-03-
Saturday morning found Galina in her office, filing paperwork and preparing her inventory for the next month's order. While she would have preferred to be on the floor helping Nicky and Maxsim tend to the patrons in her store, she was insanely behind. She hadn't done the best job keeping things in order since her divorce, and now she was now paying the price. Sighing tiredly, she mechanically hole-punched a stack of order forms and clipped them into a three-ring binder.
Her phone vibrated against the desk and without even looking at it, she knew it was Gloria. They'd talked every day since they'd met, and even though it had only been a week Galina felt as if she'd known Gloria her whole life. Conversations never felt forced or uncomfortable, and it was nice to have someone who was just hers, that cared to know how her day was going.
She wasn't a woman who had many friends, but Gloria felt different from anyone that she had ever met. After the baseball game they had attended earlier that week, they'd gone to a bar and had dinner and a few drinks, laughing at how insane the night had been. Galina had teased her about the young man who'd kissed her, exclaiming that he was young enough to be her son.
"Don't be jealous," Gloria had rolled her eyes. "If you weren't so caught up in your ways, you would have kissed me too."
"Please, you're so conceited."
"Nah, just confident. I've been told I'm a pretty good kisser."
Where Gloria got the confidence to say some of the things that she did, Galina wasn't sure. She reminded her a lot of Nicky though and she wondered if that was why she enjoyed her company so much. Gloria didn't seem like the type of woman who cared what other people thought, and that was as refreshing as it was terrifying. For so long, Galina had lived for everyone else, worrying and overthinking just how she would be perceived if she didn't go out of her way to prove what a devoted wife and mother she was.
Picking up her phone, she smiled at Gloria's message. "Hey, hope you had a good night! Sorry I didn't call you back, I fell asleep early. Are we still on for this afternoon with the kids?"
Galina nodded gently to herself as she slid her thumb across the screen to unlock her phone. "Good morning! How did you sleep?" she typed, gently biting her bottom lip. "I'd love to see you. I think the kids will have a lot of fun at the park, but I think it's supposed to rain today."
They had seen one another every day since their initial meeting, and Galina was truly looking forward to the playdate they had scheduled for their grandchildren. Lida's children, Koyla and Vera, were very excited to meet Anabella, Gloria's granddaughter, and Galina hoped that they would all have a lot of fun playing together.
Gloria: I slept with a tiny foot in my ribs. My granddaughter is under the impression that my bed is her bed LOL. How about you? Hopefully your night wasn't too lonely without me, I was so exhausted, crashed as soon as I got home. Looking forward to seeing you today and meeting the babies. If it rains, did you want to do something else?
Red: It's okay, I know you were tired. You had classes back to back last night. I spent the evening trying to catch up on paperwork. Would you want to take the kids to the movies? I don't know if Anabella would sit still, but Koyla and Vera will.
Gloria: Mmm. Could we hang out at your house and watch one? Or we can go to mine?
Red: You can come over if you want.
Gloria: Great! Want me to meet you at your restaurant? I'll txt you when I'm on the way, I'm about to start my Zumba class.
Red: Sounds great, have a good class.
Setting her phone back on the desk, Galina smiled. There was a light knocking on her office door and half a second later Nicky appeared.
"Hi, sweetheart," Galina smiled at her. "Everything okay out there?"
"Yea," Nicky nodded, taking a seat in the chair across from her mother. "People are starting to clear out, but I thought you could use some help in here."
"I could, but I need you on the floor. You or Maxsim can start cooking the next batch of zeffir." Galina hole-punched another stack of papers before clipping them into the binder. "Lida will be in at lunchtime with Vasily to take over for the night."
"Oh, yea, are you going somewhere?" Nicky asked curiously.
"Yes," Galina smiled. "I'm taking Koyla and Vera to the park if it doesn't rain. Gloria's going to bring her granddaughter so they can have a playdate."
"Skies are already looking pretty dark," Nicky told her. She slouched in the chair she was sitting in and propped her feet up on the desk. "You seem to be spending a lot of time with Gloria lately."
Galina smiled at her daughter. "She's really nice. I didn't think anything good would come out of you meddling and trying to set me up with your teacher, but I guess it has. I think we've seen one another every day this week."
"What did you two do last night?" Nicky asked curiously.
"Well, I didn't see her last night because she had class, but she came here for lunch," Galina explained. "She keeps trying to convince me to take one of her dance classes. I told her that she'd have more luck trying to get you and Lida to go."
"I'm not really the dancing type, Ma, you know" Nicky chuckled. "Maybe Lida could convince Lorna to go with her, and Gloria could teach her how to give a proper lap dance."
"Nicky," Galina growled her daughter's name, narrowing her eyes.
"I'm serious. The last time Lorna tried to dance for me, she just looked like a drunk penguin. I really thought she was going to break her ankle and it ruined the whole seductive vibe she was going for."
"I'm sure Lorna would love to hear you talk about her this way," Galina shook her head.
Nicky smirked. "Well, as you can imagine most women are pretty forgiving… not you, you tend to hold a grudge."
Galina narrowed her eyes at her daughter, halting in the rhythmic filing of her paperwork.
"Don't look at me like that. You haven't let anything go, ever. Gloria seems like a good balance for you, she actually still wants to be friends with you after you made her leave the baseball game. I would have been so irritated with you."
Rolling her eyes, Galina turned her attention to her computer. "She has season tickets, she'll be okay. Besides, she got kissed by a handsome stranger that night, anyway, so I don't think she's complaining too much. The kid was young enough to be her son."
"Way to go, Gloria!" Nicky exclaimed with a prideful laugh. "Maybe that's what you need, Ma- a younger man."
"I think absolutely not."
"Worth a shot," Nicky shrugged.
The office door opened, and both women turned to look at Maxsim as he entered the room. "Hey, Ma," he said as he dried his hands on a dish towel. "I just wanted to come check-in with you before I left."
"You're leaving?" Nicky frowned at him. "That's not fair. I've been here since 5 AM with Ma, helping her prep and cook, and you didn't show up until like an hour ago. Why do you get to leave early?"
"Ma said I could."
"No, she didn't!"
"Yes, she did!"
"No, she didn't!"
"Yes, she did," Maxsim said through gritted teeth. "You're not the boss, Nicky."
"No, I'm the boss," Galina objected. "But your sister is right. She's been here since this morning and she's going to stay until Lida and Vasily get here. How come you can't do the same? I really need to finish in the office and she's going to need help. I can't be in two places at once, Maxsim."
"I told you that I couldn't stay all day, Ma," Maxsim argued. "You said it was fine that I left early."
"I said it was fine if you left at one," Galina clarified. "You know that."
"What difference does a couple of hours make?" he asked. "I have plans this afternoon, too."
"Oh, you have plans," Nicky mocked him, rolling her eyes heavenward. "With who? Our sperm donor? It's definitely not with the mother that's been calling you for weeks and weeks."
"You're so childish, Nicky."
"No, you're childish," Nicky said.
"Both of you are childish! Are we seriously doing this?" Galina asked in frustration. "You two are not kids anymore, you both need to start acting like adults. Nicky, get back onto the floor and Maxsim, have a seat." She shooed Nicky out of the room and pointed at the chair, sternly eyeing her son, daring him to disobey her.
After a minute she finally spoke. "Maxsim, what's going on with you?"
"Nothing," he replied calmly. "I really do have plans this afternoon. I didn't think it was going to be this a big deal just to leave."
"I understand that and that's okay, but I mean… is there more going on? Because Nicky's right, I haven't seen much of you lately. You don't answer my calls or my texts, you don't call me. I can't remember the last time you came over for dinner with the family. It's like you evaporated into thin air."
"Look, Ma, it's nothing personal, I've just been spending a lot of time with Pop."
Reclining back in her chair, Galina pursed her lips together thoughtfully. "How is your father?" she asked finally. "Is he getting settled into his new place okay?"
"Yea," Maxsim nodded his head. "He's doing okay. They've got a nice place."
Galina nodded her head. "Glad things are working out for him."
Maxsim smiled at her gently. "No, you're not," he shook his head. "Look, Ma, I know you think I've abandoned you, but the truth is everyone abandoned Pop. He doesn't have anyone to rely on the way that you do."
"Your father made his bed," Galina said evenly. "There are consequences for actions and unfortunately this is the price he is going to pay."
"Ma-"
"No, Maxsim. Look, I've never purposely gone out of my way to influence the opinions you kids have on your dad. The way your brothers and Nicky feels is all their own. I'm not stopping you from having a relationship with him, but I am saying you need to make just as much an effort to be in my life as you're making to be in his."
"Okay," her son nodded his head. "I get what you're saying. Maybe we could do something next week and I'll come by to help you in the store this week."
"What about family dinner?" she asked.
"You think Nicky's attitude is new?" Maxsim questioned her, arching his brow. "That's not new, Ma. I've been arguing with everyone for months. You should see the messages Yuri sent me a couple of weeks ago."
"What are you talking about?" Galina frowned.
"They all blame me for your divorce," Maxsim explained. "They think I had something to do with it or that I'm betraying you because I still talk to our dad. Why is that my fault? You two were hardly the picture of health. Nothing about that marriage was healthy and we all know it."
Galina sighed and gently scratched her hand through the top of her hair. "You're right, it's not your fault," she reassured her son. "Your father and I have had problems for a while and instead of handling that between us, he ran. He is the one who had an affair. He is the one who left. What he did wasn't okay and I'm still angry with him. I know better than to ask you to cut him out of your life. I would never do that."
"I know," Maxsim said gently.
"I don't like him very much right now and yes; it does hurt me that you spend so much time with him but can't return my calls or come for dinner. I didn't know that your brothers and sister were giving you such a hard time about things though, so that makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't want to have dinner with them either, but Maxsim you can't just cut yourself out of this family with no explanation. I'm not punishing you for what happened, but if there's anything that I deserve from you, then it's your honesty."
Maxsim nodded his head. "Fair enough," he agreed. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Ma. It was never anything personal. I just don't want to be around them when all they do is blame me for things that aren't even my fault."
Galina smiled at him. "I'll talk to them," she promised. Standing up she walked around her desk to embrace her son. He was much taller than she was, but the smallest out of his brothers. "Now," she said once they separated, "Get back to work. You can leave when Lida and Vasily get here."
"Fine," he sighed. "Can I at least work on paperwork and you work with Nicky? I kept visualizing what it would be like to shove her into an over, and the more and more she talked, the more and more I thought I was going to do it."
"Great," Galina rolled her eyes. "That's all I need: for you to shove your sister into an oven. We'd be like that market on the other side of town, where they found body parts in the freezers." Walking back to her computer, she demonstrated what she wanted him to do. Her kids had grown up underfoot and had seen her work all of their lives. At this point, she felt confident leaving the store in their able hands, but it made her feel better to talk them through the process anyway.
...
"Grandma!" Vera and Koyla exclaimed excitedly as they raced across the store over to where their grandmother was wiping down tables.
"Hi, Grandma!" Vera exclaimed happily as she threw her arms around her grandmother's waist. "Did you miss me?" she asked. "It's been a lot of years since you've seen me!"
Galina chuckled as she hugged her granddaughter back. "I did miss you, my love," she told her as she leaned down to kiss her crown of red hair. "Did you miss me?" she asked. "You've been spending a lot of time with Grandma Honey lately."
"Yea, she's nice," Koyla said as he hugged his grandma. "She doesn't cook as good as you, though. She bought us cookies from the store." He stared up at her with big eyes, hoping to convey just how disappointed he was in his Grandma Honey without having to say it.
"Be nice," Lida nudged her son.
Galina chuckled, stroking his hair back as she kissed his cheek. Lida's mother was a wonderful grandmother to the kids and every time that she'd been in her company, Galina had enjoyed her. However, no one wanted to be second-best, so it made her incredibly happy that she was the favorite. Her whole life the only thing she had ever wanted to be was a mother and a grandmother, and she was glad that all her efforts to be a present and involved one were not going unnoticed or unappreciated.
"I'm sure your Grandma Honey enjoyed spending so much time with you, but I'm glad to have you back," Galina told them as she took a seat at the table, she'd just finished cleaning. She pulled Vera onto her lap and patted the seat next to her so that Koyla would sit down.
"They ate, but I'm sure they'll be hungry again," Vasily told his mother as he kissed her cheek in greeting.
"That's fine, I was going to make lunch anyway," Galina said as she played with the long ends of Vera's ponytail. "We're waiting for my friend to get here, but I think we're going to have a lot of fun together today."
"What are we going to do?" Koyla asked her.
"Well, I wanted to take you to the park, but I think it's going to rain," Galina said as she looked out the large windows of her store. The skies were still gray and even though it hadn't started raining, lightning was already starting to crackle in the sky.
"Well that's not fun," Vera said.
"No, that's not very fun," Galina agreed. "My friend is going to bring her granddaughter and I think you'll like her. She's a little bit younger than you, Vera, but she doesn't have any brothers or sisters, so she doesn't have many kids to play with."
"Well that's okay," Vera said. "I don't always like my brother."
"Well, I don't always like you," Koyla told her with a frown.
"I don't always like my sister either, Koyla," Maxsim said with a smile as he and Nicky walked behind the counter to great their niece and nephew.
Nicky rolled her eyes as she plucked Vera from Galina's lap. "Trust me, kid, you never really like your brother you just always learn to tolerate them." She kissed her niece's cheek and then nipped at it playfully.
"Aunt Nicky, are you going to come play with us too?" Vera asked her.
"No, I have to go home and do some homework," Nicky frowned. "Maybe we could do something another day. You know Lorna and I have a swimming pool now at our apartment. When it gets hot in a couple of weeks, we can all go swimming."
"Ah!" Vera gasped excitedly. "I have a mermaid swimsuit."
"I have dinosaurs!" Koyla exclaimed, reaching his arms out for his aunt. "Dinosaurs are cool, right Nicky?"
"I think dinosaurs are rad," Nicky agreed. "They're my favorite."
"Dinosaurs aren't that cool," Vera rolled her eyes. "If they were, they wouldn't have all died."
"At least they're real, unlike your fake mermaids!" Koyla shot back at her, his brows knitting together in anger.
"Mermaids are real!" Vera exclaimed passionately. "Right grandma? Right! Mermaids are real because I am a mermaid."
"Oh, my," Galina signed, rolling her eyes. "Maybe instead of a playdate, you two need a nap. If you two can't behave, we just won't do anything fun today."
"They've been arguing like this all day," Lida said with a shake of her head.
"Well, don't hold your breath for it to ever get better because it won't," Galina said as she looked between Nicky and Maxsim. Her children each glared at her respectively, but the bell on the front door, ringing loudly throughout the restaurant, kept them from saying anything.
"Hi, Gloria," Lida greeted the older woman.
"Hello, Hello," Gloria said back. She looked down at the little girl walking beside her and made a motion with her hand, almost as if she were saluting. "Say hello," she told the little girl, making the motion again.
The little girl looked at her and then at the large audience. She didn't recognize the many different faces and she didn't like how all of them were staring at her. She shook her head no and halted her step so that she could hide behind her grandmother's legs.
Shaking her head, Gloria walked over to the table and smiled. "Hi," she said again.
"Gloria, this is Maxsim and Vasily," Gloria introduced her friend to her sons. "This is my granddaughter, Vera, and my grandson, Koyla."
"Nice to meet you," Gloria said as she shook Maxsim and Vasily's hand. "Hi you guys," she waved at kids. "They're yours, Lida?" she asked, looking back and forth between them.
"Yes," Lida smiled at her.
"Very cute. Galina, she looks like your twin!"
"Has her attitude, too," Nicky smirked. "How are you doing, Gloria?"
"Tired," the older woman sighed. "I just got out of class and had to wrestle this one here to put her shoes on." She reached behind her and guided her granddaughter in front of her so that she could pick her up. "This is my granddaughter, Anabella," she introduced them.
"Hi, Anabella!" Vera exclaimed, leaning forward on the table. "Mama look, she's wearing a Tinkerbell shirt! I have that shirt too!"
Anabella stared at them all blankly, her eyes shifting back and forth between them. She looked at her grandmother as if to say, 'You're not leaving me with them, are you?'
"I can see that," Lida smiled. She reached her hand out to playfully tickle Anabella's calf, but the little girl wasn't having it. She instantly drew her legs up and wrapped them tightly around her grandmother's waist.
"Can you say hello?" Gloria asked her, making the saluting motion with her hand.
Anabella once more shook her head no and closed her eyes. She moved a hand over her face.
"Why is she doing that?" Koyla asked. He didn't seem all that impressed with the new friend his grandmother wanted him to make.
"I'm sorry," Gloria said as she adjusted her granddaughter. "She's being a little difficult today. It's always hard for her to make new friends."
"Probably because she closes her eyes," Vera said, leaning back against her grandmother's chest.
"She doesn't want to listen to me," Gloria explained gently. "She thinks that if she closes her eyes, she can do whatever she wants."
"You don't listen with your eyes," Koyla knitted his brows. "You listen with your ears."
"Some people do," Gloria agreed, "But she can't hear you, so she has to listen with her eyes."
Vera crossed her arms and looked at her brother. "How does she not hear?" she asked curiously.
"Is she deaf?" Nicky asked, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.
Gloria nodded and Nicky stepped forward. She reached her hand out so that she could touch Anabella's knee, and when the little girl lifted her hand to look at her, she waved her hand at her, wanting to keep her attention.
"Hi," Nicky said gently, making the saluting motion that Gloria had made. "My," she pressed her palm to her chest and then finger spelled her name. "N-I-" she made the first two letters by tucking her thumb under her index and pointer finger and then held up her pinky. "C-K-" she cupped her hand into a C, and then put her thumb between her index and middle finger like she was making a sideways 'peace' sign. "Y" her index, middle and ring finger were tucked against her palm, while her thumb and pinky remained extended.
At this, Anabella's eyes lit up like stadium lights. She clawed her hand into Gloria's shoulder and kicked her legs out so that she could be put down on her feet. Once she was on the ground, Anabella eagerly told Nicky hello. She touched her hand to her chest the same way that Nicky had done and spelled out her name "B-E-L-L-A".
Oh! Nicky! Nicky! She's doing it top!" Vera exclaimed. Not wanting to be left out of the conversation, she made a bunch of jumbled hand motions and looked at Bella expectantly.
Bella blinked at her in confusion, her little eyebrow arching as high as her grandmother's. Galina couldn't help but laugh as she compared the reaction on Bella's face to Gloria's. While Vera may be her twin, she had Nicky's personality to a 'T'. Understandably, she knew how overwhelming that kind of personality could be.
"Gloria can help you talk to Anabella the right way when we get home," Galina told Vera gently.
Standing up, Galina excused herself to get her things together. She could hear her grandchildren ask Nicky and Gloria to talk to Anabella for them and she wondered how the rest of the afternoon would unfold. It had never occurred to her that this wouldn't be a typical play date, and in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder why Gloria hadn't mentioned that her granddaughter was deaf.
