My experience at my last job wasn’t a great one. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always wanted to work in sports. And being raised by a man who never questioned or doubted my intelligence or capabilities at working in the sports world, I’d say I was woefully underprepared for what awaited me. The harassment I dealt with, in part because of my gender, part because of my ethnicity, was terrible on a good day. And considering my dad was diagnosed with cancer while I was there, it was soul crushing.

Liv stood by me every step of the way. Even coming over to force me into the shower when things got really bad. Even though I know she’s happy for me for landing my dream job, I know she’s holding her breath, terrified that I’ll fall apart again.

And Brynn, like the bartending goddess that she is, clearly reads the change of tone. “You know what?” She pulls out two martini glasses from beneath the bar. “I think we need cocktails before we continue. What are you ladies drinking? This one’s on me.”

Liv perks up immediately.

Hey. We’re millennials. Home ownership might not ever be in the plans for most of us, so we find pleasure where we can. And a complimentary cocktail is definitely one of them.

“I love everything I’ve ever had from here.” Liv pushes away the menu. “Gin is my booze of choice. Could you surprise me?”

“Oh my goodness!” Brynn practically vibrates with glee. “Yes! None of my friends will drink gin, so I’ve needed a person like you to experiment with!”

I can see the dreams of unlimited free cocktails floating across Liv’s face and just like that, all fears of me again falling apart have disappeared.

“What about you?” Brynn looks at me over her shoulder as she reaches for a bottle of Bombay Sapphire. “Wanna be a test dummy?”

“As much fun as that sounds”—I do have a secret dream of having a drink named after me—“I think I need to stick with comfort today . . . and with something that I know won’t result in a hangover. Scotch on the rocks, please.”

Her hand freezes above the gin. “Seriously?”

I glance at Liv, who is giving me the “I told you only old white dudes order that and you need a new drink” look, before cringing a bit and looking back to Brynn. “Yeah, I’m a whiskey girl.”

“This is even better than the gin! I’ve been wanting to have a whiskey tasting for so long and nobody will do one with me!” She grabs the gin and spins around to face us. “I’ve been buying all of the stuff to do one. Maxwell is going to be so excited that I found someone else to push this on. He hates the stuff, but humors me.”