Chapter 7: Seven O'Clock

By Monday at noon I had stopped waiting for Devin to change his mind, and I had started setting the room.

My father moved the dining table to the far wall so the front door faced the whole living room.

My mother laid out cheese, crackers and cider, because it was an invitation party, and an invitation party had snacks.

Darek arrived at one with a cable in his jacket pocket and a look that said he hadn't slept in a hotel bed.

"I can put the app log on your TV," he said. "Wired, so it can't drop."

"Can Devin turn it off from his phone?"

"Not if I take the remote batteries out."

He took them out, put them in his pocket and went to work on the cables behind the television.

I watched his hands for a minute.

They were steady, and I told myself that was why.

Devin texted at two.

Landing at 6:40. Car's booked. Please be calm tonight. I'll explain everything.

I put the phone face down on the counter and left it there.

At three I went to the kitchen wall, where the countdown board still hung with its white plastic numbers.

It read 87 DAYS.

Devin had ordered it online the week we got engaged and clicked the digits into place himself every night before bed.

I took the numbers down one by one and set them in a row on the counter.

Then I clicked a single new digit into the frame, and stepped back.

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