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“They found the EMTs.”
“And?”
“One is okay, the other is in bad shape but alive.Our three friends clocked them and barricaded them inside a closet.”
“Makes me wish I’d killed thosemudakiwhen I had the chance.”
“You played it right.”He smiled, more to himself than for me, it seemed.“You played itperfectly.”
I nearly smiled too.“Thanks for standing at the back and looking menacing.”
“Anytime,vertolet devushka.”
Helicopter girl.Okay, I finally did smile, but I quickly hid it by taking a bite of French toast because I was Nine and being sappy wasn’t part of life’s plan for me.In my experience, the small joys were always followed by greater sorrows, so even if Alexei said he’d come back, there was no point in getting my hopes up.Happiness was dust on the breeze—all around me but impossible to catch.Instead, I made do with small doses of satisfaction.As the Bad Samaritan, I took pride in a job well done, and dishing out a little vigilante justice in my adopted home town was well within my capabilities.
“So, how did you end up in Oregon?”Alex asked, and I choked on the toast I’d been about to swallow.“You glossed over the story before.”
“What business is that of yours?”
He passed me a glass of water, calm as always.“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay, but I’m trying to get to know you here.”
“Why?”
“Because I like you.”
Oh.
“Why?”I asked.
“Why do I like you?”
“Da.”
“There has to be a reason?”
“There’s a reason for everything.”
“I guess there is.”Alex took a sip of coffee.“Words aren’t my forte, but…the night we first met, you fascinated me.A girl, barely more than a child, not only living in a man’s world but ruling it.One of the guys you were with complained about the job being tough, and the glare you gave him…thatwitheringglare.I knew then who had done most of the work.And now we meet again, and I find there’s more to you than the tough shell.You’re amatryoshka…” He referred to the nesting dolls so beloved of Russia, not that I’d ever owned one.“So many layers, each with a different face, a different facet of personality.And although it’s a cliché, I’ve felt more alive with you this weekend than I have in years.”
That was quite the speech.“Even when I threatened to shoot you?”
“I like that you keep me on my toes.With you, life is never boring.”
Okay.Okay.When I thought things through logically, the question about Oregon was a perfectly reasonable one to ask—hadn’t he already told me why he moved to Virginia?—but it had caught me by surprise.So I did something I rarely did and apologised.
“I’m sorry I snapped.I just… I just…”
“You’re off balance.”
“Yes.That.”How much should I tell him?He knew I’d quit my job, but not the circumstances.Usually, I went with a story about leaving a troublesome ex, which wasn’t that far from the truth, but Alex deserved more than smoke and mirrors.Could I trust him?I thought that maybe I could.And more than that—I liked him back.“Oregon… The short version is that I stole a car and kept driving until I couldn’t go any farther.”
“And the long version.”
“I hate to threaten you, but…”
“If I breathe a word, you’ll cut out my tongue?”
My turn to shrug.“Something like that.”