Page 69 of Greed
Donnie used to get infuriated and snarky, then he’d come back, all sweetness and sugar the next time he wanted something, he always did. It took her a long time to understand that was another form of abuse.
Before knocking on Misha’s door, Lilo opened her big satchel bag and pulled her bottle of recently bought vodka out, careful not to knock her spy phone. She’d gone back for it after she was left in the stairwell and was eager to upload the photographs the following day. The police had been at the warehouse, but she’d managed to retrieve the phone before anyone noticed. She didn’t, however, manage to get out before she was noticed and had to give her statement. In the end, it wasn’t all bad. One of the uniformed officers drove her to the subway, and she safely got herself out of the city.
And there she was. In suburbia. Lilo knocked on the door to the pleasant home. It had a white picket fence, blue walls and white trim. The garden was full of flowering roses and sunflowers that had accidentally bloomed to face the house. The sun must shine from over the other side. A little dog yapped, and the light came on inside. The door opened and a man the same age as her father came hurtling out with a baseball bat.
“Who are you? What you want?” His Polish accent was thick and disjointed.
“It’s me, Vooyek.” It was how she said uncle in Polish, and she’d known the man for years, so had been firmly asked to use it anytime she was invited to the Minksi home. It was spelled Wujek, but she still couldn’t pronounce it correctly, and he never minded. She held out the bottle of vodka she’d bought on the way and flinched. “I’m so sorry it’s late, but is Misha home? I know she’s not at her city apartment this week.”
He shielded his eyes from the glaring street lamps. “Lilo, that you? What you doing here so late?”
“I…” she choked up.
He glanced at the bottle in her hand, frowned, and then put his bat down. Vooyek was a short man with a round face. He’d lost his wife when his youngest son, Alek was born. A sadness to his eyes had never left.
“Come.” He took her by the shoulder. “Nieszczescia chodza parami.Misery loves company tonight. She is inside with the rest.”
“What happened?” Lilo wiped her nose and stepped into the warm house, instantly thawing out.
“Restaurant was attacked again.”
“Again! She wasn’t hurt?”
“Nye, but her pride. You know my daughter, she try to reason with them and they throw back in her face. Next time, will be more than my shop they break if we do not pay the crook their monies.”
Lilo had come looking for a shoulder to cry on, and a friend to help drown her sorrows, but instead, she’d found a family in need.
“Lilo?” Misha’s blond, curly head popped around from the kitchen, along with other members of her family. Her aunt Ciocia, her twenty-year-old sister Roksana, and both grandparents were awake.
“Hi Misha. I hope I’ve not woken anyone else.” She glanced around to check.
Misha snorted, coming to meet her in the living area and giving her a big hug. “It’s only Alek asleep and he’s deaf. He can’t hear a thing.”
Lilo enjoyed the embrace and tried not to cry.
Misha pulled back and eyed her suspiciously. “To what do I owe this pleasure so late in the evening?”
“Um.” She bit her lip.
“I mean, usually it’s me knocking on your door at all hours to get you to come and party.”
Misha was the lovable black sheep of the family. Her motto in life was,If it feels good, do it. Even if it felt good at three in the morning, and even if that meant waking the entire neighborhood in the process, but despite her devil-may-care attitude, she was loyal to a fault and protective of her friends.
Lilo glanced over Misha’s shoulder to where the family pretended not to listen from their kitchen table. They all sat around a pine round table, playing a game of cards. Canasta if Lilo’s memory served correct. Vooyek had opened the vodka and was pouring little shot glasses for everyone.
“Come and sit on the couch.” Misha sat on the two seater floral monstrosity and patted the space next to her.
The rest of the room was decorated in old seventies decor. Wooden bowls and vases were on the mantle, and macrame tapestries hung on the walls. The cream and brown wallpaper behind the macrame peeled a little, but still looked very retro chic. A fire crackled in the fireplace with a glossy wooden mantle that held portraits of the family, plus one big one of Misha’s deceased mother at the center, next to a golden Madonna—the religious kind, not the pop star kind. It all smelled a little musty, but homey and warm. In fact, so warm and safe that when Lilo was stuck in that cold, desolate alley South-Side, she couldn’t think of a nicer place to be—even if it was across the bridge and onto the mainland.
Lilo sat, feeling a little foolish that she’d come all that way.
“I… uh.”
Misha caught the tears in Lilo’s eyes. “Siostra, whatever it is, you can tell me.”
Hearing Misha call her sister, was the tipping point. An ache as big as a chasm grew in her chest as she yearned for the big family she knew she’d never have. Not with her father and mother, not with any man. They were all lost causes.
At least she had friends.
