"Okay," I agree. I turn to Eliza. “We’re going to ride with my friend.”
“Okay.”
So I wasn't imagining things. The person in the carwasfollowing us, although I have no idea why. But I must say I feel safer in Viktor's car with Iliya at the wheel than I would out on the street. It's an odd feeling because I don't know either of these men, not really.
Having had only one day with Viktor means I know almost nothing about him, except the erogenous zones that drive him wild, a thought that brings a flush to my cheeks. I try to hide it by looking out the window. My gaze is averted, but I listen in on the conversation Viktor is having with Eliza. She’s telling him all about the whale sharks—where they live, how giant they are, and that people swim with them. To my surprise, Viktor’s not only listening, but is carrying on a conversation with my seven-year-old. He's asking questions and seems genuinely curious about the newfound knowledge my daughter is so excited to share.
Halfway there, stuck in traffic, Eliza gets absorbed in the book she checked out of the school library, and I pop her headphones on her ears and turn on the latest Kids Bop compilation. Viktor looks over her head at me, and one corner of his mouth curls up to find me already looking at him. It's too late to turn away.
"How have you been?" he asks.
I'm not sure why it feels like a loaded question. It's just friendly conversation, but something about it makes me listen carefully to his words.
"I'm fine," I say. "Everything is fine. I've been keeping busy."
I don't tell him I was hurt when he left with only a note. I don't want to show that kind of vulnerability.
"I'm sorry I left as I did," he says quietly, and I hear regret in his voice. Now he's the one looking out the window, but it's just for a moment before those incredibly blue eyes find their way back to me. "But I meant what I said in the note; it was much better for you for me to leave."
I want to ask him why he left and what the real reason was that he didn't call again. I wanted to know whether that note was justan excuse, as I imagined it to be, one that sounded like some spy movie cliché. I'm not about to be taken in by that kind of bull.
Instead, my anger flares. "Is that why you're here now? You couldn’t stay away any longer?"
Of course, I'm not stupid or naive enough to believe in romance novel ideals like that.
Those blue eyes find mine, and he doesn’t share the acidic joke. "More than you know," he says softly, and my heart skips a beat before fluttering in my chest, and I can't meet his gaze anymore.
A confession bubbles to my lips, and I can't hold it in any longer. "The appointment I'm going to?—"
"Is it for the baby?" Viktor asks, just as softly.
Despite my sharp intake of breath, I'm unable to speak for a few seconds. “How did you know?" I finally ask. "Have you been following me?"
"If I’d been following you, you would have known." There is a promise in Viktor's swift response that makes me snap my mouth shut and banishes any idea I had that he’d been stalking me. Then his voice and gaze soften. "I heard you talking with your friend outside the bathroom when I went to make sure you were okay."
My cheeks redden. "I didn't have any contact information to tell you. "
"I know.”
I look for anger in Viktor's face, but I see none. Only, surprisingly, understanding, and an odd softness I'm not sure I would have expected the man to be capable of.
"If you come with me, will Iliya watch Eliza?" I offer my olive branch.
Amusement curls at the corners of Viktor's mouth. "I believe that can be arranged."
10
LEAH
Ileave Eliza with Iliya after some coaxing and reassurances from Viktor that my daughter will be fine.
We make an odd picture as we sit in the waiting room at my OB-GYN's office—an enormous, growling, glowering bear of a man, stuffed into a chair beside the children's table as Eliza colors in a coloring book and chats in an endless stream about all the ocean animals she's learned about lately and how she's going to swim with a whale shark one day.
I was surprised Eliza agreed to stay with Iliya. But then again, I shouldn't betoosurprised; even at seven years old, Eliza is hard to intimidate, and she's far more outgoing than I am. She's like my mom in that way.
Viktor hangs back politely as the nurse checks my weight and gives me the cup to pee in, and he's already in the room when I emerge, standing calmly in a corner facing the door.
It's a bizarre feeling to have him in here with me. I've gone to my first couple appointments alone, without Suzie, even because it's not like I haven't done this before. These are the early stagesanyway, and I'm not even showing yet. I can see the change in my body, in the way my clothes fit, but no one else has noticed so far.
