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I side-eye him again.

“I mean that respectfully, Boss.” He sits up and tucks his napkin into the neckline of his I PEE IN POOLS T-shirt.

“Now that we’re all here—mostly on time,” Casey eyes Matt, “I’ve made new schedules. It’s condensed, but if we work a few late nights, we can power through.”

“Go, team!” Matt tries for another high five and comes up dry. Casey and I are too exhausted to be excited. “You guys really need to match my energy. You’re total bummers.”

“I’m going to need Saturdays off,” I mutter as I scan the new schedule on my phone.

“Whoa.” Matt’s fork hits the table with a clatter.

“Five weekends? Twenty-four hours a day? That’s a hundred twenty hours of possible work time!” Casey says, incredulous.

“Pretty much.” I try to ignore the building guilt. I’m letting them down by not being there too, but I made a deal with Sophia. That’s how we got the bungalow back.

Still, I understand their reaction. This request is highly out of character. I haven’t taken a day off in two years. By proximity, neither has Casey.

Matt is another story altogether. His work ethic is optional. He brought “hamsters” to work once, but they were really orange-and-white fluffy socks he found on the subway. He was very disappointed when they didn’t want to run the hamster wheel he bought them. That was the day he multi-microdosed mushrooms.

Casey shakes her head. “No can do, Gio. Before this fiasco, yes, we could have taken off, but now . . .”

“I made a deal with Sophia. I need that day off. Every weekend she’s here, which is four Saturdays, three more weeks from this Sunday. You get me back when she leaves,” I add, in case that last part isn’t clear.

Uncomfortable with the idea, Casey readjusts in her seat. She couldn’t help but rework the schedule as soon as I told her the news, even though I left out important details. It was late, and I needed time to digest what I’d done. It was a shock to my own system.

“Yes, finally, a day off!” Matt raises his arms like a heavyweight champ.

“No, I have the Saturdays off. You two can film B-roll and edit while I’m out.” I wipe my lips and toss my napkin onto the table.

“Damn it.” Matt stabs a sushi roll with one chopstick and then eats it like a corn dog. “You know,” he says between bites, “I think it’s illegal to make me work every day.”

“If you actually did your work, I would feel sorry for you,” Casey says with a scolding look.

“You wound me.” Matt holds his chest.

Casey’s narrowed gaze returns to me. “You’re killing me, Gio.”

“We’re all doing things we don’t want to do here,” I say.

Casey and Matt’s gazes clash. Silent words pass between them.

“What?” I ask and sip my juice.

Casey scratches her head as if she’s considering her next words carefully. “Maybe if you just, you know, um . . .”

“Nail Sophia hard.” Matt slaps the table like he’s smacking ass.

“Yes, that!” She points to Matt, and he beams at Casey’s approval. “And then you could, you know, focus.”

“It’s been a long time for you, dude.” Matt places a gentle hand over mine, like he’s a sympathetic ear I can talk to.

I give him a deadly look, and he jerks his hand away.

“Bro, why don’t you love me the way I love you?” Matt shakes his head.

“Brah, is there ever a time you think before you speak?” I ask him.

“Takes too long.” He focuses on assaulting a mound of cottage cheese on Spam.