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I’ve sharpened every knife I own, knocked out two hundred one-armed push-ups, and reorganized the kitchen twice even though there’s barely anything in it. I’ve walked every room in this place at least forty times.

It’s only been three hours since I dropped Theo at school, this is just our second day here and I’m already losing my mind.

I call Ray.

“Done already?” he answers.

“I need another job.”

“What?”

“This one’s moving too slow.”

Ray lets out a heavy sigh. “Jesus Christ. I should’ve sent Marco.”

I scoff. “Marco couldn’t pull this off in a million years.”

“Neither can you, apparently.”

The line goes dead.

Asshole.

Five minutes later, I’m standing at the front window like a retiree with nothing better to do than watch the street.

Carmen’s been disappearing for half the day lately. I should follow her. Figure out where she goes. But I don’t. One slip and the whole thing could blow up.

Still, I catch myself scanning for her car, wondering where the hell she keeps going. For a week, she barely left the house. Now she’s gone for hours at a time like she’s got somewhere to be.

She pulls into the driveway just after noon and heads inside, where she’ll probably hole up for the rest of the night like usual.

Except a few minutes later, she comes back out with the little rat-dog tucked under one arm.

She heads straight for the side gate and reaches for the latch.

It sticks.

She jiggles it, frowns, then lifts the whole gate slightly to force it open. It drags against the path with a horrible wooden scrape, barely hanging on.

Carmen shoulders through with the dog under her arm, then tries to shove it closed behind her.

Bad idea.

The hinge gives out with a metallic shriek, and the entire gate drops flat onto the ground.

She stares at it.

Then she sighs, bends down, and tries to pick it up one-handed while still holding the dog.

It doesn’t move.

So she sets the dog carefully on the path beside her.

The second its paws touch the ground, the little thing starts toddling toward the road with the grim determination of an animal ready to meet God.

Carmen lunges after it, scoops it up just before the curb, and carries it back to the broken gate.

For half a second, I think she might have learned something.