“Well, my first idea might be a bit much. I know you don’t like to leave your house a lot, but a few of the places for sale on Dad’s list are very close, like within ten miles, and some are twenty.”Yes, I already looked at the list while I waited for her to text back, sue me.“I was thinking maybe you would want to come explore them with me? You could give me your thoughts on them and we could even make a game out of it.”
She doesn’t say a word, but I don’t give her time to reject me yet either.
“You could still leave at any time, or even back out before I show up. I promise, I’m still totally cool with everything we talked about,” I preface. “But in this possible plan…I was thinking your aunt could come with us? She seemed like she didn’t hate my guts and I’m sure you would feel safer having someone you know tag along. There would be guards, too, obviously.”
“And your other ideas?” she asks, swallowing slowly.
“The others are less adventurous,” I assure her happily. “I could come over for lunch, or dinner, or just to hang out. Yourdad would be there, and he’d need to agree, of course. Well, he’d need to agree to all my ideas, I assume. You get the point. Anyway, a simple, no-pressure hang out could be easy for both of us.”
I sayboth of us, so she doesn’t feel alone.
I may not be as careful or as anxious as she is when it comes to trying something new, but I’m sure as shit nervous about pushing her too hard. I’d never want her to regret interacting with me. Whether it be virtually or in person, I want to make sure that her comfort never outweighs my desire to be close to her.
“You’ve really thought this out for only having a few minutes,” she comments, the nervousness in her tone seemingly softening. “I don’t know how fun visiting the house would be for you. My father would probably be overbearing, and Uncle Lev would likely make an appearance just to be rude to you. I would hate for you to feel so unwelcome just to see me.”
She’s so fucking sweet.
“Gotta be honest, Anya. I would do a lot worse than put myself in a situation to feel uncomfortable to see you. I don’t want to sound like a sap, but you’ve become a really good friend. And maybe I’m going a little too fast by saying this, but you’re important to me. I would want to hang out with you even if it meant your uncle had to beat me up first.”
She startles with a laugh, covering her mouth.
“And he’s a big guy,” I add, hoping to make her replicate the pretty sound. “He could probably kick my ass. I mean, I wouldn’t fight back, of course. I would be a very unkind friend if I fought your uncle and showed him how old he is.”
Giggling with wide eyes, she smothers the sound with her hand. “Howoldhe is? Are you determined to make him dislike you further?”
“What?” I tease, feigning innocence. “It’s not like he can hear me. What’s a little playful roasting between friends, eh? He probably says worse things about me when I can’t hear.”
Her laughter dies. “I wish he wouldn’t.”
The soft sincerity in her voice makes my heart ache.
“Don’t worry, I’ve heard it all before. He only has hatred for me because he has love for you. I think my dad tried very hard to hate Dmitri when he came home for Jade. It’s only natural for them to want to keep their loved ones safe.”
“Sometimes I think Uncle Lev is more protective of me than Father,” she admits, almost whispering the words as if they’re forbidden. “He’s so intense, but he always has been. Even before…”
She doesn’t need to finish her sentence for me to grasp her meaning.
“Was he?”
“Yeah,” she confirms, smiling wistfully. “This one time, a boy in my ballet class gave me a valentine and he threatened the boy’s father in the parking lot the next day. He pulled a gun on him and everything. The boy didn’t mean anything by it, we were only six, after all. Aunt Irina was so upset with him.”
She tells the story with such familiarity, such longing for the simple moment of her past life.
“I bet she scolded him and he didn’t even regret it.”
Anya grins, chuckling. “It’s like you know them.”
Shrugging, I mirror her smile. “Well, I did get pretty striking first impressions of both of them.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” she protests. “They’re both determined to embarrass me, albeit in different ways.”
“They didn’t embarrass you,” I tell her sternly. “Irina was really nice, and I would never think anything negative about you because of your uncle’s snappish nature.”
“If you say so,” Anya relents.
“Did you have any ideas?” I ask, trying to keep the question light. “About how we could make my visit as comfortable as possible for you?”
“I—Could I talk to my dad about it?” she responds, sounding hesitant. “I want to say that both of your ideas sound fun. I think I could probably handle it, but I trust him to tell me if he thinks otherwise. He’s been honest with me, especially since we’ve talked about you.”
