“Olga Nikolaevna, I’m happy to come in on another night. There isn’t much daylight left, and I’d like to take Katya on awalk before it gets dark.”
Mama waved her hands in defeat, but didn’t lose the smile she so dutifully tried to hide as she left the hall and made her way to the kitchen with the flowers.
“I’ll put my work bag away and be right back,” I told him, but he stopped me with a firm hold on my arm.
Leaning in to my ear, he quietly said, “Leave your purse. You don’t need it.”
I glanced at him, and he returned my gaze with a completely unreadable expression.
I left my purse.
I’ve lived in Solovechni District all my life—the same building, the same apartment. I walked those roads thousands of times. This was the least ‘date’ kind of date I could think up, because despite knowing better, he made my heart thrum.
He hadn’t tried to hold my hand, even though he had taken some liberties in what physical contact we had up to that point. Simply kept his hands in his pockets and curiously considered the area.
Autumn had colored the trees in beautiful shades of yellow and red. Of course, today had to be the one day it didn’t rain, making it hard to imagine the death that awaited them come winter. The whole neighborhood was out enjoying the early evening. Benches were filled with elderly gossips, and colorful chalk sidewalks were crowded with kids playing marbles. Young couples walked arm in arm, whispering and igniting each other’s smiles. It was all too easy to imagine that could be us.
I really must have been lonely.
“What do you do, Katya?” Vitali asked.
“I work in an office,” I said, “as asecretary. Afraid it’s not very exciting. What about you?”
I waited like a hunting hound to see that momentary pause when I asked, but it wasn’t there. He very naturally said, “I’m a warehouse manager. We mostly work with high-end clothing stores. Imported goods.”
He casually tilted his head as he scouted the area for a drink kiosk, and I took that moment to examine his clothes again. Nice. Expensive. Imported. Completely justified.
Oh, I was so stupid. Making things up like a bored babushka. Misha made sense, too; a warehouse needed big, strong guys. My muscles relaxed, but only momentarily, because I couldn’t deny the exciting ping of disappointment.
“I like your car,” I said, once again trying to trap him and regain the thrill of my absurd thoughts.
“I’d like nothing more than for you to think so, but it is a company car. Sometimes we have to deliver custom-made items. I use it on the weekends, when I need to.”
Oh.
For all I knew, the blood was fabric dye. I vowed to never drink again.
We stopped at a small stall with thick glass windows and metal bars covering everything but the narrow gap to slide payment over to the cashier.
“Tea, no sugar,” Vitali told the girl studying him from behind the counter, “and one with two cubes, and lemon.”
“We don’t have change for that large of a banknote,” she said as he slipped her the money.
“Keep it,” he said, and grabbed the tea she’d set out just past a plastic door. All he was missing to be a flashy New Russian was a bright red jacket.
Vitali didn’t break eye contact with me as he handed me thepaper cup, and didn’t hide his fingers brushing mine. All I wanted was to see him get nervous, but it seemed he was the exception to the anxiety that plagued the rest of humankind.
“Thank you,” I said, and tried to take a sip just to have something in my mouth, but it was scalding and did not come to my rescue. “It didn’t look like you enjoyed the party very much the last time I saw you.”
There was that flicker of hesitation, but he recovered quickly.
“Just a bad day. Hoped to see someone there, but they didn’t make it.”
“A girl?” I asked and bit my cheek, very close to running into traffic. My crazy was showing in the seams of the evening, and I couldn’t let it be exposed. Especially because I didn’t like him, and therefore didn’t care if it was a girl.
He chuckled. “Do you think I meant to meet another woman there, and chose you as second best? That is a very interesting thought, Kotik, but you don’t know me yet, so I will forgive it.”
I lowered my eyes. The pet name sent shivers down my spine. Highly inappropriate shivers, because he was essentially a stranger.
