Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Holly
By the time West drops us off at the apartment, it’s almost two so I’ve lost most of the day without packing anything.
I stare at the apartment in frustration, because all my things are here now.
I was living with Nathan before the breakup, and he wouldn’t allow me to take any of the furniture, so there aren’t big things, but there are lots of small things.
Luckily, I didn’t unpack everything since I knew this wasn’t permanent, but there’s enough. I have a lot of clothes. Shoes. Purses. Scarves and gloves and hats. Books. Photo albums. So many things.
“We will pack,” Viktor says gently, when I sit on the bed in a huff.
“Yeah, I know. I’m just frustrated. My father messed up my day.”
“Is okay. Come.” He looks around. “Where to start?”
With Viktor’s help, we manage to get almost everything boxed up or put in two large suitcases and one carryon. I picked up boxes and packing tape before we left for Vegas so now everything is stacked by the front door.
I was planning to bring some of this stuff to my grandmother’s house but now I want it with me, especially since our new house is huge.
His house.
I have to keep that in mind.
I’m only going to be living there for a year.
Then I plan to move to my grandmother’s house for a while.
Hopefully, a year from now, I will have found a job that will support me and the money I get from Viktor will keep the bird sanctuary running.
My degree and experience is in finance but I don’t really love it.
That was my father’s idea, not mine. If I’d been given a choice, I would have majored in environmental science or maybe avian veterinary medicine.
Instead, I let my father dictate my future and now I’m paying for it in more ways than one.
“You are thinking something bad,” Viktor says, interrupting me.
“Oh.” I shrug. “Not bad, just realizing how much I’ve let my father manipulate me over the years. I didn’t even study what I wanted in college.”
“Your degree is…finance?”
I nod. “But I hate it. I wanted to do something with animals. Or to protect the environment. Instead, I let him convince me that I needed a job that would pay well and represent the family well. I was stupid.”
“Not stupid,” he corrects gently. “A good daughter.”
“I feel like a stupid daughter.”
“I also allow my mother to do manipulation,” he says, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“When I agree to marry Vita, I do not love her, but I think I will learn. We will have babies and good life. Then she leaves me on wedding day.” He lifts one shoulder.
“I am standing in the church and she does not come.”
“Oh, shit, Viktor. She left you at the altar?” How did I not know this? I knew he’d broken up with his ex-fiancée but not about this.
“All because of my mother. So I understand. Together, maybe we learn not to allow this, yes? That is why we marry?”
I smile. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
“Now, I will bring suitcases and we put some boxes in cars.”
I have my Mercedes and he has his Audi. Neither will fit big boxes but we can get all three suitcases, the duffel bag I filled, and some smaller boxes for now.
Serena and I will come back with her SUV at some point to get the rest. I also promised to help her pack up her things, since she’s moving in with West. She has the important things, like her clothes and Joey’s toys, but she wants to sell some of the things she won’t need and donate the rest.
“We go now?” Viktor asks once we’ve fit as much as we can into our vehicles.
“Yes.” I nod.
His phone rings and he looks down. “The realtor.” He answers quickly and then listens, nodding and then giving me a thumb’s up. He hangs up and grins. “Everything okay with inspection—house is ours!”
Something about the way he says ours suddenly makes me emotional.
It feels like I’m already getting attached—and I can’t.
We aren’t really a couple. More than that, he plans to move back to Russia in a few years.
He’s twenty-seven, and barring injuries, he could play maybe six or seven more years.
Ten if he’s lucky. Then what? I can’t imagine picking up and moving halfway across the world.
Except he did it.
All by himself.
At eighteen he moved to Canada to play in the minors, and then two years later started playing in Alaska.
Now he’s here in Atlanta and there’s a good chance he’ll be traded a few more times before he retires.
And that’s not the life I want. My roots are here, with my friends and the bird sanctuary and the house I love so much.
As wonderful as he is, and as helpful as he’s been, we don’t have a future beyond the next twelve months.
I have to keep my hormones and my heart under control.
There’s no other option.
Everyone is at West’s house when we arrive so I don’t have to carry anything and both the suitcases and the boxes make it into Viktor’s room in five minutes.
I start unpacking a few things, just what I’ll need for the next couple of weeks until we move, and I’m so lost in thought I don’t notice when Serena and Jayne come in.
“Need any help? Serena asks.
I jump. “I didn’t hear you guys come in,” I laugh. “And no, just putting out the necessities.”
“Dinner’s at six. I made lasagna and Caesar salad. Figured I’d feed everyone since it’s still pretty chaotic around here.”
“I can cook tomorrow night,” I offer.
She shakes her head. “No, the guys all have special dietary needs and West ordered some special food for the next few nights. In fact, us ladies are on our own. I say we go out and have girls’ night out.”
“Kelly offered to watch Joey and Lindy, and the guys will be busy with all things playoffs,” Jayne adds. “Are you in?”
“That sounds really fun.” I haven’t had a girls’ night in a long time.
Serena and I have hung out a few times, but Nathan kept me somewhat isolated, insisting we hang out with his friends and making it difficult for me to connect with my own.
Since the breakup, I’ve been in survival mode so going out hasn’t been on my radar.
I also haven’t wanted to spend the money.
And thankfully, Jayne and Serena both know about the deal Viktor and I made, so I don’t have to lie.
“What about the new wine bar on Main Street?” Serena suggests. “It’s supposed to be great.”
“It’s right down the street from the space I want for the bookstore,” Jayne adds, “so we can walk by and I can tell you some of my plans. Assuming we can make it work.”
“That’s still on the table?” I ask. We talked about it several weeks ago but I haven’t had time to follow up with everything going on in my life.
“You gave me some great suggestions about financing,” she says, “so that’s what I’m working on now. Along with a business plan.”
“It’s good to get organized,” I say. “Especially if you get investors.”
“I don’t know any other way to do it,” she admits.
“Bodi would give me the money but…” She pauses and sighs.
“I don’t want him to invest in something so risky.
Are bookstores hot right now? Sure. But so many go out of business.
I’m looking at the stats and even though that little downtown area in Peachtree Heights is busy, is it busy enough to sustain a bookstore long-term? ”
“Those are important questions,” I say. “Demographics can make or break you. There’s also the type of bookstore.”
“I know.” Jayne is thoughtful. “I’d like a romance-only store, because honestly, as much as I love kids, I don’t want to be overrun with kids and then have women looking for spicy reads be turned off.”
“And of course, then you’ll have the opposite problem,” Serena interjects. “Where moms who have their kids with them don’t want to come in, worried they might see something they shouldn’t.”
“Exactly.”
“I went to a romance-only bookstore in L.A.,” Serena says. “And they were packed. On a Tuesday or something. And once you start doing special events, with authors and stuff, I think you’ll be golden.”
“I agree. There are a billion regular bookstores. Yours should be special.”
Jayne smiles. “That’s what I think too. Well, I’m graduating with my master’s in two weeks, and then I plan to dive into this headfirst.”
“I’m so excited for your graduation,” Serena says warmly. She turns to me. “We’re having a graduation party at the house. You and Viktor are invited.”
I smile gratefully. “Thank you. I’m struggling to feel like I fit in anywhere. I didn’t realize how much Nathan had isolated me until I ended things and was, like, shit…I’ve let my friendships go, my professional contacts, everything. Thank you for letting me back into your life.”
Serena’s gaze sobers. “You think I haven’t been in a situation where it felt like I lost everything? My very lucrative job. My insurance. My baby daddy. All of it, gone. Because I was pregnant. So I understand. Different circumstances, but a similar result.”
“And you and Viktor look so cute together,” Jayne says. “No one is going to suspect anything. I mean, I’m going to assume you guys get along when you’re alone?” She looks at me questioningly.
The answer is easy. “Yes. Absolutely. The language barrier was hard at first but now I’m used to the way he talks and he’s really sweet and thoughtful. I don’t understand how he’s still single.”
Serena nudges me. “Especially since he’s not.”
We all chuckle.
“You know what I mean. I didn’t expect marriage to be an option with someone like him.”
“Kelly says he’s too shy for his own good.”
I must have made some kind of face because Jayne cocks her head. “What? Something happen with Kelly?”
Kelly is Jayne’s boss at the library and they’re close too, so I don’t want to say anything that might come back to haunt me.
“Well, I don’t think she likes me.”
“Not true.” Jayne shakes her head. “She doesn’t think what you guys are doing is healthy—for either of you. But it’s not about you specifically.”
“That’s good to hear.” I smile and change the subject. “Anyway, Viktor is a little shy, but I think it’s more about the language barrier than his actual personality.”
“I never thought of that,” Jayne admits. “Interesting.”
“He’s also very…protective. He didn’t like the way my dad spoke to me at all.
” The memory makes me smile. “There’s something about a guy who gets all gruff and bossy.
He almost yanked my arm out of the socket getting me out of the car.
Not in a mean way, he just wanted to get as far away from him as possible. ”
Serena fans herself. “Ooohhh, our Russian hottie is alpha.”
She and Jayne giggle as my cheeks warm.
I guess he is.
And that’s hot.
But he’s not really mine. Not like that.
“Guys, you know that’s not our relationship. We’re barely friends, much less anything else.”
Serena rolls her eyes. “Okay, you do you. I can’t force you to see what’s in front of you.”
“He’s going back to Russia when he retires. There’s no reason to start something.”
But even as I say it, I wonder if I’m missing out on something—someone—wonderful.
A lot can happen in a year.