Sarah returned to the house the next day ready for a confrontation. She walked up the driveway, but stopped short when she saw a van parked in front of the house with the name Modern Knights emblazoned across the side.

“I thought I fired you?” Mr. Shultz said, standing in the doorway signing the invoice from the security company.

“Excuse me?” the man in front of him asked.

“Not you,” Mr. Shultz said, flicking his hand at the man as though waving away a fly.

“I came to get my job back,” Sarah said.

He laughed. “Not a chance.”

“If only you could figure out how to get back, then you could undo everything.” Sarah said, smiling slightly.

Mr. Shultz signed and handed back the pen and clipboard to the security installer. “I don’t have time for your riddles. You realize that I’m doing all this,” he gestured to the man and the van in front of him.”Because of you. Again.”

Sarah smiled. “Yes. And I did notice the shutters when I arrived earlier. They’re lovely. I’ll bet they keep out any more would-be campers.”

He frowned at her. “Is there anything in particular you came to say, or just your general desire to force me to continue to increase my security?”

The security system installer looked back and forth between before ripping the paper of his clipboard. “Have a nice day.”

“I just wanted you to know, I know. I figured out what happened to my missing months. Why you don’t seem to age.” She smiled as the van drove away behind her.

“Really?” he licked his upper lip. “Am I supposed to be scared at this point? Terrified that you’ve unearthed some deep-dark secret?”

She just smiled back.

“Because you haven’t. You ran away last time and blamed me. Police came, interviewed me, searched my house. Did you know that? Now you’ve been fired for being an absolutely terrible assistant and what? You’re going to blame me for that too?”

“No,” Sarah said. “Not at all. I’m going to blame the time portal you’ve created in the doorway of your office.”

He gave a loud, barking laugh. “You’re insane!”

“Perhaps.” She smiled. “But you need me. See, I’m willing to bet that that time portal only goes one way. So you keep jumping forward, but you have no way to get back. Which means if something goes wrong during the month you’ve jumped, you can’t undo it. You need someone taking care of things while you’re gone. Who are you going to trust? Like I say, you need me. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then she turned and walked away.