“The garlic is going to burn if I stay in here,” she said, turning back toward the kitchen.

The apartment building manager was waiting behind the oak desk in the main lobby when I arrived at eight thirty.

The building was on a quiet street four blocks from the Sacramento engineering branch where my new office was.

Tall glass lanterns hung from the plaster ceiling, casting warm yellow light over the dark stone floor tiles.

The manager laid three identical thick paper lease contracts across the countertop.

“Unit 4B is an eight-hundred-square-foot one-bedroom apartment with south-facing windows,” he said.