Next to me, Katerina’s body relaxes a bit, a fraction of the tension easing out of her. Mine does, too.
“Hi, I’m Katerina,” Kat smiles at Ali.
“Can I offer you a drink? I think it’s the perfect night for a chocolate martini. Usually, they make me too full to eat dinner, but we can have one. I’m really good at making them lately. It’s my go-to drink for colder evenings.”
“It sounds lovely. I haven’t had one,” Kat says, tilting her head to the side and letting Ali pull her away from me. I reluctantly let Kat go, but only because Ali has silenced my brother’s onslaught of chaos and put a stop to the rude welcome. Ali reminded everyone in the subtlest way that Kat is still a guest here and should be treated as such.
With relief, I watch her lead Kat towards the bar in the living room.
I turn to Arkady, grin, and ask, “Are we ordering pizza?”
He snorts with laughter and shakes his head. “It’s on the way already.” Then he follows everyone else back into the living room.
“Where’s Jade?’ I ask, looking around for my other sister.
“She and Rad are going to be a bit late,” Luka shrugs. “They had some anniversary lunch or something.”
“Nice, they still seem really happy,” I say, thinking out loud as I stare at Katerina.
“They are. We all are. But man, what is going onhere?” Luka whispers, gesturing towards Kat.
“Nothing, she’s just my guest. Where’s Tania?”
“She’s on some weekend retreat with a few friends.”
“Would have been nice for Kat to have another Krolik here, for moral support,” I muse.
He clenches his jaw, but relents, leaving it at that for the moment.
Ali has all of her older brothers wrapped around her little finger. If Ali wants it, she gets it. She’s the baby in the family, and we all rally to protect her and keep her happy. That’s why it was so easy for her to get everyone to accept Kat. Thank goodness. I don’t know what would have happened if she hadn’t stepped in tonight.
Sitting around the dinner table, pizza boxes spread over it, and everyone chatting happily, the atmosphere is relaxed, but I can still sense a lot of curiosity around Katerina being here.
She’s sitting close to me, her leg against mine under the table. I imagine my touch is a source of security for her among the people she doesn’t know. We are all technically her enemies, and Kat looks wary, even though she’s smiling.
“How long have you known my brother?” Ali asks, ignoring the tension.
“Not long at all,” Kat replies, picking up a piece of pizza and putting it on her plate.
“Have you heard him singingPhantom of the Operayet?” she asks, and my stomach instantly bubbles with embarrassment.
“Ali!” I scold her. “We don’t have to tell that story.”
She giggles and shakes her head. “If she’s a guest at your place, I’m surprised she hasn’t heard it yet.”
“He singsPhantom of the Opera?” Kat asks, her brows furrowed and a little smile creeping onto her face. She’s so damn cute when she looks naughty like that. Like she’s up to mischief.
“Sing…is probably a generous way of putting it. He’s terrible. When we were younger, he used to sing in the shower, and like, the entire house would cringe because he was so loud and off-key. He got banned from singing, but it still didn’t stop him.”
“Ali!” I laugh loudly, feeling my cheeks heat. “We can talk about other things.”
“Okay, sure, like the time you found a baby goat on the side of the road when you were walking home from school, and you tried to convince Mom it was a puppy that you’d saved. And she was too soft-hearted to make you give it up, so she let you keep it, and when it got older, it literally ate everything in your room. You cried because it ate your Game Boy.”
“Oh my word, no, not that either. Let’s talk about stuff that doesn’t involve embarrassing moments from my childhood,” I laugh even louder. I’d forgotten about Blue the Goat and the chaos he reigned over my life.
I glance at Katerina, who seems to be loving the stories.
“Even after Blue ate everything, I still didn’t give him up, because he was my best friend and I thought I could train himnotto be a goat,” I chuckle.
