Page 43 of Mess

As he stood in the doorway, Jane noticed the faraway look coming over him. She wondered what was flooding his brain.Stress about his stuff? His deadline? Who knew. But he seemed like he wanted to talk.

“Must have been wild, your first job being on that show with Kelsey. There used to be so many stories about the cast....”

“Oh yeah. They were kids. I was a kid, too, really.... It’s like a very special kind of bubble. And fame, I’m not even sure you can call it a mixed blessing, I think it might be a full-on curse. They couldn’t go out in public without attracting crazy mobs when the show was at its peak.”

“I remember,” Jane said.

“It was ubiquitous,” Esmé added gratuitously.

“So they would hang out with each other all the time, and their relationships would get really intense and dysfunctional....”

“Oh I heard all kinds of stories!” Esmé exclaimed.

“Yep, and some of them are true. They were all cuckoo in their way, but also very endearing. I was still really young and got swept up in the drama, both on and off camera.”

Jane pointed to a stack of magazines. “Will you want those sorted?”

“Oh god no, don’t waste your time. I mean, who still gets magazines? I’ll throw them all away and cancel my subscriptions, which I’ve been meaning to do forever.”

The doorbell rang, prompting a chorus of barking from the dogs. Eric reappeared moments later with a woman at his side.

“Jane, Esmé, this is Mia, who referred me to you.”

Mia was a pretty twenty-something attired in chic business casual.

“Someone at work raved about your company, and I immediately thought of Eric.” Mia had a slight Irish accent, which was pleasing to Jane’s ear.

“She was my assistant, so she witnessed my organizational roadblocks in extreme close-up,” Eric explained sheepishly.

“Indeed! I’m rather tidy, so I did what I could, but it’s been a few years, and we all know about entropy.”

“How did you ever put up with me?” Eric asked, smiling affectionately.

“Oh please!” Mia turned to Jane and Esmé. “He was the best boss ever. So sweet.”

Their genial banter was touching. Jane thought about the bosses she’d had during her show biz career. She could not imagine wanting to stay in touch with a single one of them.

Mia turned to Eric. “All of Mitchell’s stuff is out of here, I hope?”

“Except for some boxes in the garage.”

“Eric! You have got to cut the cord. He is manipulating you!”

“Trust me, it’s easier to let him keep his crap here.”

Mia looked appalled. “Easier because he’s emotionally blackmailing you!”

“Well, yeah, that too,” Eric conceded. “I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with him now so path of least resistance....”

“You follow that path and you know where you end up, right?”

“I have some ideas, but please—do tell.”

“In the gutter, surrounded by rancid trash, wasting your time and energy on the entirely wrong people!”

“Harsh, Mia.”

“It’s only because I want better for you! Don’t let him keep taking advantage.”