“Okay, but a job?” I ask.
“I was bartending for a bit but, again, I quit it for this.”
I turn to her, attempting to keep my eyes on the road as I communicate my clear surprise. “You,Nadia Annika Kablukov, were in acustomer serviceposition?”
“I know.” She giggles darkly, flashing her eyes at me. “Admittedly, I didn’t make tips. But!” She perks up, straightening in her seat. “My bar did have this drink called the Hurricane where dudes would pay me to pour a shot into their mouth, make them swallow it, then throw water at them before slapping them across the face.”
“Okay, now I’m seeing the appeal. That sounds like your dream come true.”
She sighs wistfully, placing a hand on her chest. “It was.”
“Anything else of note?” I ask. “Tell me something Nik or Sef don’t know so I can hold it over them.”
She leans her head toward the window as she thinks it over. I hate that it’s difficult. That Nik is probably checking in with her as often as he checks in with me. Except Nadia probably responds…unlike me. “I almost adopted a cat,” she offers.
“No shit, really? What happened?”
“He was living on my fire escape and screaming every night, soI started feeding him. Mostly just to get some sleep at first, but then I stupidly got attached to the thing. He looked like he had fleas, so I didn’t want to let him inside without getting him checked out first….” Her voice trails off.
“Okay, then what?” I ask, slowing to a stop as we approach a red light.
“I took him to the local animal shelter and they found one of those microchips in his ear. Turns out, he’d run away from home.” She pauses to throw a playful smirk my way—as if to sayYou’d know something about that.“His owner had never stopped looking for him, I guess. He got picked up later that day.” Her voice softens, almost as if she’s…feeling.
This is new territory for Nadia and me. I’ve got no problem confessing my sentiments, sins, and secrets to whomever is spending the night in my bed, but my family didnotdo feelings growing up, let alone express them to one another. “I’m sorry you couldn’t keep him, ?????.”
She makes a dismissive noise, akin to a cleared throat. “It’s probably for the best. I wasn’t ready for that level of commitment.”
I chuckle, thinking of the sad pair we are in comparison to our family-man big brother who craved commitment and steadiness from birth. “Fair enough.”
She shrugs it off. “How about you? Where have you been?”
“I was following a carnival around Texas for a while. I drew caricatures next to the ring-toss game. Sometimes they’d let me play for free when it was slow.”
“I’m proud of you for maintaining your artistic integrity.”
“All right, well, I’m a big boy, Nads.” I pat my stomach, keeping my face forward as my eyes slide to her. “I can’t afford to be a starving artist.” And Iwasfor a minute, when I was still trying to sell my art instead of my soul.
“Well, youdolove carnival food,” she adds.
“I was cured of that by the third week.” I could gag even imagining corn dogs and, as a rule, Ilovephallic-shaped food.
“Where were you before Texas?”
“Here, there, and everywhere. I did a little bit of landscaping work in Tela, taught golf in Puerto Plata to tourists…I was a pool boy for a wealthy couple in Miami…. That type of shit.”
“You were a pool boy?” She laughs. “What doyouknow about pools?”
“I didn’t do much of the actualpoolpart of the gig, per se.”
Her face scrunches up in horror. “Oh god. Say less, please.”
I laugh. “Honestly, I was running out of money and Bertha definitely needed a break, so Nik’s SOS came at the right time.” I pause, considering what I just said. “Don’t—”
“I won’t tell him,” Nadia interrupts, pulling out her phone as she rolls her eyes. “Well, I think we’re all caught up,” she says, holding it up to the roof as if she’ll somehow get a signal that way. “Now what?”
“We should have paced ourselves better. What will we do for the rest of our two months together?”
“Right…two months…” She doesn’t look away from her phone.
