She holds up a hand. “Hey, I love working here, but this place has always felt more like home for community college and GED types. Not pompous Harvard dicks.”
“I didn’t go to community college,” I point out, carefully ignoring the rest of her comment.
“And that’s why you’re the boss,” she says, pushing to her feet.
“Hey, Mackie,” I call before she can leave.
She turns back. “Yeah?”
“You know you can bring Bruno to the office if you want,” I tell her. “I’d bring Ty and Bell, but they can never settle here.”
Her face softens. “Thanks. I might take you up on that.”
I give her a small smile as she leaves.
The second the door clicks shut, I drop my gaze back to the mountain of paperwork still waiting for me.
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. “I’m so tired.”
I didn’t think there’d ever come a time in my life when I’d hate reading.
But I do.
Right now, I really, really do.
Maybe I can hire someone just to handle this part. Someone whose entire job is to sit here and verify reports so I don’t have to feel like my brain is melting every afternoon.
Because at this point it doesn’t even feel like real work.
It feels like I’m fixing typos and formatting issues instead of actually running a department.
I flip open the next file and groan.
Missing timestamps. Incomplete incident notes. Three different spellings of the same client’s name.
Whoever wrote this clearly did it with their eyes closed.
I lean back in my chair and stare at the ceiling.
How did Logan do all of this and still have the energy to function at home?
No wonder he was exhausted all the time.
My phone buzzes on the desk and my heart jumps before I can stop it.
For one stupid second I think it might be him.
It isn’t.
Just another email notification.
I let out a slow breath and force myself to focus again.
“Okay,” I whisper to the empty office, staring at the glowing numbers on my screen. “One more hour. Then you can go home.”
And worry about your husband.
Technically, we’re well past the “structured separation” timeline. Sixty days came and went without ceremony. No countdown. No conversation. No dramatic check-in.
