Season 8 ended at 2:17 AM. The screen went black. Then the DVD menu looped: the same smiling faces, the same bass lick. Over and over.
He should have said no. But the store was empty, and the woman had his late mother’s eyes.
It was empty.
He closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was back behind the counter of Threesixty Entertainment . The woman was gone. The box set sat on the counter, Seasons 1–8, untouched.
She placed a crisp bill on the counter. “Keep it. I need you to watch it. All of it. In order. Season 1 to Season 8. Then turn around.”
Leo smiled, for the first time in years, and left the store unlocked.