Good morning. Well, it might not be morning where you are, but it's definitely morning while I record this intro to part 36, if worth the risk. And I want to thank everyone who helped me to make this story possible by supporting the podcast financially. Thank you so much. This is a listener from the show, and without your help, I could not do this work.

So thank you. If you two want to help fund the last episodes of Worth the Risk and the next story,

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Welcome to the Lesbian Rom romantic podcast. This is Worth the Risk, Part 36, Work-Life Balance.

Natalie's phone vibrated in her pocket for the third time in less than 15 minutes.

She took off her sunglasses and sighed.

She was not checking her phone on purpose, but it was getting increasingly harder to ignore it.

She was sitting on the outdoor patio of a restaurant in the tourist area of Barcelona.

Her boss, Elise, had gone to the bathroom.

Natalie was enjoying a few minutes to herself before they ordered lunch.

The morning had been insanely busy.

Yesterday had been even worse. This lunch was the first time they had more than 30 minutes between meetings since they had arrived in Barcelona. There was only one meeting scheduled this afternoon. Elisa promised her they could spend some time relaxing and see the city afterwards. Tomorrow, they'd spent

the day at the company's Barcelona office until it was time to fly back. Natalie's phone vibrated again.

She pulled it out of her pocket reluctantly, raising a hand to block the sun she squinted at the

screen. Huh, she mumbled when she saw that Kim had called her three

times. There was also a new voicemail message from her best friend. She tapped to listen to the

message, frowning. Natalie hoped Kim was okay. It was unlike her to call three times when she knew that

Natalie was busy.

Hey, Bestie.

Kim's voice sounded through the speaker pressed against Natalie's ear.

Natalie immediately knew something was off.

...