Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Borya didn’t argue. He just vanished.
“Tell me again why we brought him on vacation?”
Natasha exhaled a laugh. “Pop, you called him my Shadow. Now he follows me everywhere. Which do you prefer?”
Ignoring the retort, I sat beside her. I suppose having Borya around beat that other guy who stumbled into my gym. What was his name? I’d never responded after Yuri gave me a rundown of his entire life. Didn’t matter now.
I gestured to Natasha’s phone. “You’re not over him?”
Her lips curved. “Never. I eventually listened to his texts and voicemails. You can hear the truth in his voice. I’ll pull one up.”
“Nyet.” I pulled an arm around her, felt her lean in. My daughter, the one who used to wear pink princess dresses and demand chocolate in every country we visited.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t offer, Papa KGB. Anyway, we decided to let him focus on his career this year. As you know, Pop, the Dodgers won back-to-back World Series, and now the managers are hounding them for a three-peat. Y’know. Like the Lakers.” She shook her head. “For the record, I never believed he cheated.”
Her voice cracked, just a hair, and my steel facade crumbled. “Okay, okay. I didn’t either. I analyzed the photos for hours. Besides, he’s alive, isn’t he?”
Natasha shoulder-checked me, laugh fluttering from her lips. “Pop! What did you have against your favorite baseball player?”
“I don’t even like bas—” I caught myself. “Alright. I didn’t hate him. Not really.”
She side-eyed me like her momma would. “It’s because you didn’t make Momma yours before she went to law school. You’d just met her and you nearly blew it.”
True. “What did Zariah tell you?”
“That she cornered you at the gym.”
“Not the gym. Vadim’s Gym. You respect that man, he should’ve been your dedushka.”
“Okay, she cornered you at Grandpa Vadim’s Gym. You threatened her. Then, after you all stopped arguing, you told her she was beautiful in a mirror—”
“She told you what?” I roared.
Natasha pulled back, grimacing. “What the heck? That’s why she always blushes when mentioning the mirror. Ewww. Forget I said anything. I’m gonna puke.”
“Me too!”
“She didn’t tell me … ugh …” Natasha gagged. “She just said you called her pretty as you gazed at her in the mirror. That’s all! Way to give me nightmares.”
A little more than that, but I steered this conversation to safer waters. “The Mikhailovs stopped by earlier. Their invitation to Arabia still stands.”
“Edik isn’t waiting around for me.” She shook her head.
“He’ll wait. If not, someone else will. You’re young. Don’t date athletes. They always choose the game.”
“I told Lachlan to choose the game.”
I studied her. “He tried to juggle both.” Extremely smart since my daughter was worth it. Also, extremely stupid.
She nodded. “In the beginning. Ugh, the schedule’s insane. Baseball plays one hundred and sixty-two games. That’s double the NBA. I won’t even factor in football. But we broke up after the incident, so he can focus. He calls me every night before I go to sleep, whether I’m here or in LA. Whether the Dodgers dominated the Angels or choked while playing the Giants. I’m not sharing this to suggest Lachlan’s flawless, nor to thank you for sparing him.” With her head in her hands, she mumbled something unintelligible.
“Why aren’t you with him now, Natasha?” My voice dropped low. Not angry, just exhausted from the division between blood. I pushed hard. Anatoly pushed. Damn right. Pushed me and Mama to the point of daydreaming of his death.
After a moment, Natasha exhaled.
“And don’t give me some bull about baseball either, Natasha.”
She didn’t answer.
She didn’t have to.
I already knew.
She loved Lachlan MacKenzie. Enough to let him go.
Did that make her stronger than us all? Even her mom. Would’ve gutted my pride if she hadn’t waited for me. Zariah had. But I’d done her wrong. Made no promises in word or action. So, did this grand sacrifice make Natasha stronger than us? Or more broken?
27
NATASHA
May- Los Angeles
Justice’s wise adage at the end of Taco Tuesday had already echoed through my brain for a while when Pop’s observations turned the resonance into a roar. I replayed their wisdom, picked apart each treasure in the quiet spaces of my days. And then I told my therapist about the Russian. I’d started to attend therapy twice a week again. Still not sure if it was helpful.
Yet this morning, guilt crushed my chest over how I’d ruined my brother’s night during our drink fest at his frat house at UC San Diego. I rubbed the heel of my palm over the ache while lying in bed, then grabbed my cell phone and shot him a quick message.
ME: You ok?
BOOBIE: DA.
Great. That one-letter word. All caps and a period.
I tried to remember when my quest to terrorize him as kids had gotten too intense. We had the usual scary stories. Plus, I once told him to jump from the garage roof because it was shorter than the house.