Page 7 of All or Something

“Galina!” I shout as she storms toward the exit. Just as I scan the room for the waitress, I find her hurrying my way with my card. I snatch it, mutter a thanks, and run after Galina. Where she thinks she's going, I'm not sure. She's trying to cross the street it seems. Running faster, I try to catch her. Affair wasn't the best choice of words, but it was the only one coursing through my mind.

The sound of a rumbling engine hits me first. And then I see the car from the corner of my eye. Galina doesn't appear to be paying attention, wrapped so much in her anger.

“Galina!” I shout again. I push my legs harder. Relief fills me as I reach out to wrap my fingers around her wrist and then yank her back to me. The car speeds past us as if we're not even standing here and as if they didn't almost run her over. “You okay?” I ask, turning her to face me.

“I'm fine!” she snaps, wiggling out of my hold. “Are you telling me you haven't been with anyone else, Sergey? Truly? No one? No one at all? Not even once?”

My hands fall to my sides. I slowly shake my head. Her eyes widen as it sinks in. “But we were only seventeen. Are you... Does that mean you're a...”

I laugh, realizing what she's asking. “I haven't been with anyone since we got married.” My smile falls away. “Whether you were here or not, temptations or not, I couldn't break those vows.” There have been many times I've thought about it. Many, many times. Nine years is a long time. I've been on the precipice of breaking those vows, but then it's like a stone wall falls down before me as quickly as the urge came to be. Reality hits and it's as if the woman’s face morphs into Galina's. I simply can't do it, knowing it isn’t actually her in front of me. Many times, it has felt like a curse.

Galina takes another step back with her disbelief. She stumbles as her foot slips off the curb. Like a snake striking its prey, my hand reaches out and I pull her back to me. She steadies, but only because she's leaning against me. Galina stares at me for a moment. Her eyes narrow, crinkling at the corners.

“How do I know you aren't lying?”

Something within me snaps. Perhaps it’s the nine years of abstinence. Nine years of waiting around on a woman who never wanted to come around anyway. Nine years of doing what wasright. And she has the gall to question me? Question my faithfulness? Question my honesty?

Who the fuck does she think she is?

I drop my hold, step backward, and she nearly falls as she was still on the edge of the curb.

“Find your own way home.” Turning on my heels, I storm off to my SUV. I have done nothing to cause her to doubt me. Never have I lied to her. I haven't been given many opportunities, but still. Fury bubbles within me that she would question me. Leaving Galina at the restaurant feels wrong and irresponsible, but she's a big girl.

In actuality, I make it half a mile before turning around. I park nearby to spy on Galina. She's standing close to the curb still, waiting. Anger over her insinuating I was lying pulses through my veins enough that I don't go get her. Instead, I wait and watch. A few minutes pass and a car pulls up. She gets in and I follow behind. Pissed off or not, I can still make sure she finds her way back safely.

If this is how date one went, I have no idea how we're going to make it through two more. Maybe she was right all along and we should get a divorce.

Four

Galina

“This is good news,yes? You are living with Sergey, so now your marriage can continue. You two can reconnect and finally have children.”

Why did I answer the phone call from his mother? It's hard not to, honestly. Partly out of respect to them and partly because it's not like I would be ignoring my own parents. I'm ignoring someone else's parents and that seems to take the level of wrongness to, well, another level. Or maybe I’m a glutton for punishment.

“Actually, we're contemplating divorce.”

The gasp she makes is so loud and startled that I feel horrible. I'm probably about to give the poor woman a heart attack.

“You can't do that! You two were meant for one another!”

Are we, though? Would it really be the worst thing in the world if Sergey and Ifinallywent our separate ways to forge our own paths in life? I don’t think it would. Hell, I’ve been trying to do that for years already, but you can’t really move forward when something like this is following you around ever so closely.

“Mrs. Orlovsky, please,” I say just as Sergey walks in the door. His entire expression hardens at immediately realizing I'm on the phone with his mother. He storms over to where I sit at the bar, plucks the phone from my hand, and shocks me as much as I just shocked his mother. In our native language, he berates his mother so fluently and strongly that it overwhelms me.

And turns me on?

I shake my head to shoo those thoughts away. Sure, he said he would handle his parents, mine too if needed, but I never thought he actually would. All these years, no one has bothered standing up for me when I needed help. Why would now be any different?

Yet, here Sergey is. Talking to his mother as if she’s a child in need of a stern talking-to. I most definitely swoon.

Sergey paces as he speaks. His mother barely gets a word in edgewise, but within a few minutes, he tells her he loves her and hangs up. He hands my phone back to me with one hand while the other runs through his hair.

“She won't be bothering you again,” he reassures me.

My eyes widen. I was so lost in watching him that I didn't even pay attention to the actual conversation. She really won’t call again? Is he sure?

“I'm sorry you've been dealing with that. They don't even mention you when they call me.”

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