It was a little after eight p.m. by the time Mick returned home. He and the cast had just wrapped a grueling all-day press extravaganza. Round robins in the morning, then the ten-minute one-on-one TV interviews. Answering the same damn questions over and over. Exhausting. His voice was ragged from all the nonstop talking, and tomorrow—God help him—it was rinse-and-repeat. He parked, shut off the engine, and exited his vehicle. First thing he was going to do was pour himself two fingers of good whiskey. Maybe he’d crash in front of the TV, watch something mindless, then go to bed.

The moment he approached his house, he could feel the difference. The porch light had been turned on. Usually, when he came home after dark, he’d fumble around a bit before his key found the lock. He couldn’t park in the garage. The battery in his opener had bit the dust while he was in the throes of post-production for Retribution, and he hadn’t had a spare minute to purchase a new one. As he exited his car and walked toward the front door, he could see light spilling from under the closed curtains in the apartment above the garage. She was up there. In a way, it made him feel less alone and yet more aware of how lonely he was at the same time.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside, and it was as if some sort of magical spell had been woven over the place. The bone-deep weariness seemed to be draining out of him and some unfamiliar sensation taking its place. A large vase of long-stemmed white flowers graced the entryway. The floors and furniture gleamed, and the air smelled clean and fresh, with a faint hint of lemon. For a moment, he was tempted to turn around, jump back in his car, and drive far and fast to outrun the cautious hope that maybe, finally, he’d have a home instead of the pigsty it had become. Why had he allowed the place to get so bad? Yes, he was busy and hadn’t noticed as the slow slide into disreputable took root. Why didn’t you ask Lois to hire a cleaning service months ago? And on the heels of that thought came another. Is it because deep down, a cesspit is all you feel you’re worth? The thought resonated throughout him like a clarion bell, and in that moment Mick made a vow. Once he scared Rachel off, he would have Lois set up somebody to come in and clean.