“I did too. I think the third will be awesome as well.”
“I have high hopes,” she told him, deadpan.
Once they’d gotten inside it was to find Maybe and Alexsei were sprawled on the couch, all snuggled up and looking adorable.
“You get points for walking her in,” Maybe told Vic.
He bowed to her and then turned back to Rachel. “I’m sure I’ll see you before Saturday.”
“Chances are, yes.”
He bent and kissed her right there in her house and even though they’d just kissed for like forty-five minutes, it got her all starry-eyed again.
He and Alexsei blabbered on about something or other before he headed out and she pretended not to watch his progress from her bedroom window. Which worked until he turned, looked right up at her bedroom window and waved.
MAYBE SHOWED UP before Rachel had even finished taking off her makeup.
“No, we didn’t have sex. Yes, we kissed. A lot. Like, he’s a tasting menu of kissing and it’s mind-blowing. I think I might combust when we finally fuck.”
Maybe closed her mouth and just watched Rachel finish up before following her out to the bedroom.
Finally her sister broke with an excited little dance. “So this is really good and I’m trying hard not to show just how excited I am so as not to spook you but I need details.”
After she got changed into warm pajamas, she and her sister got under the blankets. “It was a nice date. He took me to that little French bistro at Pike Place. He asked me questions about who I was as a person, as an artist.” She fell silent for a bit. “Perhaps that’s why I react to him so strongly.”
“That or the fact that you’ve known him for a few years and over the last six months especially you two have been circling one another slowly. That’s like foreplay.”
“He just clicks all my buttons. It feels like a lot. And the old Rachel would have been suspicious of it and avoided him until it went away.”
“As I happen to be feeling pretty intensely about Alexsei right now I can relate. It’s a loss of control to be that into someone. To be feeling all those chemicals bubbling around. The attraction, the sense that this person is unlike anyone else you’ve come across.”
It did feel a little like the way she did just after riding a roller coaster.
“And,” Maybe continued, “you’re not that Rachel anymore. So there’s a thing. An important thing. And it’s not like you’ve been choosing one terrible dude after the next. You just haven’t really been choosing at all. Past the scratching that itch stage.”
“It’s intense.”
“Totally.” Maybe rested her head on Rachel’s shoulder a little while. “Tell me the rest.”
“We had dinner. He’s a door opener and a chair puller outer. You know? He’s gentlemanly without being controlling. Bossy and used to getting his way probably through charm alone. And, Maybe, his face! How the hell can I resist? Which is rhetorical because I’m not resisting. I haven’t made out with a dude in a long time. Probably since college. It’s a simple pleasure. I could do it every day, much like eating bread and drinking coffee. Funny how he’s related to two of those things. I just...when I’m with him I don’t feel broken.”
Or maybe that the way she was broken was okay. And beautiful.
“We’re going on a hike this weekend.”
Maybe turned to give Rachel a face. “Ew. Well, you two kids have fun while I won’t be hiking. Or outside in the cold when I don’t have to be. Weirdo.”
“It’s nice to be able to go on a hike. It’s been a while.” She loved hiking but after the kidnapping it had taken her two years before she’d drummed up the courage to go into the woods again.
“You do look super cute in your hiking gear. Wear those spandex pants that make you look like you’re training to be in the next dystopian action movie I can’t wait to watch.”
Rachel laughed even as she knew the exact pair of pants her sister meant and put them into a contender spot. They were great in wet weather, kept her warm and made her butt look fantastic.
“I have heart-shaped vatrushka with strawberry. I was going to have a cup of tea. I’ll share with you and your wild bearded Russian.”
“Score. He brought gelato home and I think it should go with all that.”
“He’s a super useful new roommate. I’m just going to get that out there,” Rachel said.
“I agree. He’s even more useful to me. And I mean that in a totally sexual way,” Maybe told her as they got out of her bed.
“I figured that out.”
“Just wanted to be sure you understood.”
Rachel flipped her off.
* * *
FRIDAY EVENING WHEN she and Maybe walked up the street from the bus stop, Irena came out to the front porch and called to them.
“Come have tea. I made golubtsi, you can have some too.”
“We’ll be over after we drop our things off,” Rachel told her as they hurried up to their front door.
“Looks like a full house over there. I can’t believe Alexsei didn’t mention that.” Maybe dumped her backpack into the closet. “I need to change. I’ll meet you back here ASAP.”
Naturally, she freshened up and brushed her teeth. If Vic was there, she might kiss him. But she did it quickly because neither Dolan sister wanted to make Irena wait.
“Come over for tea,” Maybe muttered as they approached the front door. “There’s a full-on family dinner situation going on in there.”
Rachel really liked the big family events at the Orlovs’. Loved not just the volume of food, but the people, the easy back-and-forth between them as they teased, lectured and shared news.
Sometimes it got heated—well, often—but it wasn’t mean. Lots of passion. Rachel hadn’t known how to handle it at first. They’d grown up with quiet judgment from their mother and reprimand from one source only, their father.
Vic opened up, smiling at them both as he stepped back to admit them. “Come through. She’s already making you plates.”
He gave her a hug and brushed his lips over hers. A kiss that told everyone in the house they were together. A kiss Rachel knew the rest of the family was okay with as no one stopped what they were doing, though they all noticed.
Pavel shouted a hello before enveloping Maybe in a big hug and then, surprising Rachel, he gave her one too. Though not as ebullient as Maybe’s, which made her choke up a little. He knew enough to want her to know he was happy to see her but also knew she needed to be approached gently.
And then Vic was there, drawing her away toward the big dining room table where, as he’d noted, his mother had set out overflowing plates she described as “a little bite.”
Rachel wasted no time tucking in. She’d last eaten hours ago and the food smelled as good as it tasted. This was comfort food at its most perfect. Warm and hearty. The sauce on the golubtsi was spicy rather than sweet. Nestled up against that were the potatoes that padded the carbs until all her cells relaxed with a sigh.
She must have made the sigh audible because when she snapped from her food fugue, she noted Irena giving a satisfied nod. Vic draped an arm over the back of her chair, leaning back so he could continue flirting with