“Who would not be? It is the perfect breakfast food. Works on the plate or in the hand.”
“A boring waffle it is, then.”
He picked up his jacket from a nearby chair, more pep in his step than the situation warranted. I should have been tired looking at him, but I was cautiously excited about this next phase of our once-doomed friendship.
“See you soon, Lauren.”
“Sure, Nazarov.”
Friends, that’s all. Don’t get your hopes up.
I put the order in for room service—French toast for me and boring Belgian waffle for him, ooh la la—and headed into the bathroom to wash off the mistakes of the night before. Elvis and Marilyn. What were we thinking? But I was smiling as I dried off, little curls of joy unfurling in my blood. I had missed Alexei, and last night, I realized how much. While I was determined this wouldn’t amount to anything romantic, I bubbled with the potential of it all.
Robed up and back in the bedroom, I heard a knock on the door. Not Alexei, but room service. The server rolled the cart into the room, and I signed and added a healthy tip.
My phone buzzed, and it took me a minute to find it, half-hidden under the bed. A message from the man himself.
Sorry, I must leave. It was good to see you.
It was good to see you?
I swallowed the rock of disappointment in my throat and answered quickly, so he wouldn’t assume I was overthinking it.
So he wouldn’t assume it mattered at all.
You too. Everything okay?
Alexei
Yes. I will talk to you soon.
Not if I could help it. Another Nazarov brush-off. This time I refused to give him the benefit of the doubt.
It had already cost me too much.
Chapter One
Nazarov heads to Chicago
In a surprise end-of-season move, the Chicago Rebels have acquired seasoned power forward Alexei Nazarov from Seattle, where it had been expected he would end his career. Two-time Cup winner Nazarov had a mixed final season with the Emeralds, spending most of it on Injured Reserve, but that hasn’t stopped the Rebels from taking a chance on the big Russian—though the fact they got him for a bargain will surely have helped ease any concerns. With a mostly younger crew and the old guard of Theo Kershaw and Dex O’Malley retiring last year, the Rebels need wiser heads to guide the younger legs to build on their current great season. They must be doing something right, however. Leading the Finals series 3-2 against the Boston Cougars, they’re hoping to clinch the Cup win tonight at home.
-@RebelsInsider
Alexei
* * *
“Papa, sit over here.”
My father squinted at me. Sasha Nazarov needed a shave, which I would get to later, though I imagined the nurse I had hired could do it for me. She would probably do a better job, too. My hands might be worth a fortune and holding a razor to the jaw of my aging father should have been within my wheelhouse, but so much of this was outside the scope of normality that it seemed better to leave it to the experts.
When he didn’t respond, just stood at the entrance to the living room like a lost child, I led him to the comfortable armchair—I had already tried it, so I knew this much—and gently placed him in it.
“There, that’s better, isn’t it?”
He peered up at me, those eyes as ice blue as my own but rheumy and slightly unfocused. He was trying to figure it out.
Where am I? Who am I?