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“And you must be the drug dealing criminal that’s ruining my best friend’s life,” she growled, tensed up like she was ready to come over and punch Dmitri’s lights out. Her ferocity was slightly offset by the fact that she was 5’3. And wearing yellow kitchen gloves.
“Oh my God Jess, chill,” I said, stepping in front of Dmitri, just in case she really did launch herself at him.
“It’s ok, Jamie,” Dmitri said, running his palm down my arm. “She’s just worried about you.”
“I know,” I told him. “But that doesn’t mean she gets to beat up my boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” Dmitri echoed.
“Too much?” I asked, turning toward him and meeting his gaze.
He smiled at me and said softly, “Definitely not too much.” Then he touched my face and kissed me gently.
“Christ,” Jess muttered. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, but at least she looked slightly less like she was in attack mode.
Dmitri stepped around me and handed Jess’s phone back to her, and then took his life in his hands by leaning down and whispering something in her ear for a long moment. Jess’s big brown eyes went wide, her lips parting in surprise. And then she knit her brows and glared at him as she said, “You’d better. Otherwise I’m going to track you down, cut off your balls, and feed them to you.”
“I don’t doubt it,” he told her.
Jess peeled off the yellow rubber gloves as she turned to me. “Jamie, go see your dad. Now. He’s going to come back here with a battering ram and knock your door down if you don’t.”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” I called after her as she disappeared into the kitchen. Then I turned to Dmitri and said, “What did you say to her?”
He blushed slightly and broke eye contact as he murmured, “I swore to her I’d take care of you.”
Obviously there was more to it than that. But apparently I’d have to get the rest of whatever he whispered out of Jess later, because Dmitri had clammed up all of a sudden.
Jess reappeared in the living room, now about 5’8 in a pair of platform pumps, her Jackie O. glasses on and her handbag over her arm. She pointed at me. “I mean it Jamie. Go see your family. ASAP.”
I held my hand up as if taking a pledge. “I swear I’ll go.”
“Ok then. I’m going back to work.”
“Come over for breakfast tomorrow. Please?” I asked, “I’ll show you my new clothes if you do.”
“Fine, I’ll see you then. Save the receipts, some of that might have to go back,” she told me on the way out the door. And then to my surprise, she glanced at my boyfriend and said, “Bye, Dmitri.”
“Bye, Jess.” The door swung shut behind her, and he turned to me with a bright smile and said, “She’s wonderful.” He actually wasn’t being sarcastic. “I love that you have a friend that cares about you so much.”
“Sorry she tried to brain you with her phone.”
He just shrugged, his dimples making my thoughts go all fuzzy as he continued to smile at me. “It could have been worse.”
I took him in my arms and kissed him, then said, “Thanks for checking on me, Dmitri.”
“I’m sorry that you’re going through so much because of me,” he said as he ran his fingers into my short hair and held me close. “And I can’t believe you told your family about us.”
“It was the right thing to do. And now I have to stop putting off the inevitable and go face the music,” I said as I let go of him.
“Want me to go with you?”
“That depends. Do you own body armor?”
“Nope.”
“Well, then you better sit this one out.”
“Are you sure? I’ll go with you if you want me to.”
“You’re sweet. But that’s a nice jacket, and it’ll get ruined if it’s riddled with bullet holes.”
Dmitri rolled his eyes. “Your family’s not going to shoot me.”
“Ok, probably not,” I conceded. “But still, you shouldn’t come along today. I’m just going to go over there and let them yell themselves hoarse. You can meet them in a few days, after they’ve calmed down a little.”
He took my face between his palms and kissed me, then rested his forehead against mine. “Are you going to want company afterwards?”
“Like I’d say no to seeing you.”
“Ok. Call me when it’s over and I’ll meet you at my house. And I’ll make sure your night’s so good that it cancels out some of the bad you’re about to go through.”
Chapter Six
“So, I heard from Maureen that it got pretty ugly yesterday,” Jess told me as she set a box of donuts on my kitchen counter the next morning.
“Uh, yeah, you could say that,” I said as I poured coffee into a couple waiting mugs. “My family staged a major intervention. Everyone was there. And I mean everyone – my parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers-in-law, uncles, aunts, cousins. We should have gone ahead and served Thanksgiving dinner.” I winced at the memory.
