“For you! For you! For you!” said Rudy.
“Rudy, shut up,” Lennie moaned.
Rudy fell silent; he obviously knew, as well as understood, the command.
Aunt Mary looked pleased with the bouquet. “How nice of you.”
“Wasn’t it?” Lennie said brightly. “Why don’t you two sit while I put these in water?”
Consign me to the flames of hell, why don’t you?
Sebastian thought. But it would be for only a minute or two.
“Dinner smells wonderful,” said Sebastian.
“Lennie made it. Some kind of quiche and salad.” She eyed Sebastian curiously. “You eat quiche in Russia?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I hear you people eat a lot of cabbage. And beets.”
“You’re probably thinking of borscht; it’s a cold beet soup.”
Aunt Mary shuddered. “Cold beets. Sounds awful.”
“It is!”
She seemed to like that, rewarding him with a small smile. Sebastian studied Rudy. “He’s a beautiful bird.”
“Isn’t he? My first one, Rudy the First, died very suddenly. It almost killed me. He was like a son to me. But within a couple of months I got Rudy the Second here. I can’t imagine life without an avian companion. And he’s such a good boy.”
“Everyone at the bar seems to enjoy him very much.”
“Oh, they love him. Love him. They loved Rudy the First too. His picture is behind the bar, you know. And his ashes. All my friends were just devastated when he died.”
“Yes, I can imagine.”
“Flowers are in a vase, dinner in about half an hour,” Lennie announced as she reappeared in the living room. She sat down beside Sebastian, putting her hand in his. Her aunt’s eyes shot immediately to their entwined fingers, but her expression was impassive, which Sebastian took as a good sign.
“I hear you cooked dinner,” Sebastian said to Lennie.
“Yes, I did,” Lennie said proudly, “and I think you’ll like it too. It’s pretty simple, but it’s good.”
“When I was your age, I knew how to cook a roast,” Aunt Mary sniffed.
“When you were my age, you were already married and a housewife. Times were different.”
“You should learn to cook a roast.”
“Which would you prefer: that, or that I make a hat for Rudy?”
Sebastian’s gaze slid sideways to look at Lennie. A hat for a parrot?
“Thought that might put things in perspective for you,” Lennie said when her aunt had no response. She turned to Sebastian, so bright-eyed and beautiful she wished he could take her in his arms right there. “Do you want any wine or beer?”
“No, no, I’m fine.”
“Aunt Mary?”
“No, thank you. I’ll wait until later, when I’m down at the Hart.”
“Are you liking America?” Aunt Mary asked politely.
“Of course. This is the country everyone aspires to move to, you know.”
Once again, Aunt Mary looked pleased.
“Rudy learns things fast, no?”
“Very fast.” Aunt Mary’s expression turned back to suspicion. “Why?”
“I can teach him some Russian, if you’d like.”
Aunt Mary’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Of course. Here’s one:
Dasvidanya
. It means ‘good-bye.’ ”
Aunt Mary moved Rudy from her shoulder to her arm so he could watch her lips move. She had to repeat the phrase only ten times before Rudy started squawking
Dasvidanya! Dasvidanya! Dasvidanya!
Aunt Mary looked proud as she pulled a treat from her pocket and rewarded Rudy. “See how smart he is?”
“Very impressive.”
“Tell me another one,” Aunt Mary requested eagerly.
“One more, and then it’s dinnertime,” said Lennie.
“Spasibo,”
said Sebastian. “It means ‘thank you.’ ”
Aunt Mary repeated the process with Rudy, who once again picked up the phrase very quickly.
“He’s brilliant,” Sebastian announced with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm. Lennie’s aunt didn’t seem to notice: she was beaming.
He caught Aunt Mary giving Lennie a curt nod of approval. Now Lennie was the one beaming; as they followed her aunt into the kitchen, she gave Sebastian a big thumbs-up. “Thank you,” she murmured gratefully. “I think you’ve already convinced her you’re not a bad guy.”
“I agree,” said Sebastian. “Smooth sailing on this front from now on, eh?”
Lennie grinned. “I hope so.”
Lennie
knew that despite her aunt’s warming to Sebastian, there was no way she was going to leave them alone after dinner. Sebastian said he didn’t mind, since he had practice in the morning. Lennie realized she had a lot of studying to do anyway, plus she wanted to start thinking about what she could design for Sinead. And then there were the damn parrot hats.
To snatch at least a moment of privacy, she walked Sebastian downstairs to the street.
“What do you think? A success?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her.
“Total. Especially when you taught Rudy to say, ‘Give me a drink!’”
“I thought that might break down her resistance to me completely. What’s this about you making hats for him?”
Lennie groaned. “Don’t ask.” She fiddled with the collar of his shirt. “She was very impressed with how polite you were.”
“What? Did she think I was going to come into the house and stage a revolution?” Sebastian joked.
“I don’t know. She gets these ideas in her head . . . In some ways she’s really sheltered, despite living in the city for decades.”
“But like you said, she has a good heart.”
“And a sewing machine.”
Sebastian traced her lower lip with his thumb. “I’m sorry I have to leave so early. Believe me, I wish we could go back to my apartment.”
“For some ‘savoring’?” Lennie murmured.
“Exactly. Although maybe we could savor just a little bit right now.” He skimmed his mouth over hers gently before parting her lips and slipping his tongue between them. It was so simple, yet so erotic. Lennie pulled back, biting his lower lip. Sebastian gave a small moan, which made her want to do more, but they were on the street. She didn’t want them to be one of those couples who prompted passersby to shout, “Get a room!”
As if reading her mind, Sebastian loosened his hold on her.
“I’m a little uncomfortable about ‘savoring’ on the street,” he confessed.
Lennie blushed. “Me too.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow, yes? Maybe we can visit another tourist attraction next weekend? One where you can’t buy rags?”
“Very funny. But yes, that would be good.”
He kissed her again. “Goodnight,
mllaya moya
—‘my sweet.’ ”
“Good night.”
Floating on air, Lennie went back upstairs. She didn’t care if she had to spend the whole week working late into the night designing and sewing—it was worth it to have the weekend free to see Sebastian.
“Yoo-hoo!
Sebastian!”
“Spasiba! Spasiba! Spasiba!”
Sebastian suppressed a cringe as he strolled into the Wild Hart with his teammates, only to be enthusiastically greeted by Lennie’s aunt Mary and her damn parrot. He knew there was no way he’d be able to enter the pub undetected, but he’d been hoping that when she saw him, she’d smile discreetly or give a small wave. But no such luck: she was motioning for him to come over.
Shit!
“I’ll catch up with you guys in a minute,” he told his teammates, who were snickering. Veering away from his friends, he headed toward the bar.
“How are you, Mrs. Colgan?”
“Fine, and you?”
Sebastian nodded distractedly. “Good, good.” He was desperate to get away; the longer he stood there talking to Lennie’s aunt, the worse his teammates were going to torture him when he got to the table.
“Having you for dinner was delightful,” Aunt Mary continued. “Perhaps you could come again soon? Teach Rudy some more Russian?”
That would be hell.
“That would be wonderful.”
“What are you and Lennie doing this weekend?”
“We haven’t decided yet.” Sebastian was slightly unnerved by how fast Lennie’s aunt had gone from thinking he was a KGB agent to being interested in their social life.
Lennie’s aunt nodded knowingly. “I’m not surprised. Lennie’s been concentrating on her designs this week, up to all hours sewing. She’s almost done with Rudy’s sailor cap!”
“That’s wonderful,” Sebastian repeated, trying to picture the colorful bird with a hat on. It was too bizarre to contemplate. He glanced quickly toward the dining room, where his teammates were now seated. “I should get going,” he said congenially, patting Aunt Mary’s shoulder.
“Dasvidanya!”
Rudy squawked.
“Yes, good-bye to you, too, Rudy,” Sebastian replied with a chuckle.
His friends watched him as he approached, looking as if they were about to explode from holding in their laughter. The moment he sat down, they were on him like a pack of hyenas.
“Dude, I never knew Russians were into old ladies,” said Ulf with an ear-to-ear grin.
“They’re not,” spurted Eric. “They’re into parrots.”
Sebastian sighed as the table rocked with laughter. “I told you: she is Lennie’s aunt. I had dinner at their apartment on Sunday, because the aunt was very displeased about her niece dating a Russian hockey player. We thought it a good idea she get to meet me so she’d see I wasn’t in the country to steal state secrets.”
“Whoa, whoa, back up, bucko,” said Eric Mitchell. “You’re dating her?”
“Yes.”
Ulf sniggered. “What happened to ‘I just want a lady friend’?”
Sebastian shrugged diffidently. “There was an attraction. What can I say?”
Eric thumped the table triumphantly. “Did I call it or what? Straight men and women cannot be platonic friends.”
“You don’t have any friends, so how would you know?” quipped David Hewson.
“She a hot little vixen in bed?” Ulf continued with a dirty laugh.
Sebastian shut him down with a cold stare. He was no prude: he’d had his share of one-night stands and boasting about conquests when he was younger. But Lennie was not a conquest, and he didn’t like the way Ulf always talked about women, especially his woman, as if they were pieces of meat.
“Well, sor-ry,” Ulf muttered.
“Apology accepted.”
They placed their orders, Sebastian discreetly keeping his eye on Lennie’s aunt. It seemed unlikely she would come over to the table, but you never knew.
“So when are we going to meet Lennie?” Jason Mitchell asked.
Sebastian shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know.”
“Invite her to a game,” Thad suggested.
“Let me think about it,” Sebastian murmured. It might be nice for his teammates to meet her, and he liked the thought of her being able to put faces to names when he talked about them. Plus, she enjoyed hockey. He just worried about what she would wear. What if she showed up in one of her odd outfits? He would be mortified, but it wasn’t like he could tell her what to wear. She would be hurt and insulted, and rightfully so.
The issue was taken out of his hands when, much to his surprise, Lennie entered the pub. Reflexively, he zeroed in on her outfit: black jeans and a red turtleneck. No trash clothing.
He watched as she approached her aunt, who pointed in his direction. Lennie’s eyes scoured the dining room uncertainly. When they met his, she broke into that wide, confident grin of hers. Sebastian grinned back, motioning her over. She deposited what looked like a portfolio with her aunt, said something to the woman behind the bar, and then started toward the table.
“Check it out,” Ulf murmured, his eyes glued to Lennie. “Puck bunny at ten o’clock.”
“Actually, that’s Lennie,” Sebastian said tersely.
Ulf slumped down in his seat. “Uh . . . sorry.”
“She’s really pretty, bro,” said Thad.
Sebastian rose, kissing Lennie as she came to his side. “Everyone, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Lennie.”
His friends all introduced themselves, their smiles and greetings gracious. Sebastian couldn’t believe it, but Lennie actually seemed shy, a side of her he hadn’t seen before. It was adorable, but he suspected that if he told her so, she might not be pleased.
Sebastian pulled over a chair from another table. “Come on,
milaya moya
, sit down with us. Have a drink.”
She looked up at him apologetically. “I just stopped in to show Christie some of the designs I’ve been working on. Then I really need to get back and do some homework.”