Nikolai thought about it. Thought about what his cousin had said, and answered, “Da, I have one thing more for you to do.”
“HELLO, MRS. RUSTANOV!” Isaac’s voice called out behind Sam, just as she was about to take Layla into her arms.
Alexei and Eva’s one-year-old had somehow cuted them into a game of pass-the toddler-back-and-forth, and it was now Sam’s turn to hold the adorable nugget for up to a full minute before she started squirming to be handed back to her mother.
Or maybe more, Sam thought, cuddling the toddler in her arms. Depending on whatever Isaac had to talk with Eva about.
Eva grinned at her, though. “I think he’s talking to you.”
And Sam turned to see that yes indeed,, Isaac was clearly waiting for her attention.
“Oh… hi, Isaac. You can just keep on calling me Sam. Just Sam, seriously,” she said, wondering if she’d ever get used to people calling her by Nikolai’s last name.
Isaac gave her an uncomfortable smile. “Okay… Sam,” he said. “Mr. Rustanov has an all-day event he’d like you attend the Friday after next, and he asked me to make sure you clear your calendar for it.”
Sam remembered what she’d said to Nikolai the last time they’d had a full conversation. We’re more like project partners and I don’t sleep with my project partners. So if you have an event or a work obligation you need me to attend. Fine. That’s what I signed up for. But I’m sleeping on the couch.
Apparently Nikolai had taken her at her word. “What kind of event?” she asked Isaac.
Isaac shook his head with a shrug. “You know, he actually hasn’t told me yet, just asked me to give you a heads up. Also, I’ll need your passport for security clearance purposes. I assume you have one. Can you send it in with Mr. Rustanov in the next day or so?”
“Sure, ” Sam answered. “But I need to know what the event is. Like, what should I wear, because I’ll probably need to shop…”
“Nope, I’ll take care of all that and coordinate with Nyla on childcare,” Isaac answered, already backing away. “Just clear your calendar. Thanks!”
He was gone before Sam could ask any more questions or tell him Nyla was officially an intern, not her assistant. Again. Isaac was forever insisting on “coordinating” through Nyla, as if it were somehow anathema to him to talk directly to Sam herself. He was like the walking personification of “have your people call my people.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a hot date,” Eva said with a wink. “Good idea to get them out of the way now, because trust me, hot dates become mighty hard once breastfeeding comes into play.”
Sam shook her head, “Oh, it’s nothing like that. It’s probably just an NHL thing or something. Nikolai doesn’t do hot dates. Or any dates whatsoever.”
Eva lifted a brow. “Wow, really? Now that I’ve finished breastfeeding, Alexei’s always pressuring me to let our nanny take over for the weekend so we can do a hotel getaway.”
Sam really liked Eva, she really did. Not just because they were both black women married to Russians—which had been huge but pleasant surprise—but also because she had a wicked sense of humor that reminded Sam of how she used to be back in Alabama, when she’d only had the running of one Ruth’s House on her plate. But as much as she liked Eva, it was hard to keep her jealousy at bay when she said things like that.
Before she met Eva and her husband, she blamed Nikolai’s cold behavior on his cultural background. But his cousin, Alexei, who shared the same culture and was even part of the same family as Nikolai, was incredibly devoted to his wife. So in love with her that Sam wasn’t surprised when he appeared out of nowhere with another piece of birthday cake.
“Share this with me, kotenok,” he said.
Eva groaned, “C’mon, Lexie, you know I’m still trying to lose all this baby weight.”
“I like your baby weight,” he all but growled at her, pulling her closer with one large arm. “Tonight after the children are asleep, I will show you how much I like it.”
Eva giggled and shook her finger at him. “You are like the anti-Weight Watchers! I’m going to tell on you to my meeting leader.”
“Eat the cake, kotenok. For me.” Then he leaned down and let loose a stream of Russian words that didn’t sound at all cold. No, not cold at all—especially with the way he was looking at Eva as he said them.
Eva groaned again. “You know I can’t think right when you start talkin’ all romantic in Russian. That is so unfair!” she said.
Then she opened her mouth, and Alexei popped a piece of cake inside.
Sam, who still had little Layla in her arms, watched the exchange from the corner of her eyes in self-conscious silence. They were a totally cute couple, but completely sickening to watch. Overly sweet, and even worse, they made Sam wish for things. Things she knew she could never have. Like Nikolai’s heart.
31
The next two weeks passed in a blur of Sam working like a dog not to have to go back on her promise to keep the Friday she promised Nikolai free. They were at full intake status with requests for two more beds. And Nyla had finals coming up next week, as well as an entire Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of babysitting for another family who sounded like they were going on some kind of super glamorous vacation, so her intern hadn’t been able to help out as much as she usually did.
“But I can come in if you really, really need me,” Nyla offered when she called on Wednesday to beg the next two days off. “I’m so excited about coming to work there full time after I graduate, I’m totally willing to blow off studying as long as you’re okay with having someone who may or may not get her degree as your assistant director.”
Sam was okay with it in theory, but she couldn’t do that to Nyla. She let the poor girl off the hook and was just glad she’d hired on a permanent weekend director for the center a few weeks back, using the now unnecessary security budget.
As it was, she didn’t have much time to be curious about Nikolai’s event until she came home late that afternoon to a dress bag lying across the bed she still wasn’t sharing with her fake husband. It was from Bonnington’s, a national boutique store she only vaguely recognized because she’d walked past the one in the Keystone Crossing mall a few times. The store always had at least two or three dresses in the window that were almost always on a scale so gorgeous, she didn’t think she’d have anywhere to wear one, much less be able to afford it. But apparently wherever Nikolai was taking her, it was that kind of event.