But the level of the way she is in my life now is not something I'm interested in walking back from. A pause from Daniel. Okay. Daniel said. I was going to say it to her first, Marcus said.
I know I believe you. A pause. I'm sorry for going out of order. She didn't ask me to call you. She doesn't know I'm calling.
I know you're not angry. Marcus thought about it. No, he said. You're her brother. You're asking because you love her.
I can't be angry at that. Daniel made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and relief. You know what's maddening about you? He said, "You are so consistently reasonable. It makes it impossible to have a satisfying argument with you.
I'll work on being more unreasonable, Marcus said. Daniel laughed for real then. Go talk to my sister, he said. Okay, just go. Marcus hung up.
He stood in the kitchen. He picked up his phone. He put it back down. He picked it up again. He drove to Olivia's apartment.
He hadn't called ahead. He parked. He went to the door. He knocked. And when she opened it, regular clothes, hair natural, clearly not expecting him, he said before she could ask what he was doing there.
I know Daniel called me. And before you're upset about that, just listen. Please, she stared at him. Okay, she said slowly. I was going to say this to you first, he said.
I had it planned. I was waiting for the right moment and I was being careful about the timing because I wanted it to feel. I wanted you to feel it the right way, not squeezed in between other things. He paused. But you already said it to Daniel, so I'm saying it to you now.
Her expression had gone very still, Olivia. Marcus said, "I love you, not as a thing I'm building toward, not as a direction I'm heading right now as the person standing in your doorway. I love you." She looked at him for a long moment. Her jaw worked slightly, like she was trying to figure out what to do with the words that were clearly trying to leave her mouth. Her eyes were bright in a way that she was visibly deliberately managing.