Fifteen
“A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hasn't ended.”
~Batman
Elliot took the elevator, hoping to find Nadia waiting for him in his hotel room. His meeting had been unremarkable, but Asher was happy to hear they’d received a proposition from their shareholders, so all was not wasted.
As he slid his key through the door and twisted the knob, disappointment washed over him. His room was dark and empty.
He checked his watch. It was only six-fifteen. Maybe she was still finishing things up with her family. Unsure if she’d eat with them or wait to have dinner with him, he ordered a light snack from room service and passed the time responding to emails.
When his food arrived with a knock at the door, he stowed his laptop. Opening the door—
“Nadia.”
Her face pinched as she looked up at him with red eyes, tears streaking her face. Seeing her so upset and not understanding why it hit him like a punch to the gut. His first and only instinct was to fix whatever was wrong.
“What happened?”
“Mira passed,” she rasped, her shoulders shaking as she fought back a sob and lost the battle.
His heart fractured as she struggled to hold the pain inside.
He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight, pressing his lips to the top of her head.
He couldn’t fix it. Losing a loved one was a pain that only time could ease, but even time wasn’t powerful enough to totally erase the grief.
He wished he could do more for her, but all he could do was hold her.
“I’m so sorry, Nadia.”
She sniffled and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing tight. “I was there, holding her hand, and she just looked at me and said, én kész vagyok most.”
Damn this language barrier. “What does that mean, sweetheart?”
“I’m ready to go now.” Her tears seeped through the fabric of his shirt as she crumbled in his arms.
He ushered her into the room and sat her on the chair. Opening a bottle of water and gathering the box of tissues, he sat on the ottoman, pulling it close so their knees touched as they sat across from each other. “Take a sip of water.”
She drank and he pulled out a tissue, blotting the shed tears before they dried. “Just think, she left this world holding hands with her favorite niece. That had to mean a lot to her.”
She wiped her nose and nodded. “It meant something to me, too. Thank you so much for bringing me here, Elliot. I can never repay you for such a gift.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I wanted to do it.”
Wiping a hand over her eyes, she held her hair away from her face and sighed. “My eyes are killing me. I need to get these contacts out.” She scrunched her nose. “I must look like a disaster.”
Honestly, she looked gorgeous, though sad. If not for her heartache he’d be all over her. “Do you have your glasses?”
She nodded. “In my purse.” The knock on the door noticeably startled her. “Are you expecting someone?”
“It’s just room service. I ordered an appetizer because I didn’t know if you had dinner or not.”
“Oh. I haven’t eaten since this morning.”
“I’ll get dinner then. You go find your glasses.”
He patted her knee and stood to get the door. Stepping into the hall, so she had privacy, he asked the attendant to bring up dinner for two using a lot of hand gestures and butchered Hungarian. The attendant seemed to understand and left to go relay whatever the hell he’d just ordered to the chef.
Nadia stepped out of the bathroom and he stilled. She looked like the sexiest nerd in the world when she wore glasses.
“I ordered dinner.” He couldn’t blink. “It should be here soon.”
She sniffled and nodded. “Thank you.”
Trying to be tactful, yet practical, he sat her back down and took both her hands in his. “We can stay longer. I can arrange a different flight. I just need to know what day the service will take place?”
“There’s no service. We don’t do things that way in our family. Mira will be taken tonight and there is no embalming. She’ll be cremated and her ashes will sit beside my Aunt Petra’s in the sacred corner.”
Recalling all the formality of his father’s burial, this seemed incomplete, but it wasn’t his place to judge one tradition against another. Now it made sense why they held the open house.
“It’s nice she was able to see so many loved ones in her last days.”
His analytical mind wasn’t satisfied with leaving so soon after she suffered such a loss, so he silently continued to evaluate any options that might make this easier on her. Their flight was scheduled to leave tomorrow night, but he didn’t want to rush her when she was mourning.
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and wished there was a way to take some of her pain. “Do you want to stay longer, Nadia? Even if there isn’t a service, we can stay so you have time to be with family.”
“I can’t afford to stay any longer. I have classes I need to teach.”
“I’m sure your students would understand.”
She laughed without humor. “They would, but my landlord wouldn’t. I need to get home so I can pay my studio rent. No classes, no money.”
He hesitated, knowing she’d likely say no, but wanting to help her any way he could. “I could handle your rent. Why don’t you let me talk to your landlord? You and I can work out the details later.” He’d never take a cent from her, but if she knew that, she’d definitely decline his offer.
She smiled, cupping her hands at the side of his jaw in a way that made him feel awkward, yet told him she was giving him complete sincerity.
“You’re a very sweet man, Elliot, but no.
I’m not going to let you do that. I came to say goodbye to my aunt and I have.
There’s no need for me to stay here. I can mourn at home. ”
He missed his house, his language, and American food, but he’d stay another year if it made this easier for her. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Tomorrow I’ll say my goodbyes to my mother and Nagymama and then I’ll be ready. Will you come with me?”
“Whatever you need.”
She shut her eyes and sighed. “I’m tired.”
He stood and pulled back the covers of the bed. “Rest. Do you want me to wake you when the food arrives?”
She climbed onto the bed, her motions lethargic and weak. “If I’m awake, I’ll eat. If not, I’ll eat later.”
He tucked the blankets around her shoulders and pressed his lips to her brow. Pulling off her glasses, he folded them on the nightstand. Her hand caught his arm and he looked at her in question.
“No one’s ever been so nice to me, Elliot. I don’t always know how to accept such kindness, but with you… I want to. I want nothing but truth between us. No games. No lies.”
“I wouldn’t lie to you.” He’d done some truth bending to get her here, but in the end, the trip had served a business purpose. “I don’t want games either.”
Her eyes were tired, but as he held her stare he noticed a weighted concern in the depths. “I care about you, Elliot. And I never make the right choices with men, it seems, but I want this to be right. I don’t want to be wrong about you.”
Her words knocked him back, but he stayed outwardly still. The pressure not to disappoint her doubled as he understood how much she wanted to believe everything she assumed about him, but she was so far out of his league he wasn’t sure he’d ever measure up to being good enough.
All he could offer was the truth. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”
“I don’t think you could, if this is really who you are.”
“Nadia…” He swallowed, overwhelming pressure mounting. All of his life he dreamed of being a hero only to be brutally reminded that he was simply ordinary. “Just … be patient with me. No games. But … at one point I’ll need a learning curve, okay?”
She smiled. “I don’t know what a learning curve is, but okay.”
“It means you remember this is new to me and I have no experience.”
“For a man with no experience, you seem to be a natural at finding your way into my heart, mister. When I’m scared, my mind goes to you and I feel safe again.
You’re there when I need help. Dependable.
Your endless kindness is such a refreshing surprise to me.
I’ve never met anyone who made me feel that way before. ”
His expression blanked. Maybe she was too exhausted or too emotionally wrung. “Nadia, my kindness has limits and I’m not such a nice guy.”
She laughed, her eyes closing in a long blink. When her lashes lifted she looked up at him through dark slits. “You promised not to lie.”
“I’m not lying.” He was dead serious. “I’m impatient, short-tempered, and intolerant of other people’s bullshit. It’s why it’s easy for me to be alone.”
Her eyes closed and she shook her head, a smile pressed loosely to her full lips. “Hmm… Maybe you don’t know everything after all. I see a different man.”
Her voice tapered into nothingness but not before her words burrowed deep in his soul, tending to some repressed, broken part of him he hardly thought about. In a way, she made him feel safe as well. And hopeful and surprised. But she also made him long for things that came with no guarantee.
He nuzzled his nose to her cheek and breathed her in, pressing a soft kiss to her skin. “Get some sleep, sweetheart.”
He caught room service before they could knock and ate quietly in the dark, watching her sleep.
His mind bounced between worries. She might see the real him and everything they shared would suddenly vanish.
Or he could exhaust himself trying to be the good man she believed he was.
Just the thought of meeting her expectations seemed daunting.
His main shortcoming had always been social ease, but she didn’t see that.
She saw him as a man—the sort of man he’d always wanted to be. Did she see him as a hero?
Could he be that for her? Damn. He wanted to. He wanted to be the man she looked to, the one that solved all her problems and always made her feel safe. Most of all he never wanted to let her down.