Page 31 of Scarred (Russian Sinners 2)

“You ready?” I asked her laughing. She smiled widely and took a few steps back to speed up and jumped into the pool.

Splash.

She came up for air. “Was it big?”

“It was huge,” I told her. “It was so much bigger than mine. Should we do it again? Maybe I have a chance to do it better.”

She nodded eagerly and we both hurried out of the pool to do it again. And again. And again.

Three hours of jumping into the pool, sunbathing, then jumping into the pool again and we finally called it quits. Both of us wrapped into towels, we walked back to the house relaxed.

“I’m starving,” I announced as we entered the house and Andrey watched us smiling. “You?”

“Yes,” she agreed. I was surprised to note it was past four in the afternoon.

I took her hand. “Show me where the kitchen is please. Maybe the cook will let me fix us American style sandwiches. Would you like that?”

Another squeal and she dragged me laughingly in the direction of the kitchen where I got re-introduced to the cook and met her daughter that was actually my age.

“Hello, I’m Katja,” she greeted me. “You must be Olivia that everyone is talking about.”

“Who’s everyone?” I asked, finding it odd that anyone would be talking about me.

“The household. We love anyone new, especially when it’s a woman. There are too many men in this house.”

“You live here too?” Nikolai didn’t introduce me to her earlier. She must have been out and about.

“Oh, no! I live with my boyfriend in the center of the city,” she divulged. “I come to visit our little Tasha so she knows some girls and we can talk about girl stuff.”

I wondered what girl stuff could she possibly have to talk about with a six-year-old.

“Katja’s boyfriend is going to ask Katja to marry her. It is so romantic,” Tasha sighed dreamily.

Aha! At least now I knew where Nikolai’s ward got her obsession with romance. We would have to find some children closer to Tasha’s age for her to play with.

I quickly fixed Tasha her sandwich, before starting to mine. I wasn’t sure if these sandwiches were official American style sandwiches. I guess if I put a little bit of everything on them, they will be. I found during the last summer that our sandwiches compared to European ones were overloaded with everything… too much of everything but I guess it was what made it even more delicious.

“Does anyone else want a sandwich, American style?” I offered.

Andrey walked in and seized the opportunity. “I do.”

Surprisingly, Katja and her mother accepted the offer too so I quickly got to work. The sandwiches were overloaded with mayo, ham, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, banana peppers, and lots and lots of calories.

“This is pretty good,” Andrey commended. “Lots of stuff on it.”

I chortled. “Yes, it is. Americans load their sandwiches with everything.”

We all sat around a small table, five of us cramped in the kitchen as we ate like we have never eaten before. I realized I looked a bit ridiculous, still wrapped up in a towel while every adult around the table was fully dressed. It didn’t matter because Tasha’s gleaming smile was bright as the sun.

“So are you Nikolai’s girlfriend?” Katja asked me, catching me off guard with such directness.

“No.”

“Yes,” Tasha answered at the same time.

Katja’s gaze shifted curiously, although I wasn’t sure why she would ever consider what a six-year-old was saying about dating.

“We are just friends,” I added, looking at Tasha pointedly. She smiled as if she knew something I didn’t then shrugged her shoulder. She really had too many qualities of an adult. I guess it was a result of hanging out with adults only.

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