Harry turned, tilted his head. A look of pure panic covered his face. “She’s here!”

“I don’t hear anything.”

“She’s a block away.”

“You expect me to believe you can hear something a block away?”

“No, you’re too stupid to believe that. See, she’s turning into the driveway. She’s here. You need to get out of here.”

“That’s well and good, but your front door is still padlocked, so that means the only exit is over there,” Jack said, pointing to the back door. “Wow, look who’s here! Hi, Yoko! I was just leaving. Did you have a good ride…trip…journey?”

“I did, thank you for asking.” She looked over at Harry and bowed slightly. Harry bowed in return.

“Well, like I said, I was just leaving. By the way, Yoko, before I go, do you want to see Harry’s new…uh…renovations? Come on, let me show you!” Jack was more than careful to keep a good distance between Harry and himself. “Of course when the actual renovations start, I’m sure Harry will ask you for your input. This is just, you know, temporary.”

Jack grinned from ear to ear as Yoko walked around, squealing with pleasure. “Oooh, Harry, how did you know I love pink? Oh, my goodness, mercy me, this is just so beautiful. Harry, this was so sweet of you. To think you did all this for me!” Yoko started to make kissing kootchiekoo noises that Jack thought were none of his business. “Harry, honey, say something. How did you know? Do you love it, too? It makes such a difference. Pink is so peaceful, so serene. And you did it all for me!”

Harry looked over at Jack, his eyes defying him to say something. He did.

“Harry did his best to convince me that pink was the way to go, but I argued the point. He was adamant, though, and this,” Jack said, waving his arms around, “is the perfect result. I’m sorry, Harry, you were right, and I was wrong. I’ll see you two later…at some point…maybe tomorrow…if not, oh, well.”

To Harry he hissed, “Man you owe me big-time, and I’m going to take it out of your hide at some point. You got that, you schmuck?”

Harry nodded.

“For sure my work is done,” Jack mumbled to himself as he made his way back to the dojo and let himself out.

It was his turn now. Time for some quality time with Nikki. He crossed his fingers that she would be sitting in the kitchen or the bedroom waiting for him. Oh, yeah! Life is good right now.

As always, when Maggie arrived home and exited her chauffeur-driven car—a perk of her job at the Post—she looked up and down the street. She saw Jack’s car parked two doors down and a green car of some sort that belonged to his two-day-a-week housekeeper. She couldn’t help but notice a white plumbing van parked directly in front of her house. Her driver walked her to the door and waited until she was inside.