That afternoon was when everything really sunk in. I told Matteo I was going away for the holidays. He clapped with glee and leaned into my cubicle in excitement.

‘Where? Where?’ he asked, his hands clasping together at his belly.

‘Australia.’

‘Wow,’ Matteo breathed. ‘That’s really going away. Becca! Did you hear Andi’s going to Australia?’

‘Yes!’ Becca calls, her head popping up from her desk. ‘While I’m rotting through the holidays with my sister’s new baby, she’ll be in paradise! I’m thrilled for her!’

I roll my eyes in Becca’s direction as Matteo laughs. ‘Much to Becca’s dismay, my family does think I need to get out more. So, here I am, finally taking a vacation.’

Millie and I had agreed not to explain the situation to anyone. She wanted to keep her health issues private, and I was worried that somehow it would get back to her work that she never went. Once she transferred the tickets, I tried to convince Millie to explain everything to her boss. After all, she does have health leave. So, she would still have plenty of time off to undergo surgery and recover. But she pointed out that if they knew I was the one who went on the trip, because I’m not a working marine biologist for the University of Ohio, the lab wouldn’t be able to use any photos I took or, more importantly, officially count any sightings of the butterfly wrasse, making the trip a complete waste of time.

‘Good for you,’ Matteo said, patting the wall of my cubicle. ‘And we only have the end-of-year statement to prepare for before you go!’

‘I can help you with it!’ Becca calls again from her cubicle. I forget how much noise carries in this office.

‘Thank you, Becca,’ I yell in her direction before turning back to my work at hand – another deck that would be used for one meeting and then never looked at again. Operations strategy sounded exciting six years ago, back when I was fresh out of college – I could use the statistical research part of my marine biology degree and the career path was stable. But the work has become repetitive and stale, the last thing I want to do is churn out another deck before my vacation. Every single time I make a deck I question what I’m doing, dedicating all my time to a company that makes cereal. In fact, the only time I don’t feel like I’m wasting my life away is when we do volunteer events like planting trees or last summer when I oversaw the intern programme. At least when I do those things I’m impacting something bigger than me.