Page 64 of Touch Me Not

He pulled out the drawer under the stove. There was exactly one pan. Thankfully, it was a large one. She took it, and he leaned against the counter beside the stove and watched her put the layers of lasagna together.

It felt good to have her in his kitchen, cooking. No one had cooked for him since he’d come to America. His uncle told them if they wanted dinner, it was up to them. They’d scrounged around. Ate lots of sandwiches and takeout. He hadn’t had a home-cooked meal since he’d visited his parents over a year ago.

It was nice.

Once she’d put the pan in the oven, he helped her clean up. Neither of them spoke. Tension hummed in the air around them, and Nikoli fought to keep his hands to himself.

“It’s gonna take about an hour for the lasagna to get done, and then it’ll have to rest for another half hour or forty-five minutes.”

“So, what do you want to do for the next two hours?” He knew what he’d like to do.

“Well…” She twisted her hands, one of her tells. “I thought…maybe…”

“You thought maybe what,Milaya?”

“You said we’d talk about Laney every day, and my therapist thinks it’s a good idea.”

“You talked to your therapist about us?”

She nodded. “She had some interesting thoughts about you.”

“Really?”

“But I’m not telling you about our session, so don’t ask. Doctor-patient confidentiality and all that.”

“Okay, Lily Bells, I won’t ask. Let me grab us some drinks out of the fridge, and then you can tell me a story about you and Laney.”

She smiled hesitantly and picked up her bookbag off one of the barstools. When she sat down, she reached inside and pulled out a photo album.

He settled down beside her, handing her one of her nasty cherry Dr. Peppers.

“I haven’t looked at this since before she died, but I thought maybe with you here, I might have the courage to open it.”

He smiled and leaned over, careful to let her see what his intentions were, then kissed her temple. A shiver went through her, and he sat back, content. He was glad she trusted him enough to share something so personal with him.

Lily licked her lips and took a fortifying breath before opening the album. A picture of her and Laney took up the entire first page. They were eleven and at the state fair, cowboy hats perched on their heads, and they had on identical jean shorts and green tank tops.

“Which one are you?”

Lily felt his shoulder press into hers as he leaned over to look and let her breath out then breathed in deeply. As long as he didn’t take her by surprise, she could tolerate him touching her. When it became too much, she knew he’d back off.

But for now, she liked how it felt, liked the heat seeping into her skin from his. It gave her the strength she needed to look at these photos.

“This one.” She tapped the girl on the left. “We decided to dress alike and confuse everyone. By the time we were done, our parents were ready to murder us. It was a good day. One of the last days we spent together as a family. Dad died at the end of the summer.”

“I’m so sorry you lost them both.”

She turned the page. It was a picture of her, Laney, and Adam in front of the barn on his dad’s farm. “Adam dared us to jump off the roof onto the hay bales. Laney didn’t want to, but I was the first one up there. I broke my arm when I fell. Mom grounded us for a month. We were nine.”

“And Boy Wonder?”

“I thought his dad was going to kill him. It was the one and only time I think his dad ever laid a hand on him, but he tore him up with a switch.”

“A switch? What’s that?”

“You guys didn’t have those in Russia?”

“My English is good, but sometimes I don’t always get all the different meanings of things.”

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