Page 99 of Bound to a Monster

Carmie: I’m alive! I’m in Canada!

Sofie: What are you doing there?

Carmie: Exploring, having a honeymoon, eating good food, the usual stuff.

Frannie: HOTEL SEX.

Gia: Is that the name of your latest band, Franskie?

Frannie: Ha ha ha but yes actually it’s a good one.

Sofie: We miss you Carms!!!!

Gia: WE DO!

Carmie: I’ll be back in the states soon and when I am we’re having a gathering.

Sofie: That’s gonna get messssssy.

Sofie: In the best way.

We spend a week in Ottawa. I want to pretend like I did a lot of sightseeing, went on some hikes, saw a play or whatever, but that’d be bullshit. Mostly, Lev and I wrecked each other in the hotel room, took a break to eat nice dinners, and went at each other like absolute maniacs the second we got back.

It’s like something took him over and I have no clue what, but I love it. He’s unhinged and vulnerable, and we spend hours talking and getting to know each other like we’re on some intense reality TV dating show. We’re packing years of dating and courting into a week, and it’s overwhelming and incredible. I can barely stand and think by the time we finally come up for air and head into Toronto.

“It’s going to be weird going back to Philly,” I tell him as we cruise the highway. “Where the hell are we going to get good poutine back home?”

“Maybe we can move here.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why not? You liked Ottawa.”

“I liked the hotel room.”

“Alright, you like Montreal then, and you’ll like Toronto.”

“Our lives are in Philly.”

He shrugs, staring out the window with a little half smile. He seems so much more relaxed now than he did before this trip, and it eases a strange knot between my shoulder blades. I releasethe tension and let myself be myself in his company. No more worrying, no more obsessing over every little thing.

It’s freeing in a strange way.

“I could let Alex run the shop. Everything else—” He gestures in the air.

“Sounds like you’re trying to run from your responsibilities. Come on, I want to get back to fencing with Aline. I want to see my friends and my brothers. There’s no way we could become Canadian.” I shiver at the thought.

He laughs and agrees he also couldn’t stand being so damn polite all the time, and eventually, we reach Toronto. It’s the biggest and nicest of the cities so far, and he picks out an obscenely swanky hotel in a gentrifying and fun neighborhood.

We spend a few days exploring the town and ruining the bed before he gets an invitation we can’t really turn down.

The restaurant’sa contemporary French fusion place. It’s quiet, though, and when we arrive, Valentin Zeitsev is already sitting at the table in the back.

“It’s good to see you,” he says, shaking Lev’s hand. “We have business to discuss.”

We sit at the table, and I ask him how his wife is doing. He talks about becoming a father and being an active parent while also managing a large organization.

“You’d be surprised how many lessons I’ve learned in my position that are directly applicable to being a parent.”

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