Chapter 19: The Door

"Take it down," I said.

Chan stood with the hammer in one hand and a nail between his teeth.

He took the nail out.

"Mara, he knows the house."

"He's known the house since Tuesday. He knows the plate on my truck. He has a picture of my porch."

"That's why."

"Take it down."

"If a lens sees the three of us in this kitchen..."

"Then it sees three people eating toast."

"And what do they do with that?"

"Whatever they like. It's my toast."

He shook his head.

His hand went to the second window, the one over the sink, and I watched his shoulders square.

"I'm sorry," he said. "It's one more blanket. It costs nothing."

"It costs me."

"A week. Then we leave and you take it all down."

"Chan."

"I'm doing what I'm for."

That was the sentence.

I felt it go through me.

"No," I said.

Hyunjin put down his toast.

"What's for?" I asked. "Say it. What are you for?"

"Keeping him safe."

"And what am I for?"

He frowned. "That isn't..."

"What am I for, in your plan? I want it in words."

"You're not part of the plan. That's the point of the plan."

"I'm part of it. You've got a map of my house in your head and you've put me on it.

"I'm the door."

His mouth opened.

"You treat my house like your bunker," I said, "and me like the door.

"Something to lock, something to stand behind. Something that opens when you say and shuts when you say.

"I let you in. I fed you. I took you to bed.

"And you hung my window shut an hour after you came."

My voice was shaking now, and I let it.

"I was somebody's quiet place for six years. I'm not going to be your bunker for six weeks."

Nothing moved in the kitchen.

The kettle began to tick.

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