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CHAPTER 34

EMERY

The day after Alexei leaves, Inessa has bounced back to health, so I invite Becca and Shannon over for dinner.

I’m in the middle of making a yuzu shaved ice for dessert that I think might be nice for Ani’s baby shower, but need to practice a few times, when the doorbell rings.

Sergei comes up the stairs from the basement to answer it, and from what I can hear, it sounds like a delivery.

“It’s for you,” he says when he comes back to the kitchen.

I raise my eyebrows and accept the rectangular package. Sure enough, it has my name on it.

Inside, I find a food memoir, Koshersoul by Michael W. Twitty. A piece of paper flutters out with it, a printed gift receipt. There’s a typed message in the note space:

I would love to hear if you like this book - Alexei

Unexpected heat races through me. I take a picture of it and text it to him.

Emery

Thank you for this…it looks super interesting

Hopefully you find time to read today

I’m actually throwing a dinner party tonight, but I will read it at bedtime

A party?

A wild, rambunctious party…I invited a boy over to wreck up the place

Emery, no, say it isn’t true

I giggle and drop a thumbs up reaction on that message.

The boy in question—Charlie—shows up a half-hour later with his mom in tow, and it doesn’t take long before he and Inessa are jumping on the couch, cushions flying everywhere.

see?

Don’t let that little monster steal your heart, you’re mine

okay

This time, he’s the one to drop a reaction character, and it’s a little heart on my text.

Another blast of heat ripples through me.

The doorbell rings again.

“Keep your eyes on them,” I warn Becca before I go to answer it, expecting it to be Shannon.

Instead, it’s another delivery, this one from a local chocolate company—although I can see my friend has just pulled into the driveway.

I take the box from the courier driver, then hold the door open for Shannon.

“What’s that?” She asks as she gives me a hug.

I haven’t read the tag yet, but I’m guessing it’s another Alexei gift.

“Chocolates.” I close the door behind her. “Alexei sent me a book earlier, too.”

“Really?” Shannon laughs. “Russell sent me a book, too. A spicy romance novel.”

Becca’s head pops into the hallway. “Did you get sent some reading material, too? They must have been comparing notes! Hayden loaded a whole bunch to my e-reader account and then texted me a screenshot.”

“For the record, the book I got was a food memoir,” I say to Shannon under my breath.

She winks at me. “He’s still being polite, that’s so sweet.”

I’m blushing like mad. “Okay, let’s eat and talk about the baby shower.”

As Shannon tells me her vision for the party, I open the gift-wrapped chocolates from Alexei. There’s a card on this one, too.

I would love to hear if you like these chocolates - Alexei

I would love to hear…

Those words keep echoing through my mind as I get the girls to help me assemble another rainbow veggie tray, and then we make grilled cheese sandwiches—gourmet for the grown-ups, and classic for Inessa and Charlie—for dinner.

“Do you two ever send the guys anything on the road?” I ask abruptly, just as we’re settling onto the couches to watch the game. “Does the gift giving go in both directions?”

“Not really,” Shannon says. “But I do like to have surprises waiting for him when he returns.”

Becca taps her chin thoughtfully. “I send Hayden tittie pics right before a team meeting, does that count?”

“That definitely counts,” Shannon and I say at the same time.