AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her breath hitched. “We’re supposed to go to Aleksándr’s for dinner. You said you’d come.” Now she sounded panicked.
With a jolt, I remembered agreeing to dinner. But since I hadn’t put it on my calendar, I forgot it was happening. “If I leave now, I can get you in about forty minutes.”
“We’ll be late.” The panic in her voice had turned to desperation.
“It’ll be fine.”
A distressed cry sounded through the line. “It won’t be.”
I grabbed my keys and left my office, taking the elevator down to the parking garage. “Take a deep breath and be ready for me to get you in forty.”
“You have to call him and explain. Please.” Her breathing had turned choppy.
“Okay, I will. Now calm down before you pass out.”
She ignored me, and if anything, her breathing sped up even more. “Call him now.”
Without giving me a chance to reply, she hung up.
I got in my car, and once the phone connected to my Bluetooth, I dialed Aleksándr’s number.
It only took a few rings for him to pick up. “I hope you’re calling to tell me you’re on your way.”
“Hello, Aleksándr. How are you? And yes, we’ll be there in about an hour.”
“So you’re telling me you’ll be late.”
Maybe Vanna had been right, and this was a bigger deal than I realized. He sounded like his beloved Cubs had lost another game instead of his guests arriving late.
“That’s right.”
“I see my daughter has already rubbed off on you with her flighty behavior.”
I’d never describe Vanna as flighty, but I’d already deduced how little her father seemed to think of her. “I apologize for the delay. It’s my fault.”
Hopefully, I’d come up with a good excuse by the time we arrived at his house.
“Make sure it doesn’t happen again. I’ll let the cook know there’ll be a delay.”
He hung up, leaving me to wonder if something else was going on. A simple delay in dinner shouldn’t have mattered much. After all, he wasn’t waiting for us at a restaurant by himself.
When I pulled up to the house, Vanna was pacing in front of the steps. As soon as she noticed the car approaching, her head shot up, and she rushed to the passenger door, opening it before I’d even come to a complete stop.
She dove headfirst into the seat, then scrambled up to sitting and buckled herself in.
I was unable to do more than watch her, wondering what had brought this on. I’d never seen her act so panicked.
Noticing my gaze, she looked up, her eyes wide, flitting from me to the driveway. “Why aren’t you driving? We’re already eleven minutes late. It takes twenty-four minutes to get there from here if the traffic isn’t too bad. That’ll make it thirty-five minutes.” She pressed her fists to her chest. “He’s going to be so mad. Maybe we should pretend you had a last-minute meeting and we couldn’t go at all.” Her body shot up straight. “No, that would make it worse. We have to show up and face him.”
She resembled a frightened bird caught in a cage.
Putting the car in Drive, I made my way back out onto the street. “It’ll be fine.”
“Stop saying it’ll be fine.”
I cringed at the high pitch of her voice. “It’s my fault we’re late, so I’ll take responsibility.”
“He’ll still blame me.”
