AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I drink some coffee and serve myself a plate.
Once I’m seated across from Leo, he asks the question I’ve been dreading. “Do we have to go back to Philadelphia?”
He’s asked me some close relative of this question for the past week or so, ever since he learned Nick is his father. But this is the blatant version, theI want to stay.The start of resentment. Leo has never really fought me on a decision before. But I can see this being the battle he chooses, and I’m dreading it more and more every single day that passes.
“Philadelphia is where we live, Leo.”
“It’s a long way away,” he tells me, as if I might have forgotten the hours we spent on a plane to get here. And that was flying private, not dealing with the delays and inconveniences of flying commercial.
I eat my yogurt instead of replying, like a coward.
“My friends here will all forget about me.”
“No onehere will forget about you, Leo. Especially not your father.”
I don’t tell Leo Nick might be returning today. Part of me isn’t sure whether to believe it myself. He flew all that way to spend a few hours.
“Some kids used to make fun of me for not having a dad.”
“They shouldn’t have done that. But, Leo, that had nothing to do with you. They were upset or angry about something else and decided to be mean instead of dealing with it. I can talk with the school when we get back and—”
Leo huffs, annoyed. “Don’t say anything. I just go to the nurse’s office when I don’t feel like dealing with it.”
I think of his last day at school—our last day in Philadelphia. That’s why he went to the nurse’s, I realize, and it makes it hard to swallow all of a sudden.
“Everyone here wants to be my friend as soon as they hear Nick is my dad,” Leo adds. “But Dad told me to only trust people who want to be my friend, no matter what.”
In addition to everything else, Nick has eclipsed me when it comes to giving advice, I guess. That’s better than what I would have come up with in response to Leo telling me kids wanted to be his friend because of me.
“Philadelphia is home, Leo,” I say gently. “What about AJ? He’s your best friend.”
“I could visit AJ. He’d want me to be with my dad. He misses his.”
I’m not sure what to say to that. I know what Leo means. AJ had no say in losing his father. And Leo feels like I’m forcing the same outcome on him.
I’m distracted for the rest of breakfast and for the ride to school, worrying about how Leo will handle our departure and wondering whether Nick will really be back today. I don’t snap out of it until I walk back inside the mansion after dropping Leo off and spot a figure standing by the stairs. My heart stalls for a second—until I realize it’s not who I thought it was.
Vera Morozov is exactly as tall and intimidating as I remember her being. She strides past me and toward the door I just entered with nothing but a barked, “Come!”
I cast a glance at Valentin, who drove this morning. He doesn’t appear concerned by Nick’s mother’s presence, which I take as an encouraging sign. Not a cause for panic at least.
I hurry after her, back out into the cold. The convoy of cars from the school run is still parked outside.
“Is everything okay? Is Nick okay?”
Vera doesn’t appear concerned, just impatient, but she also doesn’t strike me as the type of mother prone to excessive worrying.
“Nick.” In her heavy accent, the word sounds strange. “Nikolaj is fine. Just stupid.”
“Stupid?” I echo.
Vera waves a glove-clad hand toward the row of black cars. “How many men you travel with? Stupid!”
Does she think I requested them? “I didn’t ask for this many men. Nick—Nikolaj just had them sent with me, and I wasn’t sure—I mean, I was happy for Leo to have as much protection as possible.”
Vera makes a show of looking around. “I do not see Leo.”
Then, she climbs into the first car, leaving me standing here.
