Page 149 of Nine Months to Bear
“You should call him,” Camille says.
“And say what?”
“‘Thank you? I love you? Please come home and rail me against the nearest flat surface?’”
“Camille!”
“What? I’m just saying what you’re thinking.”
She’s not wrong.
I pick up my phone. Type. Delete. Type again.
Finally, I settle on simple. Honest.
I know I have no right to ask, but come home tonight, Stefan. Please.
I hit send before I can second-guess myself.
56
OLIVIA
When I walk in the door after work, the smell hits me before I even see what Elena’s doing in the kitchen. Raw beef, metallic and thick. It makes my stomach roil.
“Oh, God.” I press my hand to my mouth.
Elena looks up from the cutting board, knife paused mid-slice. “You okay,milaya?”
“Yeah, just… the smell.”
“Raw meat bothers you?” She squints at me. “Since when?”
Since this morning, apparently. “I’m fine. Just nervous.”
“Mm.” She goes back to slicing. “Nervous about cooking? Or nervous about who you’re cooking for?”
Both. Definitely both.
“Here.” She slides a bowl of mushrooms toward me. “You do these. Less bloody.”
I grab the knife gratefully, happy to be focusing on the mushrooms instead of my churning stomach. Or the fact that Stefan will be here in an hour. Or that I have no idea what I’m going to say to him.
Thank you for the articleseems insufficient.
I think I’m falling for youseems insane.
“In Russia, we have a saying,” Elena says, interrupting my downward spiral. “‘The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.’ But really, it works both ways. He loves you, so he’ll love whatever you give him.”
“It’s just dinner,” I insist.
“Nothing is ever ‘just’ anything.” She seasons the beef without even bothering to look. “You cook for someone, you’re saying something.”
“Oh, yeah? What am I saying?”
She smiles. “What do you think?”
I massacre a mushroom instead of answering.
