Ross called in sick to work for the next three days. Each morning he apologized to Rhea and said that he was sorry she had to deal with the office and Diego on her own. Her response every morning was the same. “Take care of yourself. Get lots of rest, and drink lots of fluids. I don’t want you here when you’re contagious. Rest up and get well. I want you back as soon as possible. You know that Mr. Flores doesn’t slow down just because one of us is sick.”

Ross said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Each morning after the call, he sat for an hour staring at the easel holding the nearly finished commissioned painting for Diego and Alan. He liked how it was coming along, but he couldn’t muster the inspiration to finish it up. Puck’s rejection was like a wrecking ball smashing all of Ross’s ambition to accomplish anything.

After spending his first day at home doing nothing, Ross considered calling Alan to ask if he could take care of Boomer during the day. Just before placing the call, he remembered that Diego would likely have questions about why Rhea’s assistant was well enough to walk the dog, but he wasn’t well enough to go to work. Ross put the phone down and climbed back into bed. He didn’t get out of bed until 11:00 a.m.

Ross considered talking to Dak and Brody, but he didn’t want to go to their house. He knew that he was likely to see Addie there, and it would tear his heart apart. He was confident they already knew about the breakup, and he hoped that either Dak or Brody would call to check up on him. He needed his friends. He was lonely.

The third day at home, Ross managed to crawl out of bed by 9:00 a.m., and he set about cleaning his apartment. It was something constructive to do, and he decided to be as thorough as possible.

He stopped by Home Pro for supplies, and he tried to locate a bucket, sponges and scrub brushes as fast as he could. Multiple old friends and colleagues said hello, but Ross tried to communicate with his body language that he was in a hurry. Unfortunately, while waiting in line to check out, he saw Brody heading his way.

Brody was full of friendly smiles. He offered a hug and said, “Hey, Ross! It’s great to see you back! Did you find everything you need?”

While squeezing Ross tight in the hug, Brody whispered into his ear, “I heard what happened. Do you need to talk? I have the time if you need a friendly ear.”

Ross exhaled. It felt like it was the first time he’d genuinely exhaled in the past three days. He said, “Yes, I’d like that.”

As he pulled back from the hug, Brody said, “I’ve got my lunch break in an hour. Let me take you to lunch. We can meet here by the front door. Does that work for you?”

Ross smiled for the first time since he left Puck’s house three days earlier. He said, “That’s great. I’ll even buy. Think about where you want to go.”

“See you soon.” Brody stepped away from the checkout and put an arm around the shoulders of another of his employees and began discussing the fine art of stacking boxes of nails.

The woman at the checkout said, “It’s good to see you, Ross. We miss you a lot, but I’ver heard things are going well for you. I’m always happy to hear that. Our loss is M-Trak’s gain.”

Ross sighed. “Things could be a little better, but I’m hoping it’s just a speed bump in life. We all have those.”

“I’m sure it is, and if Mr. Sexton can help over lunch, I’m sure he will. It was an angel when my daughter had her car accident. Who would ever think a boss could be such a wonderful person?”

As Ross and Brody headed out the front door of Home Pro in pursuit of lunch, Brody said, “If it’s okay with you, I’d love to go for some fast food. I’m dying for a burger. Dak has decided that we shouldn’t eat burgers out anymore for health reasons. He says it’s best for Penny. He’s turning into a little bit of a health Nazi. I understand, and I know he’s right, but I still need a burger once in awhile.”

Ross smiled. He missed Brody. Working for Diego was great, but Brody made work fun. He wasn’t quite so driven. He always had an amusing story to share from home, and 99% of the time he was in a good mood.

As they settled into a booth to dig into lunch, Brody asked, “Is that all you’re going to eat? Just french fries? You need more than that.”

“I can’t eat. Nothing sounds good.”

“You know what? Sitting around moping and starving yourself to death isn’t going to help this situation at all. You need to take care of yourself, and I refuse to sound like your mom, but it’s true.” Brody bit into his burger. “Oh, God, that’s good. Please don’t tell Dak.”

“Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me, and I know I have to move out of this funk. That’s why I stopped by Home Pro. I’m doing major cleaning this afternoon in the apartment, and I think that’s a big step forward. I spent most of the last two days in bed.”

Brody put the burger down after savoring two more bites. “Do you want to hear how Puck is doing over all of this, or would you rather leave him out of the conversation? I understand if he’s the last person in the world you want to hear about. It’s your choice.”

“Part of me wants to know, and part of me doesn’t want to know. I hope Addie is okay.” Ross paused for a moment. “Okay, yeah, how are they both getting along?”

“He’s miserable. I told Dak to take him down by the river. When they came back, Dak told me that Puck stood right at the edge of the water and yelled. He didn’t say anything. He just yelled and howled. He was a little better when they got back. Addie is fine. She doesn’t seem to know what’s going on, but Puck is miserable. He misses you.”

Ross looked across the table at Brody. His eyes were wide with both distress and anger. At the last minute, he lowered his voice to avoid shouting. Through clenched teeth, he hissed, “Then why doesn’t he call me? At least he could make some sort of contact.”

“He thinks you don’t want anything to do with him. He knows how awful he was, but he doesn’t think he has any choice.” Brody scratched his head. “Is it really true that you’ve had no contact at all? That is a little extreme.”

“I’ve heard nothing. I thought he might at least give me updates on Addie. Can you do one big favor for me?”

Brody took another bite of the burger, closed his eyes, and sighed. Opening them again, he asked, “What’s that?”

“Tell him that I care.”

Ross returned to work the next day. He walked into the office with an armload of summer flowers. Rhea smiled and asked, “Who are those for?”

“They’re for you. I feel bad about leaving you in the lurch. Don’t tell Diego, but I wasn’t sick, at least not in the traditional sense. I needed the time off, but I wasn’t throwing up or lying in bed blowing my nose.”

Rhea laughed softly. “I think he already knows that, and it’s okay. It’s hard to keep things secret around here when everyone knows each other so well.”

“Let’s get some water for these flowers, and do you have some coffee made?”

Rhea nodded. “The coffee is ready. So what exactly is going on? The word is that you and Puck broke up, but I know there has to be something behind it. The two of you were too good together. Something like that doesn’t just end in a huff.”

While he ran water into a clear glass vase, Ross said, “I don’t want to give a lot of details, because Puck is entitled to some privacy, but he has the vilest former in-laws on the planet. Cruella de Vil has met her match.”

Rhea reached out and rubbed Ross’s back. “I’m glad you didn’t give me any details. And they don’t approve of you? You’re one of the sweetest men I know.”

“They didn’t approve of Puck or their own daughter either. I think they’re on a scorched earth campaign to make everyone miserable.”

“Well, I know I shouldn’t get in the middle of it…”

Ross cut her off. “Apparently, they are bigots who don’t like gay people either. Puck thinks they’ll use courts to take his baby away if we stay together as a couple. “

Rhea said, “You do know this is Minnesota, and it’s not 1950 anymore, don’t you? We do have laws that protect people from ogres like that.”

“Are you sure they can’t manufacture something stupid and convince a court to give the grandparents custody of the baby?”

“I’m no legal scholar, but I can put you in touch with friends of mine that have dealt with kid issues like this. I’ll track down some phone numbers.”

Ross stuffed the flowers into the vase and reached out to hug Rhea. “That’s awesome. I’m still angry at Puck, but I also want to help. There’s no way I can pretend I’m helpless. Even if I can’t be with him, the last thing in the world I want is for him to lose Addie. He’s been through so much, and she’s everything to him.”

“You’re a good man, Ross. I’ll take it easy on you today, too. Mr. Flores has piled up the work, but don’t worry about any deadlines today. He’ll understand, and he’ll be glad that you’re back at work.”

Ross asked, “What’s he been up to?”

“Growing the business. You know how he is. He wants to take over the country with trucks, and he might do it. Some of my friends are starting to notice the M-Trak trucks on the highway. They claimed that they never saw them before.”