Page 61 of Derek

“No, thanks. I’m saving room for dessert. It will be nice to have something besides baklava,” she said as she passed the platter to her brother.

Derek looked across the table to see Sonja talking happily to Emily and turned to his brother-in-law.

“She’s a smart cookie, that one. Good head for business. Smartest thing her former partner did was take Sonja on. When I was still seeing clients, they were on my route for a while. I never met Sonja then, but I heard about her from Carol. Don’t get me wrong. Carol was good. She built that place from scratch, but Sonja’s even smarter. Adding the bakery was a great idea, and it sounds like they know it.”

“Glad you approve, although her business acumen was not what first attracted me.” Derek was, nevertheless, proud to hear Connie’s praise of Sonja. It seemed she was a hit with everyone but his mother, but she would come around in time.

When it was time for dessert, it seemed everyone had something to say about the sweet potato pies. Maya was first. “We spend alternate years with Jack’s family, and they have these sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and they are so sweet. I’ve never understood the need to add sugar to something that’s already plenty sweet. I love the delicate flavor of this. You’ll have to give me the recipe.”

“I’ll be happy to, but I didn’t make these. Don’t get me wrong; I do make sweet potato pie, but my partner Suzie’s piecrust is better than mine, so these are hers. I wanted to bring the best.”

Derek knew Sonja well enough now that he could tell she was blushing. He guessed it was embarrassment at all the praise and at not having baked the pies.

Sophia said, “It’s perfectly all right, Sonja. I was busy this week, and the baklava came from Nazareth Sweets.”

Ekaterina looked shocked. “If you didn’t have time, you could have told me and I would have made the baklava, Sophia.”

“Mamá, you had enough to do. Nazareth Sweets makes wonderful pastry. I’ve heard you praise their baklava yourself,” Sophia said.

“Yes, yes, they do wonderful pastry there. I just wish you’d let me help more.”

Maya intervened, “Maybe we can all agree that the desserts are delicious, regardless of who made them?”

All the young people chimed in, and the adults weren’t able to get another word in on the subject. Sonja looked both relieved that the spotlight was no longer on her and tired from the day’s stress. He would need to get her home soon.

It was almost 11:00 pm when they got up from the dinner table. Sonja was clearly struggling to stay awake, so, even though he knew his mother and sisters expected them to stay for at least another hour, he made their apologies. “Mamá, Sophia, Maya, it was a marvelous meal as always. We would love to stay longer, but Sonja has to be at work in the morning very early. I think we’ll have to continue this visit another time.”

“Derek, no. It’s still early,” Ekaterina said. “Please stay longer. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Mamá, it’s not about that at all. Sonja’s café opens at 6:30 am. It’s past her bedtime.” Derek spoke kindly. He didn’t want to upset his mother again.

“Thank you so much for having me, all of you,” Sonja said. “It was a wonderful meal, and I really enjoyed getting to know you.”

They both circled around exchanging hugs, kisses, or handshakes with each member of the family.

Ekaterina surprised Derek by saying to Sonja, “Please accept my apology for earlier. I can see that you and my son adore each other. I can ask no more than that.”

“Thank you, Ekaterina. The last thing I want to do is come between you and Derek. I look forward to seeing you again soon.”

As the door closed behind them, Sonja gave a sigh of relief that turned into a yawn.

Derek said, “I knew we should have left earlier, but I could tell you were having a good time.”

“It’s okay, Derek, I mean, Daddy. I don’t have to go in tomorrow. Suzie and I talked, and it was so quiet last year that we decided to close tomorrow. I can sleep as late as I want.”

“Good to know.” They arrived at Derek’s car, and he helped Sonja in. As he went around the back of the car to the driver’s side, he noticed he had a broken taillight. He was sure it had been fine when he had picked Sonja up. Teen vandals might beactive in the neighborhood, but that seemed unlikely. Maybe a rock had hit the car, and he hadn’t noticed. He would have to get it fixed. What a pain. Now he would have to take time off work and he really couldn’t afford to do that with all the cases he had on his desk.

Sonja was already asleep by the time he got into the car, so he started the engine and headed toward her apartment. The roads were semi-deserted since most people were already in for the night. As they left Armour Hills, traffic picked up a bit, and he realized a car was coming up behind him too fast for safety. When it caught up, Derek expected the driver to pass, but instead, the car slowed down and followed them. What was up with that? It stayed behind them all the way to Sonja’s but went on past when Derek parked outside. He hadn’t been able to get a good look at the car other than that it was a dark-colored, late model sedan. He couldn’t tell if the driver was male or female. It could be a coincidence, but something niggled at the back of his head about it.

He was sorry to wake Sonja, but there was no help for it. “Babygirl, it’s time to get up.” When she didn’t respond, he reached over and nudged her. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”

“W-what? Where am I?” Sonja was groggy and confused. “I’m sorry, Officer. I’ll move the car. I was just too tired to keep going.”

“Sonja, babygirl. Wake up. You’re having a dream,” Derek said.

“Where am I? This isn’t my car.” Sonja shook herself more awake.

“It’s okay, precious. You’re with me. You’re safe.”

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