“You can start right now,” he added teasingly. “But I’d like you to pick the frozen lake one.” I laughed at that. It did not come as a surprise that it was Lev’s favorite.
I lead the way over to the gallery employee. Lev couldn’t take the picture home that day, it was still part of the exhibition, but he arranged to have it delivered as soon as the display was over. Somehow, he talked me into helping him shop for a frame, despite my instance that I knew nothing about framing art.
I didn’t mind. I wanted to spend more time with Lev. If that meant also doing some shopping, I wasn’t going to complain. Besides, I was looking forward to seeing Rosa’s photograph as the first thing framed and hung up on Lev’s otherwise bare walls.
Things seemed to be back to normal between me and Lev. After our trip to the gallery, we’d resumed our conversation over text as if it had never stopped. My Russian vocabulary expanded fast as I tried to tell him about the daily events of my life.
I learned words and phrases that my 21-year-old self would have considered far too boring to commit to memory. ‘I’m stuck in traffic,’ I texted him one morning on the way to work; ‘I think my window is leaking,’ during a storm; ‘Have you been training too hard?,’ when he complained of being sore.
When Emily invited me over for her ‘out of this world’ hamburgers, I happily told her all about my language practice. “It’s going well,” I summed up. “I think I’ll be ready for a cooking lesson in Russian in a few more weeks.” I was both exhilarated and nervous at the idea of Anya teaching me how to cook. “Do you want to come?” I asked. “I know you won’t understand Anya, but maybe you can help me with the cooking.”
“Sure, if you’d like me to,” Emily agreed easily. That was what I love about her so much. Emily never hesitated. She rarely had to think things over. She just agreed to come and then she did. And besides, she’d probably learn the recipes from Anya even without knowing Russian. Once she had, I could be annoyed about how much better Emily’s food was.
She tasked me with cutting up the salads to go with the burgers while she prepped the meat. Tanya would want to grill it, but that was all to come later. “So your Russian’s improved a lot?” Emily asked. “It’s nice of Lev to help you. Especially since his English is pretty perfect. Do you think he’s picked any English up from you?”
It didn’t take me long to come up with an answer. “I taught him the word narwhal,” I told her, pride coloring my voice. I was pleased to have taught Lev something, even if it was only a new ocean-going mammal. “And maybe some words about finance.” Those probably weren’t very interesting. I hoped they might be useful to Lev one day if he ever wanted to do anything more ambitious with his investments.
Emily’s question did make me wonder whether Lev was getting as much out of the friendship as I was. I trusted that he enjoyed spending time with me, but I wondered if I ought to be doing something more. “I think he likes having someone to speak Russian to,” I mused. “I remember how much I appreciated having people I could speak to in English when I was living in Moscow.”
Unlike me, Emily had never spent a long time out of the country. She’d gone on vacation, of course. She’d always had someone with her. “It’s pretty lonely if you feel like you can’t easily communicate with anyone around you,” I said.
“I can only imagine.” Emily nodded. It was nice that she didn’t pretend to get it. There were many things I loved about my sister. Her honesty ranked very highly. Emily was always happy to listen to me, to empathize. But she didn’t act like she always got it.
Handing me some tomatoes for chopping, Emily smiled at me. “I’m glad you’re not in Russia anymore. I missed you a lot when you were gone.” I had missed her, too. Despite our best efforts to talk on Skype, it just hadn’t been the same. “But I’m also glad you get to practice your Russian, I know you liked it. I always thought how nice it was that you started learning it for a soulmate but then realized you liked it anyway.”
I smiled at that. I think I would have enjoyed learning any language, but I certainly appreciated the challenge of having to contend with a whole different alphabet. “I’m glad I picked it up again,” I agreed. “I guess after I got back, I didn’t see the point. And then I was always busy with work.” Emily gave me a look - one that I was very familiar with.
“I know, I know.” Emily was always telling me to work less and play more. It was her way of taking care of me. I appreciated it. I tried to follow her guidance and spend more time doing things that were purely for fun. Sometimes I just… forgot.
Work was so absorbing that it was easy to give all of my attention to it. “I’m doing better, aren’t I?” I asked. I was practicing Russian again, and taking cooking lessons. “I’ve got a friend and everything!”
“You do,” she nodded. “And speaking of...” For a moment, I dreaded that she was also going to start on the same ‘but what about dating’ spiel that mom did. A brief fear of just that must’ve flashed across my face because Emily laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad,” she advised.
Still, I set down the knife in case it was surprising and I ended up chopping off a fingertip. That would not be fun. “It’s about your birthday present,” she told me. “I’m going to have to spoil it because mom and I realized it’s kind of important you know beforehand.” That made me frown.
“We’ve got you salsa classes,” Emily explained. “But you’ll need a partner. So I thought... maybe Lev would go with you?”
Excitement bubbled up inside me. I’d wanted to learn salsa dancing forever! I was glad I’d put the knife down. It meant I could pull my sister into a squealing embrace, squeezing her hard enough that she had to give me a playful shove.
“That’s amazing!” I grinned. Emily had mentioned that she and mom had planned for something that I’d wanted to do. It was a surefire way of giving me the kick in the butt I needed to actually get started on a new project.
I didn’t even care that they’d - conveniently - picked something that would require me to have a partner. I wondered, briefly, if mom had wanted that, hoping it would pressure me to find a ‘nice man, Maria’. Even if she had, I didn’t mind.
“I don’t know if Lev dances,” I admitted. “But I can ask.” I didn’t know a lot of other men that I would trust to dance salsa with me without making it weird.
“Well, that’s why they’re classes, Maria,” Emily pointed out. “Even if he doesn’t dance, he can learn.” I couldn’t fault her argument there. Lev and I enjoyed spending time together. Maybe he would want to accompany me to some salsa classes. It wasn’t like I would know until I asked.
“I’ll ask,” I promised. “And if he doesn’t want to, or he doesn’t have time, then I’ll just have to take you with me. I’ll let you lead.” After all, I wanted to learn how to follow. Just in case I ever did meet a nice, handsome stranger who knew how to dance.
I grinned, giving Emily one more hug before I pulled back. “Seriously, thank you. It’s an amazing present. I almost can’t wait until my birthday to get started.” It would mean I had to be better about working so hard for a while. It would be worth it, to complete something on my check-list of things I had always wanted to do.
I was sure Emily and my mom knew that. They were great at giving just the kind of gift I needed. I had no doubt this year would be the same.
While I finished the salad, Emily found a salsa playlist on Spotify and we grooved around the kitchen until Tanya came home. She’d known about the present, too. She teased me that it wasn’t quite as good as a signed Howlers’ jersey. Emily met my eye, and neither of us pointed out that - if Lev agreed - taking dancing lessons with one of the Howlers might just be better than a jersey.
The rest of the evening, I couldn’t chase away the excited butterflies that filled my tummy at the thought of learning to dance. While I knew Emily would be a fine partner, I found myself hoping and crossing my fingers that Lev would say yes.
Chapter Nine
I was excited that Maria and I seemed to be back to normal. Knowing that it was my reluctance to tell her about Kira that had made things difficult between us felt shitty, but I was glad we’d managed to overcome it. Somewhere at the back of my mind, there was a little voice that reminded me that I would have to tell Maria at some point. She was my friend. But it was pretty easy to oppress that voice.
Whatever the reasons were - embarrassment, mostly - I didn’t want to acknowledge them to myself, much less to tell Maria about them. I enjoyed spending time with Maria. Talking about Kira was not my idea of a fun time. Not saying anything was a lot easier, especially now that Maria had stopped asking.
Today, I had a surprise for Maria. She’d mentioned the lack of flowers in Madison so I was going to take her to the botanical gardens. It was something my mama had done when I was little. Botanical gardens had always made her happy. I wanted to see if that was something Maria experienced, too.
It was definitely a good place to go to see flowers.
“Have you guessed yet where we’re going?” I asked, just as we passed the sign that pointed us towards the parking lot.
“I have no idea,” Maria answered, her voice more high-pitched than I was used to. Just from that, I could tell she was lying. She had to know Madison pretty well, having grown up here. I had no doubt that she’d read the signs as they flashed by us on the road.
I gave her as long a look as I could, without taking my gaze off the traffic for too long. She flushed, pink traveling all the way up to her hair. “Okay, so I might have guessed,” she relented. “I was trying not to ruin the surprise!” It was sweet of her to try to preserve the element of mystery. Sweet, but not very convincing.
“Are you going to teach me the Russian words for lots of trees and hedges?” she asked me.
It hadn’t occurred to me to do that. Frankly, I had no idea how many names of trees and hedges I would even know. “Only for like cherry trees and oak or whatever,” I told her. “I don’t know Russian for non-Russian plants.” In all honesty, I probably didn’t even know the Russian for a lot of Russian plants.
Pulling into the parking lot, I found a space quickly. Apparently, the botanical gardens in Madison were not a super popular tourist attraction in the middle of the day in early spring.
“Maybe it will be a learning experience for both of us,” I offered as we got out of the car.
Maria skipped away from me, towards the entrance gate. She ran her hands over the leaves there. Her smile was almost brighter than the sunshine. It made me feel great about the idea to bring her here.
“I’m sure we’ll learn loads,” she agreed. “I don’t know much about the gardens. Only that heliotrope attracts butterflies.” She laughed at my surprised expression. “My mom’s got some,” she explained. “She loves sitting outside in spring and watching what different butterflies visit. She even had a branch of cocoons last year.”
“That is... a really weird hobby,” I decided. I supposed if you were into insects that might be fun. Butterflies didn’t particularly interest me. Nor did any other type of bugs. Then again, I wouldn’t have said that plants interested me either, but I was looking forward to this visit to the botanical garden. Of course, that had a lot more to do with how happy Maria looked than it had anything to do with the trees.
It didn’t take us long to get through the ticket box - and yes, I insisted Maria let me pay. We emerged on the other side with a paper map in hand. Studying it, I looked up across the garden. “I guess we just go clockwise?” I offered, before handing Maria the map so she could decide what she wanted to see.
“But I want to see everything,” Maria insisted before she’d even looked at the map. “Clockwise sounds good. Until we get tired or bored.” Even though I didn’t care much about plants, I couldn’t imagine myself getting bored for as long as Maria was still interested. She reached out, running her fingers along some kind of green fern. It waved in response to her touch, making her smile even wider.
She led me through an archway, stopping to admire the flowers in the big urns along the floor. “Speaking of learning opportunities,” she said. “Can you dance?”
I wasn’t quite sure how that was related to trees. But I could kind of dance. “I mean, not very well,” I told Maria honestly. “I had to take ballroom dancing in school,” I explained. When she frowned, I shrugged. “Yes, welcome to the Russian school system.” It had been very early into school and probably some kind of incentive from the government or something.
“I can’t say I learned a lot. I can dance in a club, but I’m guessing that’s not the sort of dancing you mean?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. I meant something more formal.” She stopped to smell one of the flowers, holding her hair back so that the petals brushed against her cheek. When she pulled back, she was laughing. “I don’t think that one is scented,” she informed me.
It took her a moment to return to what she’d been saying. “I’ve always wanted to learn salsa dancing,” she explained. “Or at least, since I was fourteen and I saw Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas.” I assumed that it was a movie. It wasn’t one I was familiar with.
“Anyway. Emily and my mom bought me salsa lessons for my birthday,” she explained. “And I need a partner. Would you like to come?”
“Yeah, sure,” I answered without thinking about it. I didn’t need to think about it. There was no reason why I’d turn down something that Maria wanted to do. In the time we’d been friends, she had been good about working around my training and games, both home and away. I doubted this would be any different.
But then I realized she had mentioned a birthday. “When is your birthday?” I asked, dread filling me that maybe I’d missed it. Maria had talked about how important birthdays were in her family. I wouldn’t want to carelessly miss it by not knowing when it was.
“Two weeks today,” Maria answered, beaming at me. “You don’t have a game, do you? I’m taking the whole day off work, spending the morning with Rosa and the afternoon with Emily and mom. I’d like to do the lessons in the evening.”
It wasn’t a lot to ask for. Especially when Maria had been so good about making time for me. I was more worried about only having two weeks to find Maria a present! She must have seen something in my face because her smile dimmed slightly.
“The lessons don’t have to be on my birthday,” she offered. “We can do them a different day. I realize I’m not giving you much notice.”
I shook my head. “No, that’s fine. I don’t have a game that evening. Of course, I’ll come,” I promised her. Taking Maria dancing was hardly the issue. Especially when it would give me the opportunity to see how excited dancing made her.
No, my problem was that I had no idea at all as to what I should give Maria. “What do you want?” I asked since that was probably the easiest. “As a present,” I specified. “I want to get you something you actually want and I worry I’ll pick something you won’t.” Which, maybe, was a little unfounded. I had surprised her by bringing Maria here and she definitely seemed very pleased.
Her eyes widened, like this was the first time she’d considered that inviting me to her birthday meant me getting her a gift. I could see the words ‘you don’t need to get me anything’ forming in her mind. They were probably true. In all the time I’d known Maria, she didn’t seem materialistic. She wore sweaters that her sister knitted, jewelry her mother had bought her. She’d even worried that people might use me for my money when I’d offered to buy a photograph from her friend’s gallery.
She also knew me. I had said I wanted to get her something that she wanted. I meant it. “Well… really, I like surprises,” she said, a little apologetically. “I don’t think you’d get me something that I didn’t want. Unless you got me like a tool kit or something.” She laughed.
“I can make you a list of places I like to shop?” she offered. “Then you could pick, but you’d still be pretty sure I’d like it.” I still wasn’t convinced. Maria
added, “And if I don’t, I can return it for store credit at a place I’ll definitely like.”
That seemed like the best of both worlds. I gave Maria a smile. “Deal!” I nodded. A list of shops I could go to was helpful. Knowing that if I did pick something Maria didn’t like she could take it back also was good. I doubted she’d actually take it back, but I wouldn’t mind if she did. I just wanted her to have something she wanted.
“Alright, then. You give me a list, I will get you a present and I’ll take you dancing,” I announced. “But if I’m shit, it’s not my fault, you asked me to come,” I added a little teasingly. I hoped I wouldn’t be awful.
“If you’re shit, I’ll be shit, too,” she teased right back. “I’ll be following your lead, after all.” I vaguely remembered my school teachers trying to educate us about leading and following. Most of us weren’t interested enough in dancing to care.
Skipping ahead of me to the sunken garden, Maria looked back over her shoulder. “It’ll be fine,” she promised. “There’s a teacher right there. And if we’re bad, we’ll just laugh about it.” I felt I could probably manage that.
“What did you do for your last birthday?” Maria asked me. “Do your parents call?”
“My parents usually come over,” I answered before thinking back to what I had actually done for my birthday. “Meal with my parents and drinks with the team,” I decided. That might not be exactly what I had done but it was pretty much what I always did so chances were good. I wondered if this year Maria would be involved, too. I liked the idea of introducing her to mama and papa.
I let her lead us through the sunken garden, apologetically informing Maria that no, I had no idea what most of the plants were called in Russian. She assured me that she didn’t know what they were called in English either. We both agreed that the plants were very pretty.
Spending an afternoon at botanical gardens wasn’t something that I had expected to enjoy. Yet, having Maria there, seeing how excited she was to see the flowers, made the visit very enjoyable.
Final Score (Madison Howlers #5) Page 9