His Three-Day Girlfriend novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Colin at the Door

Merry's POV

Bridget's house had a screen door that stuck, and a porch light that buzzed.

By ten that night the police had put an unmarked car across the street.

A detective in a gray coat sat behind the wheel, and Bridget had taken him a thermos of coffee and a stern look.

Then she'd gone to the hardware store for deadbolts, because she wouldn't sleep until every window had two locks.

I was alone in the kitchen with a mug of tea when somebody knocked.

Two soft raps, patient and friendly.

I knew that knock.

I'd heard it a hundred and forty times on the other side of a clinic door.

I set down the mug and picked up the phone on the table.

It was already in a call with the detective across the street, the line open, the screen lit.

I put it face down in the pocket of my sweater and walked to the door.

"Merry," Colin said through the wood. "It's me. Please. I just want to talk."

I took a breath and let my face go slack.

I let my eyes go wide and wet and my hands go loose.

Then I opened the door.

"Hello?" I said, small and lost. "Do I know you?"

He stood on the porch in the same navy tuxedo, with his tie gone and a rip in one sleeve.

For a moment his whole face fell apart with relief.

"It worked," he whispered. "That was the old memory fighting its way out on stage, and now it's burned out. Oh, thank God."

He wanted it so badly that he had already decided it was true.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Colin, baby. I'm your boyfriend." He came inside and shut the screen behind him. "You've had a bad week, but I'm going to make it better."

I backed up one step at a time into the kitchen.

He followed, and I watched his hands.

The right one was in his jacket pocket.

"What's in your pocket?" I asked.

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