Page 34 of Maksim

He looks over his shoulder to see me nod before he leaves, returning a minute later with the suitcase full of Daniel’s wife’s clothes I stole before he leaves again.

I go to the closet, my eyes popping at the size of the small could-be bedroom, and find the trunk he talked about. I pull blankets along with a shoebox, a couple of tennis rackets, and some other junk out and neatly organize it on a shelf before tucking myself inside the trunk to make sure I’ll fit. It’s snug, but it’ll do for now.

It couldn’t be more obvious right now that I don’t know what men want, at least not this man.

But I will find out.

11

MAKSIM

“Do you think you’ll need any to-go boxes?” the waitress with freckles dotting her chest asks. Her tone is purposefully friendly, but she can’t hide her impatience no matter how hard she tries.

I’ve been sitting at this table by myself for forty-five minutes. Thirty minutes ago when Anya claimed she was down the street, I went ahead and placed two orders of her usual bacon cheeseburger and fries our favorite steakhouse makes and have been sitting here letting the food cool for another fifteen.

I don’t know whether to be pissed or worried.

“Uh…” I look at the door, willing my little sister to walk through, and when she doesn’t, I turn back to the waitress. “Yeah, two please. And the check.”

She smiles politely, relief softening her anxious eyes at freeing up a table.

With a sigh, I pull out my wallet and slide my card onto the edge of the table just as the booth rocks with my teenage sister plopping down across from me.

She shoves long, thick blonde locks over her shoulders and beams at the plate in front of her like I haven’t been sitting here for forty … I check my watch … nine minutes.

I could strangle her.

“Oh, thank God, you ordered. I’m starving.” She picks up the burger and takes a large bite, moaning as she lets her head fall back, her jaw working as she chews.

The waitress shows up with the to-go boxes and the check, her disappointment now on full display. She gives me a tight-lipped smile before taking my card and walking away.

When Anya sets down her burger, she goes about sucking water through a straw, all the while avoiding my eyes.

“Anya.”

Finally, she looks at me, her shoulders straight but her eyes guilty. Sometimes I have no idea if she does this shit on purpose. If she’s punishing me. I know that I’ve failed her, and I wonder if she knows where I went wrong. Because I don’t.

She gulps down water then blots her lips dry with her napkin, coating the thing with pink lip gloss. When she sets it down, she swats her hair back dramatically. “Before you rip into me, just know that I’m sorry, okay? Hailey and I got caught up preparing for this huge zoology presentation we have in a couple of days, and I’m talking worth twenty percent of our grade huge. The reception at the library—that’s where we were—sucks, so I didn’t even take my phone out of my bag and didn’t realize what time it was until, like, five minutes after we were supposed to meet. Then,” she sighs like the universe has been plotting against her all her life, “of course, the Uber got stuck behind a wreck on the way here—right after I texted you—and then my phone died.”

She looks at her plate while picking at a fry. “Honestly, I get it if you’re mad, but it really isn’t my fault that I’m late, so let’s just drop it, okay?”

There’s a tightness in my arms that I try to loosen by flexing, but it only seems to make my skin feel as if it’s crackling. I move my eyes to a television in a corner airing a baseball game and let it distract me for a moment.

She’s lying. Obviously. If I texted her right now, her phone would probably ding. I wouldn’t be surprised if she pulled it out, forgetting it’s supposed to be dead, and started texting right in front of me.

She wasn’t at the library. Kids don’t go to the fucking library.

If there’s a presentation at school, she’s probably paid some kid to make the slideshow. This is Anya.

And ‘Hailey’… God, I want to kill Hailey.

“Okay,” I concede. What am I supposed to do?

She nibbles at fries while I stare at her in silence, trying to think of the right things to say. I wish we were closer. I wish I knew something, anything about her life that I could somehow relate to.

Enough time passes with neither of us speaking that if we weren’t used to this, it would be awkward. She dives into her burger, but I’ve lost my appetite, so I pack mine away in a box for Elira. I wonder if this will be the thing she finally likes.

“Is it okay if I stay at Hailey’s again tonight?” Anya asks before taking another gulp of water. “We have so much work to do on that presentation.”