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FIFTEEN
Oaklyn
“Imiss this apartment,” Hannah said from my couch, gazing around the living room, where we’d shared endless memories over the last couple of years. “I miss you.”
“Miss me?” I lifted the bottle of wine off the coffee table, pouring some into two glasses, one of which I handed to her. “Why, silly? I’m here. I see you constantly. We text all day, every day. There’s no reason to miss me.” I clinked my glass against hers before I took my first sip.
“I don’t know. It’s just that living with Declan, as much as I love it—and I reallyloooveit—it means I see you less, and that’s the part that I hate.”
“It just means that we need more girls’ nights, so work your magic and make that happen. Deal?”
She smiled and nodded.
I grabbed the plate of fancy deviled eggs I’d made when I got home from work and held it in front of us. “I haven’t made these before, but the food blogger I follow described them as sinful, and every recipe I’ve made of hers has been spectacular.”
“I’m ready for some sinfulness.” She lifted one of the halved eggs and took a bite. “Ohhh, she’s right. They’re incredible.”
“Mmm,” I groaned. “She was.” I looked at the Tupperware that Hannah had set on the table when she first came in. “What did you make?”
“Your favorite.”
My brows rose, and I was hoping she was going to say yes when I asked, “Nutella brownies?”
“Only for my bestie.”
I shimmied my shoulders. “Heart you—hard.”
She laughed, tucking her legs underneath her, and she pushed into the corner of the couch. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so boom, we have gooey, chocolaty yumminess.”
I popped the rest of the egg into my mouth and wrapped my arm around the top of the cushions, bringing our bodies closer. “What’s going on, babe? Why aren’t you sleeping? Is it a work thing? A Declan thing?” I paused. “Oh God, I hope it’s not a Declan thing.”
“No, it’s definitely not Declan. Things couldn’t be more perfect there.” She took another egg off the plate and nibbled at the bacon I’d sprinkled across the center. “You’d think he’d be able to, you know, bang me straight to sleep, and most of the time, he can, but the past couple of weeks, shit, things have been so rough at work.”
“Talk to me.” I twirled a chunk of her hair around my finger. “Tell me what’s going on.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m so grateful for the position I’m in and the reputation I’m starting to earn in the legal industry. It’s everything I’ve always wanted and more—”
I put my hand on her arm. “You’re justifying yourself. You don’t have to do that. It’s me. I know you appreciate everything you have. You don’t take it for granted, even for a second.”
She nodded, her eyes briefly closing. “I’m just stressed.” No longer giving me her profile, she slowly turned toward me. “I’ve got a full caseload. I’m going up against some of the worst bastards in the business—not as ruthless as Declan, but they’re still brutal. I really have my work cut out for me, and it’s been weighing on me, like thousands of pounds collapsing onto my chest.”
Her lips tugged into a grin, showing no teeth—a look that I knew well, and it told me she was about to be her most vulnerable.
“You have all these goals going into law school, these plans and aspirations for what life is going to look like when you start your associate’s role. And then you take the bar, and everything is moving so fast that you don’t have a second to sit back and process. And then you get thrown right into a position, and you’re in the thick of it with clients and cases. But when you actually stop to breathe and it all hits you, it’s the most overwhelming moment.” She gripped her wine with both hands after pouring more into her glass. “That’s where I am now. Overwhelmed and semi-drowning and extremely sleep-deprived.”
I’d known Hannah for so long. I knew each of the phases of life she’d referred to. When she and Camden were just kids and all they talked about were the lawyers they wanted to become. Followed by her undergrad years and then law school and the long, arduous hours she put into prepping for the bar.
Hannah hadn’t stopped once.
She worked harder than anyone I knew.
It had only been a matter of time before all the stress finally caught up to her.
I reached for the brownies and opened the lid, taking one for myself and handing her the other I’d grabbed. “Take it from someone who knows you better than you know yourself. Maintaining the stamina and speed you’ve been going at for quite some time isn’t easy, but this is just another hurdle, and you happen to thrive off challenges. I don’t care if it’s Declan or Camden or some other cutthroat, furious monster you face in the courtroom; you’re going to crush them. I have zero doubts about that. So, take a second if you need to. Take some deep breaths. Book a day at the spa—heck, I’ll join you.” I slid my fingers across her shoulder and squeezed. “What I know, with absolute certainty, is that you’ve got this. You’ll figure out a pace that works for you, and sleep will be the result. But remember, you can still rule the world if you’re yawning all the time. It’s allowed.”
She chowed down half the brownie, talking from behind her hand as she said, “Looks like, in the meantime, I’m just going to have to keep up my middle-of-the-night baking and spoil everyone at the office with the different brownie combinations I come up with.” She licked the Nutella off her fingers.
“Don’t forget me from that list. I want in on the flavor tastings.”
