Anne shakes her head and smiles. She slides past me and slumps into the couch taking a load off. “Ugh, I’m sorry. I’ve been pulling double duty for Bob since his last assistant quit. He demands that I call him Mr. Miller. It’s just become a force of habit.” She rubs her brow.

I take a seat next to Anne. I put my bare feet up on the coffee table, let out a sigh, and pull my hair loose from its tight bun. Anne kicks her heels off and puts her feet up on the table too. We share a look of solidarity and understanding. Although she and I are different in nearly every way, we are one and the same. Two women trying to make it in a man’s world. We work twice as hard as our male counterparts to make it just an inch ahead of them.

“That’s because Mr. Miller is an asshole. I’ll make sure he has a new assistant by the end of the week, and if the next one doesn’t work out, I’ll make sure he doesn’t work out here either,” I say with a laugh, although I’m completely serious. Bob is a decent attorney, but he has a huge ego and no respect for anyone else, except those that have more money or more power than him.

“Thanks, Sarah. You’re too good to me.”

“No—you’re too good to me.”

“You know who’s not too good for anyone?” Anne asks.

“Who?”

“Bob.”

We both laugh, and it feels good. I’ve had my head buried in case files forever. I miss this. I miss just hanging out without the weight of the world on my shoulders or someone’s life and future in my hands.

“Oh, I wanted to show you these.” Anne pulls out her phone. She opens her photo app and flicks her finger across the screen a few times.

I take the phone from her and look at each photo—a man crossing the street, a woman walking up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a falcon swooping low over a lake, a child looking up at the Washington Monument. “These are beautiful, Anne. You have such a good eye,” I say admiring each picture.

“Thank you, just a little hobby of mine.”

“It should be more than a hobby. You’re very talented.”

She blushes, and her lips press firmly together as I hand her back her phone.

My phone vibrates. I stand up and walk to my desk, quickly texting Adam back. I miss him. I miss us. We exchange a few more texts, and when I learn he’ll be coming back late, it’s decided. “Let’s go out for some drinks,” I say.