first time in Texas?” my mom asked.

“No. My grandfather actually lived in Lubbock for the majority of his adult life. I visited him frequently before he died.”

Wait. I didn’t know that, did I? Brady doesn’t talk much about his grandfather. In fact, the only thing I knew was that he got that tattoo to honor him. I had no idea he lived in Texas.

“And the rest of your family lives…where?” my mom continued on.

“Mostly Massachusetts. My older brother lives in San Francisco, my grandparents live in Florida, I have family in DC, Philadelphia, Maine…”

“Wow! So all over the place!”

Brady nodded.

“Reese said your parents don’t like her,” my mom blurted out.

“That isn’t true. They have nothing but good things to say about her,” Brady said.

“Really? She said your mom thinks-”

“Mom!” I exclaimed, staring at her wide eyed. I’d definitely told her about Brady’s mom calling me controlling, but only to see if she has gotten that feedback too. We are really similar. I didn’t expect her to ask him about it.

“Oh.” She looked at me and realized her mistake. “So what’s your brother doing out in California?”

“He’s an aerospace engineer so he designs airplanes. He recently got married.”

“Yeah to the girl with the pink dreads!” I said excitedly. I’d told my mom all about Dom and how rude she was to all of us.

“Oh wow! Your parents must be so proud of you two!” my mom gushed.

“I hope so,” Brady said. 

“We wanted another child,” my mom said, nudging my dad. “And Lord knows we tried, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”

“Reese was enough on her own though,” my dad grinned. “No way we could’ve had another one of these running around.”

“I can imagine…” Brady started.

“Reese was a good kid,” my mom said, giving my dad a look. “She has always been so ambitious and driven. Do you know what she wanted to be when she was growing up?”

I turned and shook my head furiously at my mother. God, is it so hard for her to keep her mouth shut? Brady didn’t need to know my lame childhood ambitions.

My mom looked at me and nodded then looked back at Brady. “An artist.” She looked so delighted with herself.

Brady smiled at me warmly like that’s the most adorable thing he’s ever heard.

“She’s so talented. Her paintings have been published in calendars and there’s an original piece hanging in the library at her old high school. Remind me to show you some before you leave!”

“Thanks Mom!” I said sarcastically.

“So Brady,” my mom said, resting her chin in her hands dreamily. “What else?”

“Um, what do you mean?”

“What do you like to do for fun?”

I literally had to stop myself from shouting, “Me!” Mature.

Brady started telling my mom how he likes to run and play golf and my mom interrupted him to tell him that my dad also likes to play golf. Then she tried to figure out a time they could go while we were there. My mom noticed that Brady had finished his eggs and pancakes (no one else had touched theirs) and she exclaimed, “Oh you liked breakfast! Do you want more?”

And then she proceeded to slop the remainder of the eggs and two pancakes on his plate before he could even answer. 

“Mom!” I groaned loudly. I gave Brady a sympathetic look.

“What do you guys have planned for tonight? I’m sure you’ll want to get crunk for Brady’s birthday?” my mom asked. Yes, she said “crunk” like it’s 2005.

“We are going downtown. So I need to borrow your car,” I answered.

“You can borrow my car, doll,” my dad said.

I gave him a disgusted look for making such a heinous suggestion. “Uh, no. We can’t be seen in your Honda downtown. No offense.”

I’d booked a swanky hotel downtown and planned on taking Brady to dinner then going out to get drunk with some of my friends and then going back to the hotel to have birthday sex.

Other than that, I didn’t really have anything planned so we just hung out at my parents house for most of the day. I was really impressed with how well Brady was handling my mom and dad. In fact, he and my dad were hitting it off quite nicely. At one point, my mom and I were discussing what I should do with my hair next (bob? highlights? dreads?!) for hours while my dad and Brady hung out in his office talking about who knows what. I was so engrossed in the discussion I was having with my mom that I completely forgot about my boyf. Oops.

Eventually I hijacked my mom’s car and we headed to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I chose this place my parents always used to take me for my birthday because a. it’s one of my faves and b. it has an amazing bar and is right in the middle of a bunch of the clubs I frequent.

I got dressed in shorts, a crop top and a blazer and we went to dinner. Brady tried to pay our (kind of outrageously expensive) bill, but I told him to quit being ridiculous and let me pay. After we had dinner, we moved over to the bar to wait for my friends.

Just putting it out there: my Houston friends are so much different that my Chicago friends. I know we party a ton in Chicago, but I feel like for the most part we all have our shit together. Brittany got her masters at USC, but doesn’t work and parties five to six nights out of the week. Natalie just got engaged to a professional football player and quit her job in marketing to plan her dream wedding (and she hasn’t asked me to be a bridesmaid so I’m over her). Our other friend Meghan is still working on her bachelors, but is such a trainwreck that she’s never going to finish.

So obviously I didn’t have any shortage of friends to come out and help me and Brady celebrate his birthday. Plus Kendra was coming with her younger cousin, Jasmine, and Jasmine’s boyfriend.

Just when I was giving Brady a disclaimer about my insane friends, Brittany and Meghan came bounding in.

“Reese!” Meghan screamed at the top of her lungs. Before I could even stand up from the bar stool to greet her she ambushed me with a hug. “I fucking miss you!” 

Brittany gave me a hug then pulled away and said, “Who’s this?”

“This is my boyfriend, Brady!” I said excitedly.

She flipped her long black hair over her shoulder before sticking her boobs out and her hand in his. “I’m Brittany.”

Brady shook her hand politely and said, “It’s very nice to meet you.”

We pushed two tables together to accommodate our group and Brittany insisted on taking care of the first round of shots: Brady’s choice. He looked at me before deciding on tequila. I’ve obviously rubbed off on him.

While we waited for the rest of our friends, we ordered beers and Brittany started asking Brady questions. First she asked him about where he went to school and his job then bragged about how she has a masters and went to USC.

I turned my attention toward Meghan and started talking to her for a little while. She told me about how she took a semester off from school because “life has gotten so crazy.” And that she’s been dating (hooking up with) this guy and he asked her to move in with him and since she’s living with her parents she’s leaning toward taking him up on that offer. One thing about Meghan is that she desperately needs a man at all times. Like she can’t function if she doesn’t have a boyfriend. It’s really sad actually.

I didn’t tune into Brady and Brittany’s conversation again until I heard her ask him if he thinks his parents will ever apologize.

“I don’t know. I’m not counting on it,” Brady answered.

“Apologize for what?” I couldn’t help asking.

Brady turned to me. “Just the way they treated me and Hunter when we were growing up.”

“How did they treat you?” I asked. 

He gave me a weird look and didn’t say anything for like a whole minute. He opened his mouth to say something, but Meghan screamed that Kendra and Natalie had arrived.

Sure enough Natalie was walking in with this huge guy who looked kind of looked like the Rock, but ugly. Kendra, Jasmine and Jasmine’s boyfriend came in behind them. I introduced everyone and we decided to make our way down to the club.

I grabbed Brady’s hand and pulled him along with me. “What was that all about?” I asked.

“What?” He looked confused.

“How did your parents treat you?”

“You know how they treated me. We’ve talked about this before.”

But we haven’t. All he really told me was that they weren’t affectionate or whatever, but nothing really that specific. I decided not to press the subject and just have fun for Brady’s birthday. 

Brittany got us in VIP with bottle service and I demanded Patrón, Grey Goose and pineapple juice. We all drank and danced to Beyonce (because Beyonce). I obviously danced with Brady the majority of the time, but once when we weren’t dancing together I saw Brittany twerking in front of him. Not really twerking on him, but really close in front of him like she wanted him to see. Gross.

I ignored it figuring she didn’t realize he was behind her. Meghan asked me to go to the bathroom with her and when we got into the stall she had a meltdown.

She was sobbing into the toilet and the only words I could make out were “he” and “ashamed” so I’m not really sure what message she was trying to get across. Then she started barfing and the bathroom attendant called security to threaten to kick her out. Of fucking course. And y’all thought I was bad.

When we got back to our section, I immediately found Kendra and asked her if she’d seen Brady. She looked around for a moment before pointing to a corner near the bar where Brady and Brittany were talking.

“What the fuck?” I asked, drunkly. What were they possibly talking about?

“Don’t cause a scene on Brady’s birthday,” Kendra warned. 

“I’m not,” I assured her before marching over there. I stuck my hand in between them and grabbed Brady.

“Hey baby,” I cooed, kissing him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed me tight.

“I love you,” he whispered.

That’s more like it.

We partied for a few more hours without incident until people started trickling out. Natalie and Jasmine and their men went home first so the rest of us walked down to my favorite Houston late night bar. I sat in a little corner with Brady and made sure he was enjoying his birthday.

“I am. I can’t lie though, I can’t wait to get back to the hotel with you,” he said.

And he didn’t even know what I had in store! Eventually, we all decided to call it a night and head home. Once we got outside, Brittany linked her arm through Brady’s and walked down the sidewalk ahead of us. Uh, okay? I let it happen for a few minutes while I talked to Kendra about my plans for later. Then I sped up behind Brady and Brittany.

“Do you see yourself marrying her?” I heard Brittany ask.

She must have heard me coming because she turned around and said, “Hey sexy!” And then she put her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. “I had so much fun tonight, I wish you were in town more often!”

She obviously meant she wishes Brady was in town more often, but I wasn’t going to point that out.

“Same,” I said. 

Brittany pulled away, but held onto my hand. “Do you guys just want to stay with me so you don’t have to drive all the way back to your parents house?”

Brady looked at me expectantly like he wanted to know my answer too. Uh, no.

“We actually got a hotel, but thanks for the offer!” I said.

We said our goodbyes and she hugged me and Brady before leaving. Like how do you tell your friend not to flirt with your boyfriend? Is that not common sense?

So I rushed us back to our hotel room because I bought this really cute lingerie set and I wanted to seduce Brady for his birthday. I quickly changed in the bathroom and came back out to Brady on the bed. He kind of laughed but pulled me on top of him.

We slept in on Christmas morning and I ordered a huge breakfast feast from room service. After we were stuffed with waffles, bacon, eggs, fresh fruit and mimosas, we decided to exchange gifts. 

I insisted on going first because I was so excited about my gift. I can’t remember who, but someone commented that Brady seems like someone who appreciates experiences over material things and I couldn’t agree more. So I booked us a vacation to Mexico!

It isn’t until March and I was a little afraid of making such a big commitment, but I knew he would love it so I just did it. It’s for four days in Merida which I think is in the Yucatan Peninsula (?). I wanted somewhere that has some history and attractions, but also has places for us to drink at night so after talking to someone on TripAdvisor I decided on Merida.

Brady obviously loved it, but was worried about being able to get days off from work. Ugh. I made sure to book it Thursday through Sunday so we would only have to take two days off. I feel like asking for two vacation days three months in advance isn’t outrageous. 

Brady gave me my gift next. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I for sure was not expecting a pair of sexy ass Tom Ford pumps that fit me and my wardrobe perfectly. I can’t believe he picked them out.

He was all like, “Do you like them?” 

And I was too busy running around trying to break them in and figuring out how I could wear them while in Houston to respond. Brady also threw some book in there that was written in like the 1800s or something and he said it reminds him of me. I’m not sure how a book from the 1800s could remind him of me, but whatever.

I was Instagramming my new shoes when Brady said, “Oh yeah, my parents sent you something too.”

He was holding up a fairly small gift wrapped box. I felt terrible because I didn’t get his parents anything except the card I threw in with the gift Brady sent them. I had no idea we were on the gift exchanging level.

“Oh. Thanks,” I said, awkwardly taking the gift from him.

Y’all will never guess what Brady’s parents gave me.

It was a bible. A maroon leather bible with my name monogrammed in gold on the bottom corner.

“What is that?” Brady asked.

I held it up. “A bible?” I’m not sure why they thought I needed a new bible, but I guess I appreciate it. Plus they personalized it so that was nice. It’s kind of odd though, right?

Anyway, after we checked out of the hotel we headed back to my parents. On the ride there I considered bringing up the Brittany situation, but ultimately decided against it. It’s not like he really did anything wrong plus we were all drunk.

When we got back to my parents we exchanged gifts with them. They got me a Kate Spade bag and wallet (my mom) and Nike Roshes with a gift card (my dad). I got them an iPad and an e-reader. They got Brady a t-shirt from my dad’s alma mater (in a size XL so I’m not sure what giant they thought I was bringing home).

After we exchanged gifts, my grandparents stopped by. They weren’t too embarrassing except for the fact that my grandmother talked Brady’s ear off. I think it’s a rule that grandparents have to be constantly talking. She had Brady trapped in the kitchen for like an hour. 

After my grandparents left, my dad and Brady went to play a round of golf on the golf course in our subdivision. My mom and I stayed home and drank wine/set up the new iPad/looked for dinner recipes on Pinterest. When the boys got home my mom and I started making drinks and dinner. By the time we were done with the meal, we were both completely drunk and forcing my dad and Brady to take shots. My mom was that mom who allowed me to drink underage at home because she’d rather me do it at home where I was safe than elsewhere where I could be taken advantage of. Those were her words. 

So we all had dinner drunk (so no one knew how bad the meal really was) and then played Monopoly. At around midnight we all retreated to bed, but Brady and I stayed up until like three am talking. He said that he really enjoyed the visit and thought my parents were very welcoming. I told him how embarrassing they are (especially my mom) and he was all like, “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. They obviously love you and are very proud of you.”

That made me feel better. 

Our flight left Houston at 9:30 AM on Friday morning so we had to wake up early to get ready. My dad planned on taking us, but at the last minute my mom decided she wanted to go see us off as well. Naturally it took her forever to get ready and Brady kept looking at his watch and saying, “We should probably get going.”

She practically cried when they dropped us off. During our final hug, she said, “Babe, please hang on to him. I love him for you.”

Which I’ve never heard her say, but I guess that means she approves. Not that I was worried about it. She seemed to like my ex the few times they met, but she never said anything like that.

I planned on sleeping on the way back to Chicago, but Brady sat up in his seat with a weird look on his face. I couldn’t read it so I asked if he was okay.

“Yeah. It’s just weird,” he said. “Hunter didn’t call me for my birthday or Christmas and that isn’t like him.”

“Do you think he’s okay?” I asked cautiously.

“I hope so. No one’s talked to him. I’m getting concerned.”

I tried to assure him that everything is fine, but I don’t even believe that myself. Why wouldn’t Hunter call his own brother for his birthday? I’m convinced that something bad happened to him and the proper authorities need to be notified.

When we got back to Chicago, Brady took me home then went straight to work. I spent the majority of Friday looking at cute bathing suits and coverups for Mexico.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I am exhausted!