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“We’ll see you all later,” Ruslan tells my cousin and his brother, and we proceed to walk out the front door. I expect there’s going to be some sort of SUV on the street waiting for us, but there isn’t.
Ruslan tugs me to the left, and I continue walking with him. We continue for a block before I speak up and ask him what the hell we’re doing. “Are we not getting a car to take us?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “No, not at all. Where I’m taking you isn’t too far away, and a walk makes it more romantic, no?”
I smile at his question and step closer to him. I love how we can do this, walking so simply hand-in-hand. We continue for another block and then cross the street, and I think I know where Ruslan’s taking me. It looks like some sort of park with all these structures constructed of flowers. There are hearts in a long row, maybe ten or eleven of them filled with red flowers. I don’t think they’re roses, but until we get closer, I won’t know for sure.
Next to the row of hearts is a giraffe and two elephants made up of shrubs. Whoever does the landscaping here does a magnificent job, that’s for damn sure. I don’t think we have any places like this in Atlanta, but if we do, I now want to go to them too.
High-rise buildings fill the background of the botanical garden, and I quickly realize how cultured Grozny is. As I look over the gardens, many colors fill the scenery. From red to white, blue to purple, and pink to orange, the garden is vast and gorgeous.
“This is beautiful.”
“Yes, it’s one of my favorite places to visit in all of Grozny. Exquisite, no?”
He leads me under the row of hearts, and we walk slowly, simply taking in the moment. There’s hardly anyone here, and it gives us a sense of privacy, which is lovely.
“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” I comment, and I look over to Ruslan, who is physically here with me, but his mind seems so occupied since he’s been back. I clear my throat and debate questioning him, but I have to be true to myself. Yes, he’s been through so much over the last several weeks, but if this is going to work between us, then we both have to communicate honestly. “Ruslan?”
He turns his head to look at me and raises his brow. “Yes?”
“Are you okay? I… I haven’t asked you yet, but you seem off.”
Ruslan immediately forces a smile, and I’m sure he thinks I don’t know he’s forcing one, but he is. “Nothing could ever break me down. I’m not weak and fickle, Amelia.” He speaks with such seriousness near the end, and I wonder if he believes I think he’s weak. I don’t.
“I didn’t say you were. I know you’re anything but either of those, but there isn’t any shame in speaking about your feelings. You taught me that, Ruslan, and I’m a better person because of it.”
“I assure you. I am fine. There’s nothing we need to discuss.” I know he isn’t being honest with me, but I doubt he’s truly being honest with himself. I imagine when you come out of something like Ruslan did, all you want to do is think that the world is normal, and you didn’t go through hell to return to it. I won’t press him for more right now, but eventually, we’ll have to talk about this.
“Okay, well, did you notice how your brother and Emily were staring at each other when you came downstairs?” I question Ruslan, and he smirks.
“I did, actually. It seems my brother might be a bit taken with your cousin. Then again, pretty women seem to distract Lom easily.”
“Is he bad news? Should I warn her not to get attached or be flirty with him?”
Ruslan tugs me closer against him. “She’s a big girl, Amelia. I’m sure your cousin is intelligent enough to make decisions for herself. If she wants to get into something with my brother, then that’s on her. I’m sure they’ll speak about their arrangement before going fully into it, just as we did.”
I raise both of my brows and laugh hard. “Our arrangement was very different, I assure you.”
“Yes, but good in the end.” Ruslan’s voice comes out as smooth as melted chocolate, and he turns his body, so he’s standing in front of me. Very delicately, he brings his lips to mine and gives me the most sensual kiss of my life. I find myself wrapping my arms around his waist and holding on, not for any specific reason, but simply because I don’t want to lose this moment. We’re under the floral hearts, and it’s gorgeous.
He’s the first to pull away, and his smile is the biggest I’ve ever seen. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. There are some food trucks parked on the other end of the park around this time of day. We should go see them. If they’re not there, we’ll head to a local café before our next stop.”
“Next stop?” He’s taking me somewhere else. This is crazy. Any other date I’ve been on has been to Applebee’s and then back home.
“Yes, there’s an observation deck where you can see all of Grozny. I want you to see it. I don’t know the next time we’ll be back here, so I want to experience all of this with you.” There’s a sense of sadness in his voice. I’m sure he doesn’t know that I can tell. Why is he sad? It’s not like he’ll never come back to Grozny. It could just be our last trip for a little while.
“Ruslan, we’ll be back here before you know it.” I try to be as encouraging as I can, and Ruslan presses a kiss to my forehead.
We walk through the rest of the park before finding the food trucks. There are about seven of them here, and Ruslan walks me up to one where he knows everyone on the truck. He orders us hingalsh—a handheld dough pie stuffed with pumpkin and butter—and siskal or fried cornbread accompanied by to-beram, a sour cream-based sauce for dipping.
I was a bit worried about trying such local foods when I first came to Grozny, but Lom’s had practically all Chechen food for us at Ruslan’s house. I have to admit, it’s really growing on me.
Now we head for the observation deck, and I can’t wait to see what I can only imagine is a beautiful image of Grozny.
Chapter Eight
Ruslan
