Chapter 23 - Undone
Linka looked down at her half-filled suitcase and sighed unhappily as she folded another blouse. This is not what I want.
Leaning against the doorframe, Wheeler watched as she made another trip to the wardrobe and methodically packed her clothes. "Wanna talk about it?"
"There is nothing to talk about." The Russian told him, not looking around.
"Yeah right," Wheeler rolled his eyes and pushed away from the wall, moving to stand behind the beautiful women whom he had shared his flat with for the past few months. He spoke softly, "I thought we were done keeping secrets."
"It is not a secret." She sighed again as he slid his arms around her waist and cradled her against him, his lips placing a loving kiss on her neck before he rest his head against hers.
He waited patiently for her to continue, something he had only learnt to do since their recent reunion, and even then not without some trial and error. At first reluctant to cause a fight, Linka had continued to keep her own council when something she considered minor had bothered her… first there had been his reluctance to tidy up after himself, something she was at least familiar with from his teenage years, then there had been the beard shavings in the sink which caused a five hour sulk from the American when she did finally say something because it came out as, 'Either you were not this disgusting when we were first together or you were not old enough to shave, which was it?'
Realising early on that they'd been naïve to think they already knew how to live together after being alone for so long, not to mention working together all day and trying not to bring professional disagreements home, they had steadfastly adhered to one rule and so far it was working for them, that was, 'Never go to bed angry'. Whatever the disagreement, they made sure they'd either resolved it, or at least made up, before it resulted in them sleeping alone.
"I do not want to go." Linka told her boyfriend quietly, "I do not want to sneak around like we are doing something wrong and then still be unable to spend anytime just being together, not even for one weekend. And do not say that it might not be that bad, you know how it will go as well as I do. One of the guys will walk in wherever we go, every time we try to do something remotely romantic and Karen and Olga will be deliberately trying to catch us… they are still suspicious you know."
Wheeler chuckled, "It sounds vaguely familiar yeah. But it's not nearly as hard to find time alone when I don't have to convince you too, admit it… you like conspiring with me just a bit."
He nuzzled her as he spoke and she couldn't hold back a little smile as she thought of some of the stolen moments they'd shared practically under their colleagues noses. "Maybe… just a bit. But it did not feel like really deceiving them before… perhaps there is no real difference but this cosy little ski resort of Tom's is just that, only conference delegates will be there. We are not doing anything wrong Yankee, I do not like acting as if we are."
"I know." He turned her gently towards him, keeping her close. "You wanna just come clean? Tell everyone before we go and let them deal with it."
"We cannot." Linka replied sadly.
Wheeler didn't entirely agree but he wasn't going to push it, instead he said, "Well maybe it'll help you to know that I called the hotel earlier."
"What?" The Russian blinked up at him, completely surprised.
He nodded, "I asked them if we could have adjoining rooms, and they said it wasn't a problem, so all our sneaking around will be through an internal door that no one else needs to know isn't locked."
"I did not think of that." She replied, blushing.
"That's because you worry too much about these things, it's the first thing you would have thought of if it had been someone else." Despite his reassuring words, Wheeler looked a little smug and his embrace showed signs of transition from comforting to suggestive. "So, got anything else I can help you with?"
Linka laughed, "We have an hour until we have to leave to meet the others at the airport and I still have to finishing packing."
"How many clothes do you need?!" The American rolled his eyes, "I was done in like, five minutes."
"Da, and so I will have to check your packing too, to make sure you are not going to freez…" she broke off into giggles as he began to tickle her, wrestling her onto the bed and her enthusiastic retaliation was ultimately the reason they had to rush to finish getting ready.
"This place is gorgeous, I'm in heaven." Karen proclaimed as Linka opened her bedroom door to her, "I know, I don't get out much… the price of being a Mum."
The Russian smiled and joined her friend in the hall, "You would not give it up."
"No," Karen agreed good naturedly as they walked along to Olga's door, "But I don't mind a break now and then. Shame it's all single beds though, I'm used to more room."
Linka nodded but said, "I have only slept in double beds since I have been living in England, it is still a novelty." The older woman looked conscious and started to apologise but her friend laughed and shook her head, "I could have afforded one back in Russia but I did not bother, I do not need a lot of room and I was not planning on sharing it with anyone."
"Are you now?" Karen's hand stopped half way to Olga's door, her intention to knock on hold as she gave her an arch look.
Blushing Linka said, "I… the bed was already there I just got a new mattress." It wasn't a lie, she had bought a new mattress when Wheeler continued to encourage her to make changes to their home. It had seemed appropriate, for a variety of reasons.
Karen laughed, lowering her hand quickly as the door opened. "Maybe you should think about it."
"What should she think about?" Olga asked, joining them and closing the door behind her. "I suppose the guys are already in the bar?"
"Da, Jason knocked to say he was heading down there… and that we all take too long to change." Her attitude was amused and affectionate and the other two women exchanged glances without commenting. "How they can be comfortable after all that travelling, just changing a shirt?"
Olga snorted, "If they even bothered to do that. So what was it you thought Linka should do?"
They'd nearly reached the bottom of the stairs by this time and a small commotion met their ears, saving Linka from further embarrassment as Karen, who was slightly in front of the other two, made a disgusted noise and turned to say, "Reporters. Here to cover the conference no doubt, I suppose the publicity will be good for funding but personally…" She paused, her brow furrowing in concern, "Linka? Are you feeling alright?"
The lovely Russian had indeed gone very pale and she shook her head, "I feel sick… I think I will go back to my room and lie down."
"I will come with you." Olga offered but Linka immediately declined.
"Nyet I… I cannot think." She shook her head, tears prickling her eyes. "They must not see me… bozhe 'moy I cannot explain, please?" Her friends agreed, anxious for her as she continued. "You will tell Tom I am not here. I was never here, I have nothing to do with any of it, it is important…. Jason will understand, he will convince him, just please go and stop them before everything is ruined, please?"
Having obtained their promises, the distraught young woman fled to her room, tears flowing and her head pounding. More than anything she needed to talk to Wheeler but he was beyond her reach just then.
Tom and Anna were talking to the others of their group in the bar as they'd arranged. Wheeler looked over as Karen and Olga entered and a frown immediately clouded his brow. "Where's Linka?"
"She went back to her room," Karen said, looking at Olga and receiving a nod to continue. "There's some reporters checking in and she kinda freaked out." Shrugging apologetically she added, "She made us promise to pretend she's not here and to get you guys to do the same… she was really upset."
"Da," Olga agreed, "I have never seen her react like that, and she has dealt with the press in our country several times, but she was serious. Linka has nothing to do with this project and we are not to mention her." She looked at Wheeler, curiosity creeping in, "She said you would understand?"
It was clear from the way the way he was grimacing that he knew something, but what he should tell the others without first speaking to Linka he wasn't sure. This is not how this weekend was supposed to go, I guess maybe she was right all along about us coming here.
"Are the reporters still in the foyer?" he asked, ignoring the Russian's question while the other's looked on in bafflement. When she nodded, he cursed the lack of cellphone coverage and called over to the barman, "Do you have a phone I can borrow, I just want to call up to the rooms? Thanks man."
His team watched (and listened,) in fascinated silence as he dialled Linka's room number. "Babe? You ok?... Yeah I know… look it doesn't matter… I mean it. Shit..." there was a long pause and their friends were dying to know what she was saying. "Hell I don't care about that either, I don't need to prove anything… ok but… ok, ok."
Wheeler ran a hand through his hair, listening once again, "Yeah ok but what do I tell them?... Well yeah, because you worried Karen and Olga and they're all doing a terrible job of pretending not to be listening to every word I say." The last was said with some amusement creeping into his voice and a quick glance at his friends who all suddenly became very interested in their drinks. "I will, and don't worry, whatever comes of this, we're good… Ditto."
He hung up the phone and turned back to his friends, wondering where to start. Taking a breath he said, "I swear I'll explain but first can you please promise me you'll honor Linka's wishes in this? It's not… it's not the issue she thinks it is but I don't think she'll cope too well with some of the questions they might ask right now and I need to do everything I can to protect her from that, and I hope as her friends, you'll do that too?"
"This sounds a little strange coming from you." Alexi spoke candidly.
"Yeah I can see why it might," Wheeler took a swig of his beer, wondering where this would end up.
Tom looked around, "I assure you Jason, none of us would do anything to intentionally hurt Linka," the others murmured in support, "If she wishes to remain anonymous then I will respect her wishes and so will everyone else, or we will be having words."
As good natured as Tom was, he was protective of his staff and none of them doubted that there would be severe consequences if they crossed him in such a matter, not that any of them intended to, they all liked their lovely Russian leader.
"I would like to know what it is all about though." The older man finished.
Wheeler didn't get a chance to answer just then as two women entered the bar and immediately made their way over. "Oh. My. God. Wheeler!" The New York accent in such a high pitch seemed to pierce their ear drums, "You're a sight for sore eyes… and what a sight! The years have been good to you. I suppose I should have known you'd be here, are you alone?"
The ex-planeteer sighed and chose not to understand her, "No, I'm here with my Team," He indicated the others, going into full professional engineer mode. "Guys this is Prissy Shade, reporter for New York Today."
"Head Reporter." She smirked, shaking hands with each of the team members as she was introduced and was given the official spiel about their work. Her assistant, whom she'd named Toni, took notes but once the formalities were over she turned back to Wheeler.
"So 'Jason'," Prissy had picked up on what his team called him and was determined to use it to her advantage, "Things are going well for you?"
He inclined his head, "Fairly well yes, our project has already brought about some impressive results, I'm sure we can let you have some figures if you want."
She gave him a coy look and pressed on, "Oh you know that's not what I mean, Toni can handle all that. I admit that I followed your career for a while, Dr Derrick and the Goodair cars, but then it was almost like you disappeared and I haven't seen any of the other…"
"I've been busy," Wheeler interrupted, "I took my studies very seriously and I'm lucky to have a found a way of employing them that suits me so well." He nodded his head towards Tom in silent thanks.
Prissy gave him a wry smile, "You've become quite the diplomat too I see… I'm glad you have some good friends, new friends, but I can't help be curious about your old ones, you keep in touch?"
Wheeler shrugged, "They'll call if they need me."
"You didn't use to be so… private." She pushed, "I remember a time when you practically courted the limelight, your life was an open book."
The American shook his head, "You're way off… you shouldn't believe everything you read in the tabloids you know. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some business to discuss."
"Of course." She watched him usher his colleagues out of the bar and over to the stairs and then proceeded to fill Toni in on the planeteer's history.