If I have to reply to another email answering the exact same question one more time, I am going to throw this damn monitor out the window!” “What was that? Did you need something, Mr. Banner?” Ezra, my office manager, was such an amazing find. I am lucky to have him – and to have had him, but that is another story. “No.” I said exhaustedly. “It’s just my way of saying I need to call it a day. Let’s shut it down for the weekend.” “You have had a long week. You can head out, and I will take care of locking everything up. I don’t mind.” Ezra said with a sly grin. “Are you sure? I’ll help, but I wouldn’t mind the extra time to get some laps in to decompress. This is Carin’s big Sigma Kappa weekend so she’s in LA, but she hasn’t stopped blowing up my phone with more things for my to-do list and for some weird-ass reason, she doesn’t want Dex by himself tonight. Something to do with our new neighbors.” “It’s totally okay. You hit the pool, and I’ll see you on Monday. Have a great weekend!” “Really? You don’t want any help?” I asked. “Go! Swim. Order a pizza with Dex. Do “stepdad things” with your boy. Just leave.” Ezra said practically pushing me out the door. “Fine. Have a great weekend, E. Give my best to Liam!” I shout over my shoulder, laughing, as I head to the elevator. I glance back to see Ezra, mouth open, then laughing as he heads back inside the office. Ezra thought I didn’t know, well, until now, that he uses the office to hook up with his boyfriend on the weekends. I know he has two roommates, so if the office can give them some privacy, it is fine with me. He knows I trust him. It has been an incredibly hard past few weeks. Work has been insane with driving this new marketing campaign. Carin. Carin is always, well, a Karen. Her drama is always more important than everyone else’s. Her employee didn’t make her coffee correctly and it was a personal attack against her. Her salad wasn’t cold enough and she wasn’t able to talk to the manager. And the last two weeks, she has been talking non-stop about how she is worried that our neighbors are going to be a bad influence on Dex. My stress starts to melt away as soon as I pull into the parking lot. The gym is my sanctuary - my happy place. When things get tough, I know I can hide out here for a while and find some sort of peace. When I walk into the locker room, that familiar smell hits me...