Undercover (5 page)

Alex leaned closer and whispered in her ear, “You are so beautiful.”

Could this be a cultural difference? Maybe all Russian men treated women like princesses? In the next moment, something sounding like an elephant came running down the stairs, and there was held back laughter in Alex’s voice when he commented, “I think he likes to make a lot of noise.”

Jenny nodded, grateful for the distraction. “Definitely. One day he will fall and hurt himself.”

Mark jumped the last few steps, landing with a loud thud, and shouted, “It’s a good day. Are you ready?”

Chapter Five

Jenny expected it to be difficult to even talk coherently with Alex’s warm eyes fixed on her, but she did okay with explaining the logistic parts he might need to know. It
was
hard to be professional when perched close together at her little desk, especially when he trailed a finger over her thigh. She whispered, “You’re so bad,” and he put up an innocent face.

Time flew by, and she thought only half an hour or so had passed when Mark stood in the door with his thick winter jacket on. “Aren’t you guys ready yet? Jenny, you have to keep the tempo up… It’s starting to show you’re older.”

He clapped his hands together, chanting, “Tempo, tempo, tempo,” and she rolled her eyes. The gesture inspired him to turn to Alex. “She’s a lot older than me.”

“Yes, I’m probably four months or so older than he, but since it’s the inner age that counts, and since he’s a very old man in a frail young body, I don’t let it bother me too much.”

Nori added, “You look much younger too,” and Mark shook his head and stared at the ceiling. “Well, aren’t you coming?”

Jenny recognized her own lack of comprehension on the others’ faces.

“Seriously, guys? It’s lunchtime. I thought we’d go for Thai today and Italian tonight.”

He pretended to glare at Jenny, “I assume you’re coming as well? I don’t see a way to get rid of you?”

“You are so right. Plus, you’ve forced me to work hard today, so I’ve earned my lunch.”

Nori had been unusually quiet all day. Jenny assumed she wanted to give them some space. Now she shouted, “Thai? Can I come too? Which one are we going to? The new old one, the old one up in town, or…?”

Not long ago, there hadn’t been even one Asian restaurant in the little town, and within two years, six popped up. They were all very popular, and always full. Mark smirked, “Well, I’m buying so I get to decide. It’ll be the new old one.”

Jenny beamed, and she turned to Alex to explain, “That one’s next to the music store, my second favorite store. I think it’s the best, because…”

Nori didn’t let her finish. She made a face, “You just like it because their food is so spicy normal people can’t eat it.”

“Well, they do have a chef from Thailand and not Kentucky, and that’s more than the others can say.”

Mark motioned to them to hurry up. “We go through this every single day. They’re impossible.”

On the way over the parking lot, Nori and Mark fought over whose car to take, and Alex looked very amused. Nori said in a final tone of voice, “Well, I have the good car today, Johnny is stuck with the kids and the Mazda, and I intend to drive it. Jenny will come with me, because we’re roomies and have to stick together.”

Jenny nodded agreement and Nori continued, “And Alex will come with us, because he’s polite, and he likes Jenny. You can go all alone in your car if you want to. You don’t have to spend time with us; we don’t need you.”

Mark sighed and pretended to pray for patience. “Come on Alexei, us men have to stick together.”

It was in vain; the large Russian shook his head. “No. I am sorry my friend. Any wish of this beautiful woman by my side is my command.”

Mark slapped his forehead, and Jenny needed a moment to recognize the warm feeling spreading through her stomach. She was content. Life was good.

*****

Once they actually got into a car it didn’t take long to go to the restaurant. Both Nori and Mark looked surprised when Jenny avoided the most spicy courses, but she had a new set of priorities and wanted to taste good in case of kissing. When everyone was done, Mark asked, “Coffee?”

Alex shook his head and answered with a small grimace, “No, thank you. You seem to drink coffee like we drink vodka.”

There it was again, vodka. Drunken men were annoying. Hopefully, he wouldn’t turn out to be one.

Alex lifted an eyebrow, “It is a beautiful day. Would anyone care to accompany me for a walk back to your office?”

Mark replied quickly and with a lot of humor, “Not if I don’t have to. You seem obsessed with walking, you should have that looked into. Eh, Jen will take you, right?”

Nori shrugged, “Yeah, I can’t go, I have the car.”

It was tempting to say no just to mess with Mark, but time with Alex was much too precious to sacrifice on a prank. “Of course I will. I’m sociable and friendly, not like you.”

Mark chuckled, “Yeah, whatever.”

They were soon strolling arm in arm again, and winter never seemed so beautiful. Did he ask for walks on purpose? Counting on time alone? She gave his arm a little squeeze, and when he smiled, she thought, “I’m so screwed, how could this happen so quickly?”

It
was
a beautiful day. The sky was pale and blue, with the moon visible even in the middle of the day. Alex glanced towards it, “You know, I always wanted to go to space.”

“Me too, but like on Star Trek and not on a rocket. A rocket would take too long; I wouldn’t have the patience to wait.”

He laughed. “Yes, Warp Speed, that’s the way to do it. I can’t imagine why they haven’t invented it yet.”

She smiled inwardly and confessed, “Remember Leonard? He sat opposite you at dinner last night? He thinks I’m an alien in disguise, he even has this list in a drawer with things to check for.”

Alex looked interested, “Well, are you?”

Jenny shrugged, preoccupied with his accent. Surely, the thoughts of a real alien would be more focused on conquest of the planet than on touching another person. “I don’t know. I used to think so, but now I’m not sure.”

He put his hand on top of hers and gave it a little squeeze. “Would you run away with me?”

The question caught her off guard. They stopped walking, and she rested her head against his shoulder, oblivious of the world around them. “Yes. Where do you want to go?”

“I’m not sure. Somewhere warm. Brazil, maybe. Or Australia?”

If the choice was hers, one where people spoke English would be good. “Australia, they have koalas and stuff. Let’s go to Australia.”

Alex murmured, “Come, I can’t make you late again.”

He was right, but she still dragged her feet, and wondered if he was serious.

The afternoon swept Alex away on all sorts of business, or at least that’s what Jenny thought until Mark came back on his own.

“What did you do with my new buddy?” Her voice sounded quite casual. Maybe she could have a future as a spy after all. Being a poker player would also be cool, but she had little talent for cards.

Mark shrugged, “I left him in town. He wanted to look around.”

Without her? It gave a sting of unfocused jealousy difficult to ignore. There wasn’t time to pout; her cell phone rang, and she didn’t recognize the number. It was long and complicated. Spain maybe… What time zone were they in again, shouldn’t Spain have night by now? She answered in her usual merry phone voice meant to make every caller feel welcome, and was surprised to hear Alex’s kind voice. “Hello, sweetheart.”

Now she was happy for real. “Oh, hi.”

He sounded like he was smiling. “What’s the address to your office?”

She realized she was twirling a lock of hair around her finger and forced herself to stop. “That’s a good question. We don’t have a street address, only a postal code and internal postal codes, or, if you want to tell someone the way, you can say it’s right next to the main office.”

It was time to stop babbling, and she shut her mouth so hard her teeth rattled. Alex made it sound as if her incoherent explanation was perfectly reasonable. “The postal code will be fine, and I’ll need the internal one as well.”

What could he be up to? She wouldn’t ask, oh no. When she put the phone down, Nori leaned against the divider wall that separated their desks. She made a funny face. “Oh, didn’t you sound all nice and sweet? Gee, I wonder who that might have been.”

“Would you drop me off at home after work today?”

Her friend laughed. “Of course. Did someone do a little bad car-planning yesterday?”

“Mm-hm, and I don’t feel like walking all the way there.”

Chapter Six

The next morning, Alex’s suitcase stood packed just inside the door. Jenny wanted to cry, but it would be a bad idea. Big girls shouldn’t cry, right? If she started, she wouldn’t be able to stop, and she needed to see to be able to drive him to the airport.

Alex paused just inside the door and pulled her close. “Please believe me, I’m not leaving for good.”

She rested her face against his chest and closed her eyes for a moment. She needed to remember his smell, and the texture of his coat. “I’m really gonna miss you.”

Alex rested his head against hers, held her tighter, and murmured, “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I have to report in and take care of a few things. I’m leaving now, but you must not ever think I’m leaving
you
.”

She didn’t want to move. If she didn’t move, he couldn’t go. It was childish reasoning, of course, and she found some inner strength she didn’t know she possessed, looked up, and managed an almost natural smile. “I love you.”

It was too early to confess a thing like that, but she
had
said it the day before, and the words hadn’t made him vanish.

“I love you too. You must remember that.”

Whether it was true or not, these were the best words she heard in her life. “You probably say that to everyone.”

He laughed, and she lifted both eyebrows in surprise. It wasn’t
that
funny.

“I really, really don’t. I’ll tell you about it some time.”

The airport was usually far away, the drive took well over an hour, but this day getting there went much too quickly. Jenny could have sworn only minutes passed before she pulled the car into a big, underground parking garage. Alex took her hand and kissed her fingers. “Do you want to come with me inside?”

She did and she didn’t; every minute with him was precious, but drawing this out wouldn’t make it easier. “No. I don’t want to embarrass you by crying.”

“Would you cry?”

Clueless like only a man could be. “Oh yes.”

He eyed her and nodded. “Okay.”

She expected a goodbye kiss, but he just pressed his palm against her cheek, said, “
Do svedaniya
,” and left the car.

Jenny kept her eyes fixed on his back. She wanted to run after him, but it wouldn’t make anything better.

He turned around to wave goodbye when he reached the door. She waved back, and drove away before he could see tears flowing down her cheeks.

She didn’t reach the office until lunchtime, and accomplished a grand sum of nothing the rest of the day. A part of her must have left with him, because her heart didn’t seem to be where it should. Maybe she accidentally put it in his suitcase. When it was almost time to go home, she heard one of her colleagues outside, sounding curious, “She’s in there.”

A woman with a knitted hat pulled down over her ears peeked in. “You Jenny Moore? I have flowers for ya.”

The words made no sense. She was numb, as if she’d entered some previously unknown stand-by mode. “For me? Are you kidding?”

During all her life, someone sent flowers to her home once, and never to the office.

The woman in the hat shook her head and smiled, holding out an enormous package. “Not kidding, here you go.”

A moment later, Nori stood next to her, almost jumping up and down. “Open them, open them, open them.”

She did, and stared at a multitude of large red flowers. “I’ve never seen so many at a time before.”

“Wow, I guess you were right about this being an exciting year. Is there a card?”

There was a card, it was just difficult to find amongst the petals. It said, “I love you. Please take care of my fairy for me until I return. Perhaps she can stay in your window? /A”

Jenny had a lump in her throat and couldn’t speak. Nori squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll get you a vase.”

*****

Einstein was on to something with time being relative. Normally, the weekends disappeared far too quickly, but this Friday evening and Saturday never ended. It might not have been so bad on a weekday when she could go to work and keep busy, have things to focus on, and people to talk to, but alone with the cat for company, she climbed the walls.

She wandered around the apartment, vacuumed just to have something to do, and vacuumed again. There was nothing on TV, at least not interesting enough for her to focus on, and she couldn’t work up the energy to go anywhere or do anything.

Friday evening slowly turned into night, and a bed never seemed so empty. Alex had never been in it, but she dreamt of him, and woke up with a feeling of something valuable being stolen from her. Trying to return to the dream didn’t work, of course, and she moseyed up to make some coffee.

Saturday was no better than Friday. At least not until late in the afternoon when her phone rang. Her lover sounded a little drunk, but she didn’t care. He was further away than she could imagine, probably just came home, and still remembered to call her. “What time is it for you?”

“It’s… late. I don’t know. Almost Sunday morning. One thirty, maybe…”

Eight hours from her. “You should go to sleep. You’ve been travelling forever.”

“Yeah, but it’s no fun… alone, you know…”

They chatted for a little while, and when he hung up, her heart hurt less, but she was also even lonelier than before. Her hand hovered over the phone. The worst thing that could happen was giving him something to laugh at; he was drunk and unwilling to sleep, and would probably find it amusing. She called him, and he sounded surprised when he answered, “Hello, sweetheart.”