Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Coughing, I finally abandoned the shower and wrapped myself in a clean towel. There wasn’t much I could do about my hair other than give it a quick shake and hope for the best, and after changing into a relatively clean pair of yoga pants and a hoodie, I rejoined Nico in the kitchen.
The air smelled like hot, fried oil and I was surprised to see Nico standing in front of the stove with a spatula in his hand.
“Draniki,” Nico said, with the faintest hint of a smile on his handsome face.
I blinked.
“Russian potato pancakes,” Nico added. He chuckled quietly. “My nanny made this for me when I was young and sick. It might help.”
I swallowed hard. To my embarrassment, I found that I was close to tears. Nico put his hand on the small of my back and guided me over to the table where I sat down. I didn’t think that I was hungry but when he pushed a plate of hot fried potatoes under my nose, I was suddenly ravenous and I had to force myself to take small bites and thoroughly chew before swallowing. The simple food was amazingly delicious – maybe even the best thing I had ever eaten – and my plate was clean in seconds.
“See,” Nico said. “You just needed a little sustenance, that’s all.” He passed me a fresh mug of coffee and I inhaled deeply before taking a long swig.
“More?” Nico gestured to my plate but I shook my head. Now that I was clean and had food in my belly, the idea of Nico being in my apartment in broad daylight was more than just far-fetched.
It was practically surreal.
I took a deep breath. “I know you have questions,” I said, glancing up at Nico through the tangles of my wet hair.
He nodded once, a simple, elegant gesture.
“And you deserve the answers.”
My hands were shaking and I put them in my lap, then balled them into fists to make the trembling subside. Then, I forced myself to look into Nico’s sapphire gaze. All I could was hope that he wasn’t about to try to take Ada, to make me look like an unfit mother. My shitty apartment, the fact that I’d let her get sick in the first place, even the way I felt so awkward now all seemed like huge pieces of evidence that Nico could lob against me in court, if that was what he wanted to do.
Nico scooted his chair closer to mine. He reached into my lap and took both of my hands in one of his large ones, then gave my fingers a gentle squeeze.
“Tell me whenever and however you need to,” he said. “We’ll figure it out.”
I nodded, still feeling numb.
“But I do want to know one thing?”
I looked up at him again with wide, frightened eyes.
“What?” I whispered.
“What’s her name?” Nico asked.
“Oh.” I cleared my throat. “Her name is Ada. Ada Evelyn.”
He smiled. “Ada,” he repeated. “That’s pretty.”
I nodded slowly. “Yes,” I said. “It is.”
Nico was still smiling, and his smile was what did it, what finally broke the dam inside of me. Before I could stop myself, I was tearing up and crying as intensely as I’d done in front of my father the night before.
“I never meant to run into you again,” I gasped, yanking my hand free from Nico’s and covering my mouth. “I just wanted a fresh start – I, I had been living with my dad, in Boston, and I’d finally gotten another job in New York and I wanted to be on my own with Ada. And when I saw you, when I saw you I was so angry!” Pausing, I sniffled and wiped my nose on the back of my hand.
“I was so angry, Nico. It was like fate had thrown you into my life again when I was so ready to move on and never think about you, and as soon as I saw you I knew I wouldn’t be able to forget you – not now, or not ever. And all I could think about was how angry I was, and how afraid I was, and—”
Nico gave a brief shake of his head, which was enough to get me to shut up.
“Afraid? Why,” Nico asked. “Do I really frighten you?”
I swallowed hard. “No,” I told him. “But I was afraid of losing my daughter. I know your family is like, super rich, and I thought that if you found out that you had a kid running around in the world somewhere, you’d immediately want to swoop in and take her from me and that would be it and I’d be powerless to stop you.”
Nico pulled me into his arms and held me against his strong chest. My heart was pounding and my mind was spinning – I’d just confessed everything, and he wasn’t even asking me any questions.