Page 106 of Secret Husband
The sight of my strong, tough-as-nails Lauren breaking down crushed me. I hated to think I might bear some responsibility for the pressure she was under, so I resolved to do everything I could to give her comfort.
Leaving my car, I grabbed her bag and we approached my house. As I placed my key in the door, she gripped my arm. “Will my being here upset your dad?”
“I don’t know. To be honest, he probably won’t remember you.”
Sadness mixed with empathy fluttered across her brow. “I’m so sorry, Alexei.”
I inhaled deeply. “We are quite the pair, yes? With the weight of the world on our shoulders.”
“At least, we’re here for each other. That’s what friends do.”
I nodded, the emotion of the moment preventing speech. Anyway, what would I say? Thank you for being my friend, but I want more. I always had, despite the lies I’d told, old and new.
I pushed open the door. “Papa? Maya? I am back.”
Maya called out. “We’re in the dining room!”
I placed Lauren’s bag down in the hallway and headed in. My father sat at the large mahogany table with Maya in front of a large jigsaw puzzle. The corner edges were taking shape into an image that looked floral and green.
“A puzzle? How are we doing?”
My father looked up, his face blanker than ever on seeing me. Every time, a little part of the man I knew melted into a cobwebbed corner of his mind.
“We’re doing great,” Maya said. “Sasha and I had macaroni and cheese for dinner.”
“And pills,” he added, sounding annoyed and more like himself.
“Pills for dessert,” Maya said. “With jello. Lime flavor, your favorite, Sasha.”
She smiled at a point over my shoulder. “Hello, I think we met.”
Lauren smiled back. “Yep. My post-sex exit, a classic.”
That made Maya laugh, and my father joined in, though he probably didn’t know why.
“Well, Sasha, I’m heading out. Your son is here now, and I’m sure he’d love to help with the puzzle.”
“Definitely. Papa, do you remember Lauren?”
My father looked at my wife. “Of course I do. She plays hockey.”
Lauren looked surprised. “Yes, I do. Well, I did.”
“My son says you are his favorite player, girl or boy.” My father peered up at me, the sudden clarity in his expression almost undoing me. Did he remember Lauren from all those years ago? I had talked about her enough. “He followed you all over.”
Yes, I did. And here I am, still chasing you, Silver Eyes.
Lauren shared a mischievous look with me, then turned back to my father. “He’s always been obsessed with me.”
My father chuckled. “Love and hockey, good obsessions to have.”
Sometimes, he sounded just like the Sasha of old. “Maya, can you wait a second while I show Lauren the bathroom? A pipe burst in her house so her shower is not working.”
My father’s nurse raised an eyebrow.
Lauren laughed again. The husky sound refilled my well, which had been running low of late. “I arrived home to find my bathroom had flooded and this guy painting my living room.”
“Quite the move,” Maya said with a wink.
