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I shoot my friend a scathing look. “Yes, she did. She shouldn’t have done that.”
“Sorry,” Natalia shouts down the hall. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
The moment Yuliana is content that nothing too exciting is happening while she isn’t around, Natalia slides across the kitchen to me and plants her elbows on the table. “Explain yourself. Now.”
I scrub my hand over my face. “I ran into him on the beach.”
“You went to the beach? Which beach? His beach? Why were you on his beach? What did he say?”
I wave a hand to interrupt the rapid-fire questions. “His house is on my walking path. I sort of… swing by sometimes. Just to look around.”
Natalia arches a brow. “How often?”
“I don’t know. I don’t keep track. Just sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” She’s practically staring into my very soul now.
“Every time,” I admit, my cheeks flushed. “I just like the view there.”
Especially when the view includes a shirtless Kirill, his dark hair being tousled by the breeze, his eyes shining like—
“Bullshit. You’ve been waiting for him. Is he the reason why you won’t date that hot surf shop guy?”
“I have not been waiting for him!” I protest. Natalia gives me another disbelieving look and I stare back at her harder. “I’m serious. I haven’t been waiting. But it’s hard to just forget. Kirill and I have a… connection.”
“Damn straight you do. Your ‘connection’ is floating in a lavender-infused bathtub as we speak,” she snorts. “Did you tell him?”
“About what? Yuliana?” I stare at her, blinking slowly. “You think I randomly ran into my daughter’s biological father on the beach and the first thing I did is tell him he’s a daddy?”
“You make it sound crazy, but this whole situation is crazy.”
“Fair enough,” I admit. “But Yuliana is the most important thing in the world to me. I’m not just going to dump it on him. And I’m not even going to tell him about her until I know it’s the right decision.”
Natalia props her chin in her palm, absolutely transfixed on the drama. “And when will you know it’s the right decision?”
“Well, considering he just told me he never wanted to see me again, I think it’s safe to assume there will never be a right time to tell him.”
“He said that?” she asks, horrified.
I nod, trying hard to hide my disappointment.
When I looked up and saw Kirill standing next to me, I truly thought I was dreaming. After the initial scare of him sneaking up at me, I looked at his face and felt my heart jolt. My entire body buzzed with an energy I realized in that moment I haven’t felt in five years.
Kirill is the only person who has ever made me feel that way. Something inside of me seems to react to his presence. I lose control of my mind and my body. Which, come to think of it, is probably why I ended up pregnant.
In the back of my mind, I hear Harmony’s laughing fortune from earlier.You will meet a handsome, shirtless man. Open your heart to him.
She’ll lose her mind when I tell her about this.IfI tell her about this…
“It’s for the best,” I say quickly. “We’re in a good rhythm here. Yuliana is happy. I’m happy.”
“Right. Of course.” Natalia purses her lips like she’s trying to physically hold words in her mouth.
I sigh. “What is it?”
“It’s nothing. Whatever you want is fine. It’s just… What are we going to do when I open my cafe?”
Natalia has been talking for years about opening her own cafe. She’s been saving up for it, dreaming about making all of her grandma’s old recipes for an adoring public. But what that has to do with Kirill, I have no clue.
