Santo bites into a pastry and groans. “I think I’m turning into you.”
I chuckle half heartedly as I try and remember where my ring was last.
Did I go sleep with it, did I take it off to shower this morning?
I eye the counter, trying to remember where I last saw it.
Yesterday. I was baking cinnamon rolls. I took it off so it wouldn’t get dough stuck in the setting.
Oh God. The sink. I left it by the sink.
No.
No I slipped it back on.
Didn’t I?
“You know what,” I say, backing toward the doorway, “I just remembered I need to check something upstairs.”
Santo’s eyebrow lifts, his stormy eyes tracking my movement. “What do you need to check, Vasilisa?”
The way he says my full name sends a chill down my spine. He knows something.
“Just… lady things,” I mumble. Usually, that’s enough to scare off most men.
Not Santo.
He sets down his pastry, wipes his hands on a napkin with deliberate slowness.
“Lady things,” he repeats, amusement dancing in his eyes.“Upstairs?”
I nod, taking another step backward. “Yes. Very urgent lady things.”
He shakes his head.
“No. There are no urgent lady things. I know your cycle Vasilisa, we’re planning a baby, if anything; you’re late. So if your lady things is apregnancytest then by all means, lets go check, but other than that, what is it Dea?”
Wait.
Am I late?
I release my trapped hand and count back the weeks. I’m so deep in concentration, I don’t notice Santo until his shadow falls over my hands.
“Dea,” he says, voice low and lethal. “Where’s your ring?”
Chapter 3
Ringless and Ruined
She looks up at me, those bright eyes stare deep into mine and shelies.
“I’m cleaning it. Got… dough on it yesterday,” she says, nodding.
Nodding.
Agreeing with her little lie as she brushes by me and sits at the kitchen island and grabs her snackcake.
I narrow my eyes. “I thought you had lady things to take care of.”
