want to wear my jewelry. On the other hand, I’m exhausted.”
“So, take a vacation,” I suggested as we stepped out into the cold, rainy morning. I wrinkled my nose at the dreary weather. “Hop a flight to someplace tropical. Enjoy some sunshine and sand while the rest of us deal with this mess.”
“I wish, but I can’t leave my dad here. He hates beaches,” she explained as we walked down the covered walkway of the shopping center. “He also hates taking any time off from the shop.”
Knowing how close she was to her father, I decided not to point out that he was a grown man who could handle himself. She and her father had fled Moscow in the middle of the night when she was only a baby after her mother had witnessed a murder and been killed to silence her. From what Ivan had told me, they had barely escaped in time and somehow managed to cross into Estonia before making the journey to Finland and then the US to family in New York.
“Well, maybe take some half days? Go to a spa? Get a massage? Do some self-care?”
She lifted her hand and examined her chipped nail polish. “I do need a manicure.”
“There you go.” I reached for the handle of the café we liked. “Schedule some time at Allure. Holly and her staff will take good care of you.”
“I do need a trim before the gala,” she said, following me into the deliciously scented shop.
“I’m thinking of extensions,” I admitted as we stepped into line at the counter. “What do you think? Should I?”
She studied my hair for a moment. “I think you look gorgeous in short hair, and I’m sure you’ll look beautiful with longer hair.”
“You really are the sweetest,” I said, smiling at her.
“Not that sweet,” she laughed and cut in front of me to place her order. Before I could whip out my phone to pay, she tapped hers on the card reader and covered my sugary sweet coffee and giant chocolate muffin. As we took seats near the window, she eyed my extraordinarily carb and calorie heavy choices. “Weren’t you complaining about your holiday weight gain before class?”
“Well, I mean, yeah, but the holidays aren’t over yet, right? We still have New Year’s Eve, so it doesn’t really make sense for me to start dieting now,” I reasoned before taking a huge bite of the decadent muffin.
She snorted with amusement and sipped her blazing hot Americano. “Make sure you dust off all the chocolate crumbs before you get to the Warehouse.”
Now, it was my turn to huff with amusement. “Are you kidding me? Ivan knows better than to say anything about what I eat.”
“I assume he learned that the hard way?”
“His heart was in the right place, but his brain?” I shook my head. “We agreed that as long as I’m eating a healthy lunch and dinner, what I do for breakfast and snacks is no one’s business but my own. And, anyway,” I said with a shrug, “his idea of a healthy breakfast is a dozen eggs, a blender pitcher full of some gross protein shake and, like, four gallons of water.” I made a face. “No, thanks.”
“Gross! Does he really eat a dozen eggs every morning?”
“No, not really,” I admitted. “He does a protein shake and tons of water before he goes for his morning run. Then it’s four or five eggs plus some salmon or steak and a pile of veggies like kale or tomatoes or sweet potatoes. He has some kind of Greek yogurt and fruit mid-morning. Then he has lunch, his afternoon snack, and dinner.”
Zoya’s jaw dropped. “How much does it cost to feed him every month?”
“An obscene amount,” I muttered and sipped my coffee. “But, every time I growl at him about the grocery bill, he finds ways to distract me.”
“Uh-huh,” she said knowingly. “I bet he does.”
We laughed, but let that topic end there. A busy coffee shop was not the place to discuss those sorts of salacious details.
“So, I heard from a friend that works at certain PR firm that Ivan’s gym is being considered to be the host camp for the next season of that amateur fighting show,” Zoya said in a gossipy tone. “True?”
I laughed. “For your friend’s sake, I hope Lena doesn’t find out someone is blabbing secrets. She’ll unleash her dragon lady side.”
Zoya smiled. “I never reveal my sources.”
“Uh-huh.” I sipped my pleasantly warm drink. “True.”