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Misha sat down on the couch and lifted the lid of the box. “I bought a pair of hiking boots.”
“Uh… why?”
“Jay asked me if I wanted to go for a hike on Sunday afternoon.”
Her mom’s eyes widened. “That sounds great. Finally going on a date, huh?”
“I don’t think it’s a date, Mom,” Misha said as she set the box aside and pulled her legs up onto the couch beside her.
“Why not? You’re not going to the gym. It’s just the two of you, right?”
“I don’t know, actually.” He hadn’t said anything about anyone else coming along, but that didn’t mean more wouldn’t join them. Jay did have other friends and family, after all.
“Maybe you should askhimout on a date,” her mom said. “Women do that nowadays, you know.”
Misha did know, and if she was one hundred percent sure that Jay had an interest in her, she’d consider asking him out. “It would be a bit awkward at work if I asked him out, and he said no.”
“Maybe that’s why he hasn’t asked you out.”
“The thing is…” Misha took a deep breath, then told her about the woman who had shown up at the clinic that day.
“So you think he’s still seeing her?” Her mom frowned. “I would hope he isn’t, considering the amount of time he’s spending with you.”
Misha hoped the same thing, though honestly, she didn’t think that was the sort of man he was. If he was going to work out with her at the gym, he’d bring his girlfriend along too.
Should she ask him about it? Because she really didn’t feel comfortable with the idea that he might have a girlfriend but was spending that much time with her.
Misha knew that she definitely wouldn’t be okay with that situation if she was his girlfriend. If it was his job, maybe… But he was spending time with her without any sort of agreement for her to pay him for his time.
“I’ll see what Sunday’s like and go from there.” Misha hesitated then said, “How did you figure out that Dad liked you?”
Several emotions crossed her mom’s face—none of them positive—and for a moment, Misha thought maybe she wouldn’t answer.
“I didn’t have to figure anything out,” she finally said. “He was very upfront about his interest in me.”
“So he asked you out on a date?”
“Something like that.” Her mom grimaced. “It wasn’t really a formal date. More like he took me to hang out with his… friends.”
Misha knew thatfriendsmeant fellow gang members. “Why didn’t you walk away then?”
They hadn’t spoken much about her past with Misha’s dad. But it felt safe to do it now that they were away from the gang threat.
Her mom shrugged. “He was handsome and fun to be around. Being his girlfriend gave me a status of some sort in the community. I was young, and those things kind of appealed to me.”
Misha could hardly blame her for that. Sometimes the lessons learned in life came at a high cost. Her mom hadcertainly paid a price for her decisions, and there was no sense dwelling on them or living her life filled with regret. Even when she’d tried to do the right thing and steer her children away from the gangs, it hadn’t worked.
“For now, I’m just going to let Jay take the lead,” Misha said after silence lapsed between them. “Nothing has to be rushed.”
As she spoke those words, she realized how true they were. For some reason, in Atlanta, she constantly felt like she had some sort of deadline hanging over her head, even though that hadn’t necessarily been the case.
It had probably felt like that because of the threat they’d lived with, and the reality that life could—and had, in Radon’s case—end at a moment’s notice.
But the threat was gone, and it was time to focus on their new home and the life it offered them. Misha could finally just breathe.
“I’ll pray for you both,” her mom said. “I know that I talk a lot about the two of you, but I really want you to seek God’s will rather than mine.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Misha said. “I don’t know what I would have done without your support all these years.”
