"For a long time I got myself home, sweetheart. Then one night your dad came and found me in a stream, and I haven't been home on my own since." Victor bent his head so she could kiss him. "Christmas was the time I minded most, before I met your dad. The pet shop shut, and the place next door where I got lunch shut. Everybody went home to people who already knew what they wanted on their sandwiches. I got myself a key cut one year so I could give the lady with the spare a holiday. I had the place all to myself, and I loved it until I turned the lights off and had to go home."
Frost considered the part of her story that mattered to him. "Who fed the mice?"
