“How you both doing?” my dad asks while checking prices on the menu. He’s adding up what this will cost, I’m sure.
“I got the bill,” I tell him. “Order whatever you want.”
“You need to save your money,” Mama says. “For babies.” She looks at Nadiya as though she’s hoping there’s a baby in there already.
Why are they acting as if we’ve fallen in love?
“You do understand that I don’t love Nadiya in a romantic way, right?” The sentence leaves my mouth without me thinking it through. I think it’s because I want to stick up for Paisley even though she’s not part of my life right now.
“What?” Her mom leans back in her chair, looking affronted.
“We’re friends. If we marry—spoiler alert: probably not going to happen—we’re not in love, which means we’re not going to sleep together, which means no babies.”
Both our mamas frown and look at one another. I can see they’ve been planning this for months without our input. I glance at Nadiya because she needs to finish this, but she says nothing.
All four sets of eyes are on us as though they don’t understand.
“Maksim is in love with someone else!” Nadiya says, and they all gasp.
“And so is Nadiya!” I say back like true siblings.
They all gasp again.
The waiter comes over and I shake my head for him to come back.
“You in love?” my mama asks.
“He blew it though, Inessa.” Nadiya opens up her fat mouth.
“You in love too?” her mama asks, and Nadiya nods. She pats Nadiya’s hand. “Then you marry him. He American citizen?”
I disregard my mama’s stare and look at Nadiya. Reaching under the table, I grab her hand and squeeze. If Nadiya wants to lie and make up a story about some man in her life, I’ll go with it. I’m here to support her whether she’s ready to come out to her family or not.
“I’m in love with a woman, Mama,” she says quietly.
“Oh.” Her mom slides back in her seat.
The table is quiet for a minute, so I jump in. “She’s really great. Her name is Jessie and she loves Nadiya so much. They’re a great couple.”
“What did she say? Woman?” her dad asks.
Her mom nods. “You’re a lesbian?”
Nadiya nods. “Yeah, Mama.”
Her mom and dad look at one another, almost having a silent conversation between them, then her mom grabs Nadiya’s hand. “Is she citizen?”
Nadiya chuckles. “Mama, I’m not going to marry her.”
But as she says that, Jessie comes toward the table with flowers in her hand.
This is why she wanted to know where I made reservations. I smile at Jessie. Way to go.
Nadiya tears up, and our parents watch as Jessie falls to her knee, opens up a ring box and asks Nadiya to be her wife. I release her hand from under the table. Nadiya slides out, falling to the floor, and accepts through her tears.
Our parents are looking around as if they’re just barely understanding what’s happening.
“This is Jessie.” Nadiya holds Jessie’s hand and presents her to the table.
Jessie hands the flowers to Nadiya’s mom.
My dad looks up from the menu and looks at my mom. “Who she?”
“Nadiya’s fiancée.” My mama smiles.
It’s then I take an easy breath for the first time in a long time. I’m no longer responsible for Nadiya. The weight I’ve been carrying around lifts from my shoulders, and I feel lighter than I have in years.
After my parents are comfortable at my house and Jessie and Nadiya are talking wedding plans, I say I have to run out for an errand, but I drive by Paisley’s office.
Her light is on, and I sit in the dark SUV she’s not familiar with and watch her like a creepy Peeping Tom. Her hair is pinned up and she looks as if she’s closing up for the day. My body yearns to go to her. It’s begging to feel her under me, to be buried deep inside her softness. I miss the way she hugged me or just rested her forehead on mine and said hello as though it was the best part of her day.
She comes out of the building and glances over. Our eyes lock for a moment. She lifts her finger and puts her stuff in her car, then she crosses traffic and comes to my side of the car on the curb.
“I saw Instagram. Please tell Nadiya and Jessie I say congratulations.”
“It was kind of crazy. Jessie’s got a set of nonexistent balls, that’s for sure.”
She laughs and it’s like a knife in the chest because I miss that sound.
“I guess you’re off the hook, huh?” She smiles, but not in a relieved way. She looks genuinely happy for me.
I nod. Did two weeks apart really get us to acting as if we’re acquaintances? As if we’ve only ever been friends and not each other’s everything at one point?
“Yeah. And it felt good. To know that I’m not responsible for her.”
Her hand runs down my forearm. “You never were. I have to get going, but please tell them both congratulations from me. I’ll send a gift.”
I nod. “I’ll tell them.”
“You look good, Maksim,” she says, her dimples showing.
“So do you.” I want to say so much more, but I’m only two weeks into therapy. Hardly long enough that she’d think it had made a difference.
She crosses the street, slides into her car, and gives me one last wave before she drives off. I sit there and wait for her taillights to disappear, wishing like hell she was right next to me.
Two weeks after my last Maksim Petrov sighting, I prepare myself to see him tonight.
Nadiya and Jessie are getting married and they invited me. I was going to decline, but there are a lot of working parts when it comes to Maksim and me. We have mutual friends and are bound to see one another at parties. Might as well bite the bullet. Plus, I can’t deny being curious about his parents and this may be my only opportunity to see them.
At the wedding, I slip off my shoes and put them in the basket, stepping into the sand. There aren’t many chairs, which makes me happy that I accepted the invitation. It doesn’t look as though a lot of people were invited.
I catch sight of Aiden and Saige talking to an older couple. Saige sees me and waves me over, but she excuses herself and meets me halfway.
“You look gorgeous,” she says, hugging me. “I’m so happy you came.”
I smile. “I’m nauseous and scared to death.”
She laughs and I do too.
“You came,” Maksim says behind me.
I close my eyes and release a deep breath before turning around.
“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Saige says and walks back over to Aiden.
Our eyes take in one another for a moment. He’s so much taller when I’m not wearing shoes. I want to step into him, feel him, smell him, let him hold me.
“Hey,” he says after a moment.
“Hi.”
And we’re back to staring at one another.
“Maksim,” a woman calls from his patio. “She’s here.”
He looks back. “I’m sorry. I gotta go.” He leans forward and his hand on my waist feels as though it sears my skin when he kisses my cheek. “You look stunning as always.”