Elena awoke early the next morning because she wanted to make syrniki for breakfast. The Russian pancakes were another one of Vlad’s favorites and one more of many dishes she learned to make in his mother’s kitchen.
She showered and twisted her wet hair atop her head before throwing on the only thing left that was clean—a pair of jogging shorts and a plain white T-shirt. Before heading downstairs, she peeked in at Vlad. He was asleep under only the sheet. Neighbor Cat was curled against his side.
“Hussy,” Elena whispered.
The cat blinked and stretched out her paws before burrowing closer into Vlad’s chest.
Elena had just set out all the ingredients for breakfast when someone rang the doorbell. She apparently wasn’t the only person who’d gotten up early. Colton and Noah stood on the other side of the front door, both of them grinning.
“Vlad is still asleep,” she said, letting them in. “But I was just about to start breakfast.”
Colton rubbed his hands together. “I was hoping you’d say that. What’re you making?”
“Syrniki. They’re like pancakes with cheese in the batter.”
“Cheese pancakes?” Colton said. “I’m going to eat the shit out of those.”
Noah handed over a pastry bag that matched the one from yesterday. “A present from Alexis, my fiancée.”
Elena peeked inside to find a variety of pastries. “Wow, please tell Alexis I said thank you.”
“You got any coffee going?” Colton asked, holding his fist to a yawn.
“Um, no.”
“I’ll do it,” Colton said.
Another car pulled into the driveway. Elena peeked through the window.
“That’ll be Mack and Malcolm,” Noah said, following Colton toward the kitchen.
Elena opened the door again, and sure enough, Mack and Malcolm strolled up the sidewalk. “You guys are here to bathe my husband too?”
“It’s the highlight of our day,” Mack said. “Bro’s got an ass that won’t quit.”
“Um—” Elena shut the door.
“Ignore him,” Malcolm said. Then he bent and kissed Elena’s cheek. She had no response other than stunned disbelief as he followed Mack to the kitchen. Yesterday, Elena had been convinced Vlad’s friends hated her, and now a kiss on the cheek and pastry gifts? Elena wanted to pound the heel of her hand against her head, because once again she felt like cobwebs were growing in her mind. Like she’d been dropped into the second act of a play.
She returned to the kitchen to find Colton filling the coffee maker with water. Mack sat on the floor with Neighbor Cat in his lap. He looked up. “I didn’t know you guys had a cat.”
“We don’t. Er, I mean, Vlad doesn’t. It’s not his cat.”
Mack’s hands paused in the act of petting the cat’s fur. “Whose cat is it?”
“I don’t know. Animals just show up here a lot.”
Noah snorted. “Of course they do.”
Elena began to work on the pancake dough—syrniki was not made with the kind of liquid batter Americans were used to—but another knock at the door brought a quick interruption. She looked at the guys. Mack shrugged. “We’re all here. Gavin, Del, and Yan have an early game today, so they aren’t coming.”
Elena gulped. That could only mean one thing. She returned to the front door slowly, as if she’d filled her house slippers with pebbles. This time, the face on the other side of the door greeted her with what Elena assumed was a permanent scowl. Elena fought the urge to cross herself as she opened the door. “Good morn—”
Claud pushed her way inside. “Where is he?”
“It is lovely to see you, too, Claud. Vlad is still asleep.”
“Go wake him up,” Claud demanded.
Linda let out a long, weary sigh. “I’m sorry about her. Truly. She’s grumpy in the morning.”
Elena lifted an eyebrow. “Just in the morning?”
Andrea walked in last with a dish in her hands. “I made a quiche.”
“Do you know what a quiche is?” Claud asked.
“Yes, I know what a quiche is. I grew up in Russia, not on the moon.” She returned her attention to Andrea. “Thank you. I am just about to make breakfast, but I’m sure Vlad will enjoy this, as well.”
“Whose cars are in the driveway?” Claud asked as they all returned to the kitchen. She stopped short at the sight of Colton, Malcolm, and Noah gathered around the island. Mack was still on the floor with the cat.
“I know you,” Claud said, pointing at Colton. “You’re that country singer Vlad hangs out with. Cat Whaler or whatever.”
Mack and Noah laughed into their coffee mugs. Colton tipped the brim of his nonexistent hat and winked. “Cat Whaler, at your service.”
“I hated your last song. It was vulgar.”
“I do aim to please, ma’am.”
“Ma!” Linda said, rushing forward. “Be nice.”
“Don’t mind her,” Elena said to Colton. “She’s just mad that someone turned her hair into snakes.”
Malcolm and Mack exchanged grins.
“Coffee?” Elena asked to no one in particular.
“Thank you,” Linda said. “We can get it ourselves.”
“Well, I am Andrea Sampson,” Andrea said, setting the quiche on the counter. She held out her hand to Colton. “And I’m a huge fan of yours.”
Colton picked up her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “It’s a pleasure, darlin’.”
“Don’t encourage her,” Claud scoffed. “She got hit on last night at Silver Sneakers. Now she thinks she’s Brigitte fucking Bardot.”
“Who is Brigitte Bardot?” Noah asked.
Claud hissed through her teeth as she accepted a cup of coffee from Linda. Then she plunked down on a stool at the island and muttered something about goddamned millennials.
Elena returned to the pancake dough and began to roll it into individual cakes. “What is Silver Sneakers?”
“Aerobics for people whose joints crack in the morning,” Linda said.
“Hey, I took that class by accident once,” Colton said. “It kicked my ass.”
“How did you take it by accident?” Malcolm asked.
“I had the times wrong. I thought I was going into Six-Pack Abs. I was super confused when all these old ladies walked in. I was too embarrassed to walk out.”
“Old ladies?” Claud scoffed.
“It’s a compliment,” Colton said. “They ran circles around me. I’ve had a thing for older women ever since then, to be honest.” He winked again at Andrea, who preened and smiled.
Elena carried the dough cakes to the stove and heated a skillet with oil. Claud snorted. “What’re you making?”
“Syrniki,” Elena said. “Russian cheese pancakes. Do you know what pancakes are?”
Claud muttered under her breath, and Elena could’ve sworn something crawled up the back of her neck.
Elena set each cake in the skillet and put on the cover. They needed about five to seven minutes on each side to get puffy. As they cooked, she walked to the fridge and pulled out sour cream and blueberries for toppings. Probably only she and Vlad would use those. In the pantry, she found powdered sugar and syrup for everyone else.
“So, Elena,” Noah said in a tone that conveyed some kind of preplanned speech. “The guys and I were talking, and we’d like to help out as much as possible. Maybe put together a meal schedule or help out with his rehab appointments—”
Claud snorted. “Why are you talking to her about it? She’s leaving again in a few days.”
Elena lifted the cover of the skillet and flipped the pancakes. “I’m not, actually. I’m staying for as long as he needs me.”
Claud sputtered like a rusty tractor. “You can’t stay.”
“Why not?” Elena replaced the lid. About five more minutes, and they’d be done.
“Because . . . because. You can’t. He needs to move on with his life, and he can’t do that with you here.”
Elena turned quickly so no one could see the reaction on her face.
“Ma!” Linda snapped.
“Well, now, that was downright harsh,” Colton said in a deceptively dulcet tone.
Elena busied herself with gathering plates from the cupboard. She heard Mack rise from the floor.
“Seems to me it should be up to Vlad to decide whether he wants Elena here or not,” Mack said, “and he’s agreed to it.”
“Do you even know how to cook, girl?” Claud grumbled.
Elena shot Claud an are you serious? look over her shoulder.
“Anyone can make pancakes,” Claud said dismissively.
“I’ve been cooking since my mother died when I was nine,” Elena said, setting the plates on the island so everyone could get their own. “Vlad’s mother taught me how to make all of his favorites. I don’t suppose you know to make pirozhki? Or maybe kholodets or Pozharsky cutlets?”
As she spoke, the guys did that talk-with-their-eyes thing again.
Elena returned to the stove and turned off the burner. Then she piled the finished syrniki on a platter. “You are all welcome to eat with us,” she said, setting it next to the stack of plates. “I’m going to go wake up Vlad.”
Neighbor Cat followed her upstairs. Vlad’s bedroom door was still partway open from when she’d checked on him after she woke up. She tiptoed inside and found him in the same position as this morning, which was the same position as when she’d checked on him last night. Flat on his back, leg propped up on the pillow, his head turned slightly to the left.
“Vlad,” she whispered, creeping up next to the bed. His breathing didn’t even change. “Vlad.” She said it louder, bending closer to him. He turned his face the other way with a deep breath. Dammit. Elena pressed her hand to his shoulder and gave it a small shake. “Vlad.”
His eyes flew open. “What? What’s wrong?”
Elena jumped back. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”
He dragged a hand across his face. “No. I’m fine. What time is it?” He focused on her face then and rose up on his elbows. “What’s wrong?”
“Your friends are here.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Did they say something inappropriate?”
“What? No. But I think there’s going to be a food fight with the Loners.”
“They are all here?”
“Yes, and I swear Claud just put a hex on me.”
The corner of Vlad’s mouth curled up in a tired smile as he reached a hand up to rub his whiskers, which had grown overnight officially into a beard—the wild, unkempt kind—but the ruggedness was offset by the tired softness of his eyes. Neighbor Cat leaped onto the bed, rubbed against him, and began to purr. Elena couldn’t blame her. If she had a chance to curl up next to Vlad, she’d probably purr too.
Vlad absently scratched the cat’s ears.
“Does this one have a name?” Elena asked.
“Angel. She lives across the street.”
“She was in your bed this morning.”
A powerful yawn split his mouth wide, and he stretched his arms high over his head as he sat. “She is a good girl,” he said. “One of my favorites.”
As if Vlad had ever met an animal he didn’t like.
He swung his legs off the bed and nodded self-consciously to the bathroom. “I need to, um . . .”
Oh, right. Bathroom stuff. All over the world, other married couples were perfectly unembarrassed about nature’s calling, but Elena’s cheeks blazed like she’d just stuck her head in a pizza oven. She handed him his crutches and hovered nearby as he slid one under each armpit.
“I’ll just wait out here?”
He avoided her gaze. “Sure.”
She turned away as he shuffled to the bathroom. He used the foot of his crutch to shut the door behind him. Moments later, the toilet flushed and then water splashed in the sink. It lasted for a minute, and she realized he was brushing his teeth.
She turned around when the door opened again. He came out looking rough and vulnerable at the same time. An insane, overwhelming urge to hug him nearly propelled her forward from her safe spot by the bedroom door. Instead, she backed up so he could pass by. She followed him to the stairs, and then he let her pretend to help by giving him an arm to hold as he went down on one leg. Not because he really needed the help, but probably because she’d yelled at him yesterday for coming down the stairs alone.
When he entered the kitchen, the guys all stood and greeted him with hugs and how are ya? and you look like shit. Which was not true. He looked the opposite of shit.
The Loners repeated the greetings with much nicer sentiments. Even Claud lost her scowl.
Andrea and Linda rose from their seats and practically ran to him. They each hugged him, and Elena met his eyes over Linda’s shoulder. He smiled tiredly at her, and Elena was momentarily distracted by the warm familiarity of it.
“Breakfast is done,” she said, heading back toward the stove. “Do you want some tea?”
“I’m good for now. Don’t rush around.” He crutched to a seat at the island. Mack and Noah got him settled and moved another stool closer so he could elevate his leg. Elena quickstepped to the freezer and removed one of the baggies of ice she’d filled last night. She grabbed a towel and returned to his side as he ripped open the Velcro straps.
“How is it this morning?” She leaned over him to study the incision. It was still reddish with green and purple bruising forming around it. She looked up. “Is it supposed to do that?”
“Bruising is normal.” He reached for the ice and smiled when she handed it over.
“You’re sure? Maybe we should take a picture of it and send it to Madison.”
“If it gets worse by tonight, we can do that,” he said calmly.
“Maybe we should have iced it again last night.”
“It’s fine, Elena. Don’t worry.”
The silence in the kitchen suddenly became obvious. Elena looked up to find everyone watching with bemused expressions. Everyone but Claud, who looked murderous.
“What?” Elena asked.
“Nothing,” Colton said quickly. Too quickly. He met Malcolm’s eyes, and they both looked away. Those damn silent conversations were becoming really annoying.
“You were speaking Russian,” Noah finally said.
“Oh yes. We tend to do that.” They slipped in and out of it so naturally with each other that she hardly noticed. “Sorry. We will try to stick to English when you are around.”
“I think it’s cute,” Andrea said.
Claud muttered something under her breath, and Elena’s eye started to twitch. She turned to Vlad and switched back to Russian. “Did you hear that? By midnight, I’m going to break out in pulsing boils.”
Vlad pressed his fist to his mouth to smother a laugh.
Elena pointed to the platter of pancakes. “Who is hungry?”
Colton rubbed his hands together. “Hot damn, I am.”
“Everyone fix a plate,” she said. “I hope there is enough. I can make another batch if we need it. We also have the quiche that Andrea brought—”
The feel of Vlad’s hand on her back brought an abrupt end to her nervous speech. She looked down at him, and his warm gaze melted her insides. “It’s enough, Lenochka. Get your food and eat.”
She nodded because it was the safest thing she could think of in response, the only thing that wouldn’t reveal that the feel of his fingers on her spine had left her breathless. She quickly fixed his plate and set it in front of him with a fork.
“This looks delicious,” he murmured in Russian. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“I wasn’t sure if they’d still be good with the gluten-free flour.”
“They look perfect.”
“Sour cream or syrup?”
He lifted a single eyebrow. Right. She knew the answer to that. She handed him the sour cream and waited for him to plop a large dollop on top of his pancakes. The room grew quiet again, and she looked up to find everyone eyeing them with disgust.
“Did he just put sour cream on his pancakes?” Colton asked, fork paused halfway to his mouth.
“Russians put sour cream on everything,” Vlad said, adding a handful of blueberries on top. “This is how we eat syrniki.”
“It’s how we eat everything,” Elena said.
Colton shoveled a huge bite into his mouth. “These are amazing.”
Elena filled her own plate and sat down next to Vlad. “They’d be better with tvorog, but I couldn’t find any at the store.”
“What’s tvorog?” Mack asked over a mouthful.
“It’s a kind of Russian cheese. You can’t have real syrniki without it, so I had to use ricotta cheese instead.”
“They don’t sell it in stores?” Andrea asked.
“Not usually, at least not in America,” Elena answered. “Some international markets will have it, but that’s pretty rare. It has to be served fresh or it will spoil quickly.”
“I might know a place that would have it,” Colton said.
Vlad coughed, and Elena watched as he locked eyes with Colton and engaged in one of those silent conversations of his own. A moment passed in which Colton seemed to have been scolded, because he finally shrugged and looked away.
Andrea suddenly sighed dramatically. “Anyway,” she said, “I need advice.”
Claud rolled her eyes. “Here we go.”
“What? I need to talk about this. And that’s what we do in our morning coffee hours. We talk about things.”
“I’m listening, darlin’,” Colton said.
Andrea gave him a coy smile but then she sighed again. “I don’t know what to do about Jeffrey. He really wants to, you know, take things further. I just don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”
Claud snorted. “You mean you don’t know if you’re ready for him to know the truth about your boobs.”
Mack coughed into his coffee, and Colton grinned. “I’m suddenly extremely interested in this conversation.”
Andrea crossed her arms, probably to show off the very boobs they were discussing. “For the last time, there is absolutely nothing wrong with breast enhancement.”
“Oh, I heartily agree,” Colton said.
Elena snuck a glance at Vlad. He seemed as unfazed as he was unsurprised by their conversation. Apparently, Andrea’s boobs were a regular topic of conversation during morning coffee hours.
“I just, I’m still so gun-shy from Neil,” she said. She looked at the Elena and the guys. “That’s my ex-husband.”
“Ah,” Elena said.
“I mean, I care about Jeffrey. I do,” Andrea continued. “But what if he’s just another Neil? We were so perfect together for so many years, and then . . . it just fizzled.”
“Before or after he died?” Elena asked.
Vlad snorted and then coughed to again cover up his laugh.
“See, that’s your problem right there,” Claud said, pointing at Andrea. “You’re still waiting on your knight in shining armor who will make you all giddy and sparkly for the rest of your life. What you should be looking for is someone you’re still willing to have sex with after they make you look at pictures of their colonoscopy.”
Malcolm spit out his coffee.
“That’s what’s wrong with so many young people today,” Claud continued. “You think marriage is this grand romantic adventure that’s never going to end. That’s not what it is. It is a partnership. A legal agreement that makes it so damn annoying to get out of that you stick by each other even when you want to beat him with a giant zucchini—”
Elena opened her mouth, but Linda waved her off. “Don’t ask.”
“—because it’s just too much of a pain in the ass to break up.”
Noah pounded his chest to clear the last of his choking fit. “Well, I’m excited to get married.”
“You shouldn’t be excited to get married. You should be ready to get married. There’s a huge difference. Most people are excited for a wedding but never think about what happens after that or what marriage really means.” Claud leaned forward. “You know what my mother told me on my wedding day?”
“Double, double toil and trouble?” Elena said.
Vlad grunted another laugh.
“She said, ‘Claudia, I know you are so happy right now that it’s hard to imagine things will ever be bad. But there will come a day when you’ll be sitting across from him as he is eating his breakfast, and all you will think is why? And then you’ll get over it, and things will go back to normal.’ That is marriage. Security and stability with the occasional what the hell was I thinking?”
Elena turned a pointed gaze at Vlad and whispered, “ ‘Thus heaven’s gift to us is this . . .’ ”
His chuckle came out a surprised puff of air before he finished the couplet. “ ‘That habit takes the place of bliss.’ ”
“Your mama was right. There is a Pushkin quote for everything.”
“Who is Pushkin?” Colton asked.
Vlad shook his head and wiped his mouth. “We are with heathens, Elena.”
Elena sighed dramatically and plunked her elbow on the counter. “Now you’ve done it.”
Vlad leaned back in his chair, still shaking his head. “Alexander Pushkin is only Russia’s most famous and important poet in all of history.”
Elena adopted a theater whisper. “His mama is a literature professor at the university in Omsk and teaches a course on Pushkin.”
“Who is Pushkin?” Vlad muttered again. “He is to Russia what Shakespeare is to Britain.”
“Between the two of us, we’ve probably memorized every one of his poems. His mama used to make us sit for hours and analyze every word, every translation.” Elena adopted a matronly tone of voice. “ ‘Literature is life, and Pushkin is its beating heart.’ ”
Vlad grinned, a wide, toothy thing that showed off the tiny gap between his two front incisors. “You sounded exactly like her.”
“Damn, boys,” Mack said. “Been a long time since we’ve seen the Russian smile like that, huh?”
“Indeed,” Malcolm said, nodding with an almost Zen-like quality. “Indeed.”
The guys did that talking-with-their-eyes thing again.
“Well,” Linda suddenly said. “We’ve invaded your space long enough this morning. We should get going.”
Claud scowled. “I’m not ready.”
Linda grabbed her mother’s arm. “Yes, you are.”
“Breakfast was incredible,” Andrea said. “Can we help clean up?”
“No,” Elena said, waving her hand at the mess. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Before you go,” Colton said. “We have an idea that perhaps you ladies would like to help us with?”
Vlad’s eyebrows tugged together, as if he didn’t quite trust whatever was going to come out of his friend’s mouth.
“Since Vlad can’t be with his team during the Stanley Cup championship—”
Elena snuck at a glance at Vlad to gauge his reaction. He had none. He’d gone impossibly still.
“—I was thinking that we should throw him a party here on Saturday to watch the first of the Nashville games with him.”
Vlad’s throat went taut with a hard swallow. Apparently, this was news to him. His fingers crumpled his napkin into a tight ball. Elena wasn’t even sure he knew he’d done it.
“A party with Colton Wheeler?” Andrea gushed. “Count me in.”
Colton winked. “Be sure to bring Jeffrey.”
Andrea winked back. “Who?”
“We were thinking that everyone can bring food to share,” Mack said. “I know Liv and Alexis are both hoping Elena will make some authentic Russian dishes.”
Elena didn’t respond to Mack’s suggestion. She was too absorbed in watching Vlad’s reaction. She couldn’t tell if he was mad or . . . Oh, Vlad. His bottom lip swelled beyond the outline of his beard and trembled. He cleared his throat and reached for his crutches. “Excuse me for a minute.”
Silence followed his retreat from the kitchen. The crutch-hop of his gait grew softer and softer as he headed down the hallway.
“That man is too pure for this world,” Andrea said.
“We’ll clean up,” Noah said to Elena, but his eyes were following his friend. “Go make sure he’s okay with this.”
Elena found him leaning on his crutches and staring out the French doors in the dining room. Neighbor Cat wound around his good leg, purring up at him. At Elena’s appearance next to him, Vlad dipped his face to swipe one-handed at the wetness on his cheeks.
“You have incredible friends,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
“It felt like a real Russian meal in there for a minute.”
“Loud and chaotic?”
“Exactly.” She tilted her head. “Are you okay with the party?”
He bit his lip.
“Hey.” Elena stepped closer and pressed her hand to the center of his chest. He looked down in surprise and . . . something else she would think about later. Something that made it difficult to form her next words. “You don’t have to do it. I’m sure they would understand.”
“No, I—I want to do it. I need to.”
“Good. I think it will be fun. I’ll make a ton of food, and we can all wear your jersey.”
His bottom lip wobbled again, and it was like seeing her old friend after a long absence. Her gentle giant. Her hug in human form. The man she had never deserved and never would. This time, when the urge to hug him flared, she didn’t fight it. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. Within her embrace, his breath caught and his muscles stiffened.
“It’s been a long time since you hugged me.” His voice was thick and gravelly.
“You looked like you needed it.”
He lowered his forehead to the crown of her hair and inhaled deeply. “I did.”
A moment later, the sound of someone clearing his throat extra loud brought them apart. Elena jumped back and found Vlad looking down at her, face unreadable.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“Being here.”
Colton appeared around the corner. “Okay, little butt. Let’s go. Time for your bath.”
Elena watched him follow his friends upstairs, Neighbor Cat tagging along. As soon as he was out of earshot, she let out the heavy breath she’d been holding. He wasn’t the only one who’d needed that hug, but he at least was able to walk away from it without feeling the Earth tilt beneath his feet. She was suddenly tipsy, spinning in her own head.
She couldn’t do that again. Not if she wanted to leave here with any piece of her heart intact.