all this came to past. Things like this just didn’t happen. Fairytales aren’t real. Princes don’t ride in on white horses and carry you away to far off kingdoms. But, maybe, just maybe, once in a great while, they do.
On the way home, she stopped and bought her babushka some soft candy she knew the old woman loved. She also bought the shoes with her Misha in mind and seriously looked, for the first time ever, at clothes that were previously unthinkable. Since she paid cash for the expensive shoes without batting an eye, the sales people took her seriously and hovered around her, continually asking her if she had any questions. Natalya enjoyed every second of the experience, telling them she would probably be back and asking serious questions about items in which she was interested.
When she walked in her front door, she could smell the borsch and black bread. Her babushka hobbled around on her toeless feet and cackled to herself in Yakut.
“Kind evening, Dear Heart. How was your day?”
“The same, Little Bird. How was yours?”
“Good, good.”
She waited, teasing her babushka just a little.
“Well?”
“Well what, Dear Heart?”
“Did you go to the American Express?”
“Oh, that. Yes I did,” she said, trying to suppress a smile.
Her babushka knew her well enough to see it was good news. “Little Bird, I see your pretty eyes. I see right into you.”
Natalya laughed and ran to her grandmother. “It’s true, babushka! It’s all true! It was there! You should have seen the bank manager and his son. They couldn’t do enough for me. They almost wet themselves when they thought I might take the money out.”
Babushka laughed and clapped her hands. “Oh, Little Bird, how wonderful!”
It did not occur to Natalya that this might not be real. Didn’t she have the picture to prove that they belonged together? Didn’t one look at her picture convince him that she belonged to him? Plus, she was just having too much fun to think about anything else.
Natalya took the candy out of her purse and gave it to her grandmother. “I bought you a celebration present.”
Her old dark eyes grew wide with excitement. “Candy! Ummmm!”
She picked up the other bag and showed her babushka the shoes she bought. “I think my Misha will like these.”
They looked at each other.
“So, Little Bird, you’re rich.”
“No, Dear Heart, we’re rich.”
Chapter 10
Mike parked his truck in front of Donna’s house and took a deep breath, knowing that if Natalya knew about Donna she would be upset.
Donna had called him two days ago and reminded him that they were going to eat a pizza and drink some beer and then see a movie. She also said that if he didn’t show up she was coming over and kicking his ass. He laughed at that and said he would pick her up at about six thirty.
He got out of his truck and walked to the door. He knocked and Donna opened the door wearing Levi’s and a San Francisco Forty Niners tee shirt. She was still bare footed.
“It’s about time you showed up.”
“Hey,” he replied, “I’m on time.”
“I know,” she smiled. “I just like to mess with you.”
“I didn’t know you were a Forty Niners fan.”
“I’m a huge Forty Niners fan.” She wasn’t really, but she remembered him talking about the Forty Niners once and figured he was.
“Me, too. I love the Forty Niners.”
“You should take me to a game sometime.”
“Yeah, maybe so.”
She left the room and came back in less than a minute with some socks and high-heeled boots.
As she put them on, Mike asked, “What do you want to see tonight?”
“I want to see that new scary flick’”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve heard of that. My brother and Tracy went and saw that. They said it was pretty freaky. It scared the crap out of Tracy.”
She stood up and stretched. The tee shirt was tight to begin with, but the stretch made it tighter and Mike remembered how those perfect breasts looked while she danced.
“Are we ready?” he asked, trying to get his mind going in another direction.
“Ready, Freddy. Could you get the brown leather coat out of the closet by the door?”
Mike got it and helped her on with it.
“You’ve got a nice ass, Valentine.”
“You do too, Bertilli.”
She did, and the tight Levi’s displayed it perfectly. Mike again thought that this was a bad idea.
After she got her coat on, she turned to him and curtsied. “Thank you, sir.”
He opened the door for her and they walked out to his truck. “Where do you want to eat?” he asked.
“There’s a sports bar out on Sunrise and Fair Oaks that serves a pretty mean pizza, and it’s on the way to the theater at Sunrise Mall. The movie starts at seven forty five.”
“Great. You’ve got this all worked out.”
“Of course I do. I’m a planner Mikey; I’ve always have a plan.”
When they got to the sports bar, there was a college football game on and the place was semi full with mostly men of all ages and backgrounds. Maybe one customer in five was a woman. People at some tables had obviously been there awhile because they were louder and drunker than people at the other tables.
After he ordered the pizza and sat down, she asked, “Ever been here before?”
“No, never. I take it you have.”
“I come here quite a bit with some people at my office. We have a lot of fun, and they serve a good pizza.”
As was Mike’s habit, he sat with his back to the wall so he could see if anything or anyone was coming at him.
Donna watched his eyes go from table to table and knew he was checking for any possible danger. “You’re always on guard, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you can’t let yourself relax for a second. I know you were scoping the place out for any guy you may need to tear a new asshole at some point.”
“It’s that obvious?”
“Of course it is. You remind me of a Marine on guard duty in Iraq.”
They both laughed. “Hey, don’t call me a Marine. I was in the Army, thank you very much.”
“Hey, well, point is Valentine, I’ve decided to launch operation ‘loosen Mikey up.’ Now, you wait here. I’m going to get us a pitcher of beer.”
She got up and walked to the counter. Mike notice that almost every male in the place was watching her walk in those Levi’s. In a couple of minutes, she walked back with a pitcher and two plastic glasses. After pouring the beers, she held up her glass in a toast.
“Here’s to rest and relaxation.”
Mike clicked her glass with his and said, “To rest and relaxation.”
They drank and talked until the pizza came. When Mike bit into it, he couldn’t believe how delicious it tasted. “Damn,” he said, “I’d