Page 22 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

“I’ll say this one more time, Dawg, because I like you and you’ve been calling in to the show for a while. This is not Relationships R Us. You can call Dr. O in the morning if you have to, but the only advice I’m going to give you is this: Suck it up, man. Stop whining. There are probably two million women in Atlanta. Pick another one. Women are like buses. If you miss one, another will be along any minute.”

Olivia felt her spine stiffen. She heard none of Dawg’s protests or Matt’s flip responses as he moved on to the next caller. She remembered all too well how easily Matt had switched buses in Chicago, though she couldn’t understand why the memory still hurt.

Olivia burrowed back down beneath the covers. She wanted to be in her own bed. She wanted her life back. She also wanted to be asleep right this very minute and not lying here wondering whether Matt Ransom really remembered exactly how she had tasted eight years ago.

Olivia reached over to close the radio app, but something perverse inside her made her keep listening.

“I’ve got Jason on the air. Who are you with, Jason, and what have you brought with you?”

"Wow. I can’t believe I got through. I listen to your show all the time.”

“Thanks, Jason. Does your mother know you’re up this late?”

Jason laughed, but Matt was right. The caller sounded distinctly pubescent.

“Tell us what’s happening on your island.”

Jason cleared his throat nervously. “Well, I, um, spend the first day just hanging out drinking beer.”

“You can imagine yourself under a palm tree drinking until you puke if you want to, Jason, but I’m not sure this will appeal to our other listeners. So...”

“Wait. A raft is floating toward my island.”

“A raft?”

“Yeah. It’s just a bunch of trees lashed together with a little lean-to on one corner. And there’s some kind of material rigged on a really tall branch for a sail.”

“That’s nice, Jason. But what about the occupants?”

“Well, at first I can’t tell if there’s anyone on the raft or not. But then I spot this really long pair of legs sticking out of the lean-to.”

There was a pause and Olivia imagined she could hear the boy’s Adam’s apple bob up and down.

“It’s a woman.”

“Very good, Jason. You have real potential. Who is she?”

“I can’t tell yet. But when she comes out and stands up, I can tell that she’s really tall, you know. Like an Amazon.”

“Ah, a Wonder Woman, fantasy.”

“Well, she’s tall like her, but she’s blonde. And it’s really weird, but there’s something familiar about her, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, she steps off the raft onto the beach and I can see that she’s in really incredible shape, but older. You know, like thirty or something.”

“That old, huh?”

Jason totally missed Matt’s sarcasm, but as a woman turning thirty in a matter of days, Olivia was not amused.

“So I can’t believe this is happening, but then I see her face and she looks pissed and I’m kinda scared, but it’s kinda hot and I—”

“Jason, please. Just tell us who the woman is. Believe me, at this point, that’s all anyone wants to know.”

“Well, that’s the really strange thing, you know? Because when she gets closer I recognize her.”

“And?”