Page 71 of Mr. Match

So I believe.

Oliver and I get up after that. We shower, and he’s right. His markers don’t wash off. But I like that. It’s fitting. That all this will end with his words the last thing I remember about him.

He takes me to his work and walks me down the alley to my building. We kiss in front of the doorman. And I refuse the elevator when I get inside and take the stairs down to the storage units.

I dial the combination, go inside, pick up my phone, and press the contact I’ve been keeping secret all these years.

“Yes,” she says after two rings.

“I think I need you today.”

She hesitates. And for several painful seconds there is nothing but dead air. I even take the phone away from my ear and look at it to see if I lost the call.

“Are you sure?” she finally asks.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

“We’re a day early, Katya. You know timing is everything.”

A day early. Her words send a chill through my entire body. Why didn’t I see it before? Jesus fucking Christ. I walked right into it. “I know,” I say, swallowing hard. “I understand. But I have a very bad feeling, Mariel.”

More silence. “What happened?”

“Nothing. But that’s the problem. They are too patient.”

“Katya, you of all people should understand that what they are after has been decades in the making.”

That brings me back to the conversation I had with Oliver. About the eleven-year anniversary. “Did you know that Claudette tried to take Cindy on the eleventh anniversary of the rape accusation?”

“Of course. Why do think I got involved?”

“OK. But do you know what tomorrow is?”

Silence for seven whole seconds. “What is tomorrow?” she asks, a hint of worry in her voice.

“My sister’s eighteenth birthday.”

Mariel sighs. “Kat, I’ve told you before. They do not recruit out of high school.”

“They recruited me out of high school.”

“You’re different.”

“Yeah. And she’s my sister. So how is she not different?”

“She is not you.”

It’s my turn to be silent. For eleven whole seconds. The number of years I’ve gone to bed hoping I might die before I wake up.

“I want you here. And I want you with her all day tomorrow, Mariel. You promised me she would be safe if I helped you. You promised me you’d take care of her if anything happened to me. Well, either they are going to grab her tomorrow or they are going to do something to me. And I need you to make good on that promise. I need you here, Mariel. Today. Or I quit and I won’t do it. I’m dead fucking serious. Today.”

Mariel sucks in a deep breath and holds it. She exhales. Loudly. Like she’s pissed off but doesn’t want me to know. “OK. I’ll come today and we’ll do it your way. But you need to stick to the plan, Katya. No more deviations.”

“Agreed,” I say, relief flooding through me. And then the line goes silent for too long and I know she’s ended the call.

I’m in that blissful moment again. The moment when I think I have all the answers and it’s gonna be just fine.

I close my eyes and force myself to believe it.