~Joan~

I returned to work the day after. I felt terrible, like I’d been dragged through hell and left to crawl my way back. No one needed to tell me I looked it too.

“Hey, you good?” Alessia asked as soon as I stepped into the office. Our office. By “ours,” I meant mine, hers, a guy whose name I didn’t know, and another woman who, until now, I hadn’t even acknowledged.

They hadn’t properly introduced themselves when I started. The signing-in process had been ...