It had taken me two whole days to recover from the bachelorette weekend. By Tuesday morning, I still felt a little like I’d been run over by a train.

The other girls weren’t doing much better, it seemed. Elian claimed she was still kind of drunk, Lanie had taken the day off from work again, and Jane was moping. Amanita, the only one who’d drank a sensible amount and had gotten a decent number of hours of sleep, was also the only one who had recovered.

Tamara, my boss, didn’t really help my cause.

As vice president of BeYoutyful Cosmetics, I was able to delegate quite a lot, but I still had my fair share of work. Bringing a bit of work home was how I stayed on top of things in the office, and I liked to think that I struck a nice balance between that work and keeping some weekend time free for hanging out with friends and going golfing. Lanie was the only one who shared my love of golf, but I didn’t mind; I was just as happy hitting the green on my own if she wasn’t available.

But because of the bachelorette weekend, and all the planning that had gone into it—not to mention the drive back home to Pittsburgh when it was through—I hadn’t been able to get any of that little work done.

The lack of cell service at the cabin had also meant that Tamara couldn’t text me. She liked being able to reach me with little questions, asking me to remind her about things for the next day—that kind of thing. Since that couldn’t happen, when I got into the office on Monday, she was freaking out.

Tamara was an amazing boss and CEO, truly, though at times she could be a bit overdramatic. She was also one of the smartest and most imaginative people I’d ever met, and that was why she was top dog and I was her second-in-command. I didn’t consider myself as boring, by any means, but I definitely didn’t have her level of creativity. Thankfully, my pragmatic nature lent itself well to my role.

So, with the work piled up and my boss both literally and figuratively breathing down my neck, the last couple days hadn’t helped to dispel my run-over-by-a-train feeling. Which meant that when Mary texted me about getting together for drinks that night in our favorite bar, I was inclined to say no.

Piper’s Pub, just south of highway 837 and the Ohio River, had been our hangout spot for years. I wasn’t sure when it had opened, or why we’d decided to make our hangout spot a British-style pub, but it was just at the halfway point between where we lived and worked, and it was easy for us to get to, so I suppose that was why. That, and the food was amazing.

By then, most of the staff knew us and our favorite orders on sight, and I appreciated that homey, familiar feeling. My parents and I had a great relationship, but they had both worked a lot while I was growing up, and I didn’t have any siblings. Other than Mary and Amanita, I hadn’t had many friends in high school, so my social circle had been pretty limited. It was just nice to go to a place where everyone knew who I was.

However, as much as I loved Piper’s, and as much as I loved unwinding after a long day with Mary and sometimes one of the other girls, I just didn’t think I had it in me that day. I was still so exhausted, and I still had a lot of work to get done.

“I really don’t know,” I told Mary over the phone.

Tamara didn’t like it when our employees were on their cellphones, so even though she trusted me, I had friends call my desk phone so it looked like I was doing work rather than texting. Gotta set a good example and all that.

“I’ve got so much work, and I’m still kind of tired from the weekend.”

“You’re getting old,” Mary laughed.

“C’mon, I just have a couple things I wanted to talk to you about with the wedding. Nothing major!” she added, probably sensing my oncoming panic. “I just had some questions about seating.”

Mary’s idea of ‘just a few questions’ was most people’s idea of a two-hour long debate, but I’d known what I was getting into when I’d signed up for this whole maid of honor deal, and I was going to stick to it. Mary was my best friend, and I had to support her—even if that meant suffering the consequences in the office tomorrow morning.

“Fine,” I agreed. “When shall I meet you?”

“Is seven okay?”

I glanced at the clock. If I worked hard, I could possibly get all of my work done by 6:30, then jet over to Piper’s. It would be cutting it close with Mary, but that extra time at work could mean that I’d be all caught up for Wednesday.

“Sure thing, hon.”

“Great! See you then! Love you!”

“Love you too,” I told her.

I hung up, then looked at the spreadsheets and client lists piled up around my desk. Right. Time to get to work.