Page 113 of Three, Two, One [321]

That’s how I started to write my book. Because I needed to remind myself some of it was real, even if those parts only belonged to JD. I needed to remember Janine too, whom they never found, but her baby was in the records the FBI confiscated from Gabriel’s compound up in the mountains. They said that’s where I was kept too. But I have no clue. I don’t think about that time. Instead I think about Janine’s baby, who was reunited with her true family once they got through all the fake adoption records.

“Can I ask you a question?”

I look up at the young woman, holding out her book for me to sign. “Sure,” I say back with a smile.

“Why do you call it Three, Two, One? I know you have a lot of references in there to the numbers. But is it like a countdown?”

“Yeah. That’s all it is. Just a countdown.”

Three soulmates.

Two broken hearts.

One last chance to set it right.

“Oh,” the woman says, slightly disappointed. “Well, thank you so much.” She takes her book and smiles at me. “I love this story. I love the fact that they all end up together. I think JD loved her more, but I’m glad she got both. They filled her up, like she said. They both completed her because they were so different.”

I nod. I can feel the sting of tears. “They did,” I say. “You’re right.”

My book is fiction. And I can end it any way I want. So JD never died. Ark never lied. And everyone lived happily ever after.

After that I keep my attention where it belongs. On the people in front of me. I still scan for Ark’s face in the crowd, but by four o’clock when the last person steps up to have their book signed, I can’t avoid the obvious.

He never came.

I sign the book, smile, take a picture, and then hand it back. I thank the fan for coming to see me on such a cold and wintry day, and wish her happy holidays.

And then I stand and stare out the window where the snow is falling in large round flakes. The same way it did that night everything fell apart.

I walk away from the table and grab my bag from my publicist. “Do you need a ride to the airport?” she asks me, clearly concerned with my somber mood.

“No, thanks. I can manage.”

I turn and make my way towards the back of the bookstore where my coat is hanging in the employee break room. I’m just turning the corner of the hallway when a voice rings out.

“Miss Marshall?”

I turn. “Yes?”

The last girl in line is jogging down the book aisle towards me. “Sorry,” she says, out of breath. “I forgot! A man was in line with me a while ago, but he said he had to leave and would I pass this along.”

She holds out a sealed envelope.

I stop breathing for a moment. “A man?”

“Yes,” she says. “Sorry, I forgot.” And then I take it from her and she waves goodbye. “Happy holidays!”

I lose my manners and ignore her. I just stare at the envelope. And then I look around nervously. Is he still here?

I open the envelope and pull out a thick card. Not a greeting card, a two-sided card, like a glossy business card, except larger.

A Private Affair

You’re Invited

When: Right now.

Where: Get in the car in the front of the store.