Page 21 of Golden Days

I shoot her a smile as I put my shoes on. “I slept in,” I say.

“Are you sick?” she asks, walking up to me and placing her palm against my forehead.

“No, I think exhaustion finally caught up to me,” I say with a sigh.

She takes her hand back and gives me a motherly look. It’s part scornful, part concerned, and it makes my heart hurt. How I wish my own mother was still around.

Would she have helped me navigate my divorce? Would she have given me advice? Or would she have taken my dad’s side and cut me out of her life the same way he did?

Roxana pats the scruff on my cheek with a calloused hand. “You need rest. And some good food. I make borscht for you, yes?”

I muster up a smile. I’m not much of a cook myself, and when Roxana makes some of her favorite Russian dishes, I’m too touched to refuse. “That sounds delicious, thank you.”

“Did you clean the fuzzy demons’ poop?” She chuckles, referring to the cats’ litter boxes.

I roll my eyes, my hand wrapped around the doorknob. “Yes, I cleaned the whole laundry room, so you don’t have to.”

“You know I get headaches from the smell,” she grumbles.

“I think you should get a cat, then you can add litter boxes to your résumé,” I joke.

“Pshh, I don’t need a résumé. You’re stuck with me, mal’chishka.”

Early on, when I hired Roxana, she joked that she’ll be able to retire in a few years based on the salary I pay her to come in once a week. Hopefully she won’t retire too soon. She’s been a lifesaver.

“I sure hope so,” I say, and make my way out the door.

I squint up at the sun and use my hand to cover my eyes as I jog to the guest house. The door is unlocked, so I walk in. “Ezra?” I ask, looking around the main room and kitchenette.

There’s a thump and a hissed “Shit” coming from the bedroom and I frown. “Ezra, are you okay?”

“Um, yes?” he says, voice muffled by the closed door.

I knock, not wanting to intrude, but worried he might have hurt himself somehow. “You sure?”

The door springs open and a flushed Ezra grins at me. “Yep, never better.”

I look behind him, making sure that I didn’t barge in on some hookup, but he’s alone. “What were you doing?”

“Getting a little invasive with these questions, now, Levi,” he says, patting my chest, his touch lingering just a little longer than it should. “Are you jealous?”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “Jealous of what?”

“Of the girl I was sexting with?”

“Ugh, is that really what you were doing?” I ask, faking a gag.

“You asked.” He winks and smirks at me. “Do you still think about that night?” he teases.

My cheeks heat and I smack his hand away. “Will you ever let me live that down?” I groan, turning away from him and walking to the gym room at the end of the short hallway.

“It’s the one thing I hold over you, of course I’m never gonna let it go. I should have brought it up at your wedding,” he says, laughing.

At the mention of my wedding, I pin him with a stare, but he ignores it, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

“Stop flirting with me. That night was—” I blow a frustrated breath, running a hand through my hair.

The night of our boarding school graduation, we were at Ezra’s childhood home. During the party that his parents threw for us, Ezra and I stole a bottle of whiskey, got drunk in his pool house and…made out. Well, there was more than just kissing involved. But the next day, we both agreed that it was a mistake and that it shouldn’t be something worth ruining our friendship over. So I’ve never brought it up. But Ezra will tease me about it every chance he gets.