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It still feels oddly comfortable just knowing that this is my brother’s house and that, unless there is a little clone of me and my brain running around out there, which I’m sure would be Alexei’s personal nightmare, there is nothing that can touch me in this house short of an atomic bomb.
I slip off my shoes and deposit my things into the first guest room that I come across.
While it’s terribly tempting to stop and wash the airport smell and lingering pool chemicals out of my hair, I need to find my brother and his wife first.
It’s embarrassing that I manage to find Nora without a single guard stopping me.
So much so, that I get the chance to come up behind her and put my hands over her eyes from behind. I drop my voice into a deeper register and mouth breathe heavily into her ear. “Guess who, pretty lady.”
Apparently, she has been training with my brother.
One minute I’m behind her, teasing her.
The next, I’m on my back on the floor in front of her with the wind knocked clear out of my body.
She moved faster than I could think to react because that was the verylastresponse that I would ever have guessed from her.
“Katya! Oh no! Are you okay? Shit, did I hurt you?”
I shake my head and smile, waving off her sentiment. “No, I’m okay. Serves me right.”
Even from this angle I can tell that she looks the same. Healthy glow to her face, same brown hair and kind brown eyes that she’s always had. The sort of girl next door pretty that can get dolled up into bombshell pretty in ten seconds flat. She is the sort of girl that I always wanted to have as a sister. When Alexei brought her home, she and I were a match made in heaven.
Nora reaches out her hand to me and I take it, accepting the help up as I brush myself off. She immediately starts to look me over. Checking my eyes and feeling around the crown of my head to ensure that I don’t have any bruising or a concussion. Which, I personally feel is a bit much considering she didn’t flip me that hard. But, she’s a nurse and that’s just what they do. It’s in her nature to fret over people, I guess.
“What the hell are you doing here?! Not that you aren’t welcome here, because of course you are. You are always welcome here… but, whoa, Alexei is going to be sooo mad.”
Nora sighs and sinks down onto the leather couch beside me as I move my way up to sit next to her. “I suppose I should have guessed as much. Alexei was ranting that your location was turned off… I should have known that you would be reckless and stubborn enough to fly around the world to be here.”
I shrug, faking a little bit of innocence, ready to play the whole thing off with a sarcastic comment when she throws her arms around me - and I’m disarmed.
My hands hover awkwardly on either side of her as she embraces me tightly.
“Oh, honey I’m so sorry about your mom. I know Alexei’s in work mode and moving too fast to process… but I’m really sorry,” Nora mutters sweetly.
Damn it.
Tears start to well in my eyes before I can stop them. I pat her on the back and mumble nonsensical sounds before quickly changing the subject.
I pull my feet up onto the couch in front of me and wrap my arms around my legs. I feel as if, if I don’t physically hold myself together, that I just might shatter and break. The knot that’staken hold of my chest won’t budge. The grief that I feel for my mother is overwhelming. Not knowing how she spent her last moments will haunt me forever. If I let myself feel that pain now, I might be lost to it.
“We will handle it. We both know that,” I say lamely, hoping to drop the subject because I don’t have the luxury of falling totally apart right now. Alexei is bound to need my help, and I have to be functional in order to help him properly in the first place. “Tell me about you. Let’s talk about something, anything else. Tell me about the hospital - or Jodie? Is she still working there?”
Nora side eyes me for a long moment.
I can tell that she isn’t finished talking about my mother, but is debating on pushing the issue right this minute or not.
Thankfully, she decides against it. Instead, she shifts gears and offers me a bright, animated smile.
“She will be there until she’s a permanent resident of that morgue. It always cracks me up that you know her so well just because I never seem to shut up about her.”
“Well now that I’m here, maybe I can meet her.”
“She would love that. I talk about you to her just as much, I think. To be honest, I’ve been neglecting her as of late. I’m overdue for a visit and I have this sinking suspicion that the pairof us are going to need to give your brother a wide berth after he finds you here.”
I snort a laugh. “You’re not wrong.”
My mouth opens to start to comment something snarky when the man in question barges into the room, his eyes glued onto the phone in his hand.
