“I know, Gem. Trust me, I know. But he fired me. What else can I do but find a new job and start at the bottom of the ladder with a whole new company?” I hold up my glass to Nick. “Where the boss will probably hit on me.”

“Should I cheers to that?” Nick warily clinks his glass against mine.

“With your killer résumé, I’m sure you’re going to have plenty of offers.” Harley once again earns her reputation as the optimistic one.

I down the last half of my cocktail before raising my hand like one of Gemma’s students so I can order another. “Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. I turned off my email for the weekend. I’m going to take the next three days and digest and see how I feel.”

“I imagine tomorrow you’re going to feel like puking. A lot.” Nick pushes a glass of water my way.

“That’s the goal.” Spending the day with my head in the toilet seems preferable to spending the day rehashing the ways I must’ve fucked up in order for this to have happened.

Harley takes the water glass and holds it up to me like I’m a toddler, not moving it until I roll my eyes and drink. “You know, taking these three days might actually be a good first step. Maybe your next job should be one that treats you fairly and actually pays you for the work you do.”

“Working all that overtime was my choice.” My defensive hackles rise along with my blood alcohol level, thanks to this very popular topic of conversation. My friends are always on me to work less and live more. Date more, travel more, sleep more. Blah blah blah. But I’ve never been the kind of employee who can say no, assuming if I did I’d be kissing my chances at a promotion goodbye. The promotion I didn’t get anyway, despite never saying no.

And now that she mentions it, I can’t remember the last time I took a vacation or went on an actual date. I’ve always been a pick-up-a-hot-guy-at-a-bar-and-take-him-home-for-one-night kind of girl. Woman.

The three of them exchange a look. Harley cocks her head toward Nick.

“It was only your choice because it was made clear you’d be rewarded with a promotion, Sadie. That doesn’t count as an actual choice.” Nick delivers this news since he also works in finance and seemingly knows how these things go.

I open my mouth to continue the argument, but Harley holds up a hand to stop me. “We don’t need to have this discussion right now. Tonight’s about celebrating what a badass you are, whether your idiot boss chooses to acknowledge it or not.”