Chapter 12: The Click

I called Dr. Keene's office on Wednesday morning, while Mitch was in the shower.

His assistant picked up.

I said I wanted a private session that afternoon.

I said I was ready to talk about everything, and I'd like to put it in writing.

She said she would check, and she put me on hold for less than a minute.

When she came back she said, "Dr. Keene can see you at two. He says he's glad."

I wore the yellow dress.

I put my phone in the little bag at my hip, with the voice recorder already running.

Mitch had wanted to wait in the truck outside.

I made him wait at home.

If he was on the street and anything went wrong, he would break the window.

"Text me every ten minutes," he said at the door.

"I will."

"If you don't, I'm coming in."

"I know."

He kissed me, hard, in the hall.

Then I walked three blocks to the office building on my own, and rode the elevator to the fourth floor with my heart steady and cold.

Dr. Keene opened the door himself.

"Marin," he said gently. "Come in."

He had put a box of tissues on the low table, and I understood he thought I had come to cry.

I sat on the couch and let him look at me.

He took the armchair, opened his notepad, and reached for his pocket.

"I'll lock up, for your privacy."

"Let me," I said.

He paused.

"It's my session," I said. "I'd like to be the one who closes the door."

His eyes narrowed a little, and then he smiled.

He liked it.

I think he took it as the first sign that I was breaking.

He held out the key ring, and I took it.

The weight of it was cool in my palm.

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