*Natalia*
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been outside for, but when I went back into the house, Tallon was gone. When I realized that he had left, I was upset.
It wasn’t like him to storm off after a fight. I was getting worked up about it when I found the note that he’d left next to the door.
“Work ergency. Needed in person.”
I stared at the note as a sour feeling rose in my throat.
That wasn’t good. If there was a business issue that he had to drop everything to deal with in person, it was a fair bet that soone had died.
I sat the note down and sighed. This day just wasn’t going well for us.
There was no way to tell how long Tallon was going to be gone for, and I really didn’t feel like being ho alone right now.
There were the guards around, of course, but I was so used to them that I might as well be on my own. If I just sat around here, I was going to dwell on our fight and get myself all worked up.
I pulled out my phone and called Mia.
We had just parted ways, but I couldn’t think of anyone else to reach out to who wasn’t busy. We’d had a good ti, so maybe she would be up for coming out for dinner with .
I started to feel silly as the phone rang, but I resisted the urge to hang up. I didn’t have a lot of friends, and I worried that I was coming on too strong with Mia, but I really didn’t want to sit around waiting for Tallon to co ho right now.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey Mia,” I said nervously. “I was wondering if you were busy tonight.”
“You know, Alessandro actually just canceled our dinner date for tonight. He said sothing about work. I take it you’re free, too?” she asked.
Alessandro was probably dealing with the sa thing that Tallon was. I worried about what could be so important that they both had to drop everything and rush to deal with it. There was nothing I could do about whatever it was, at least not right now.
“Want to get dinner with ?” I asked.
“That sounds wonderful,” Mia said happily. “Give an hour to get ready?”
“Of course,” I said. “I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
I went upstairs to get ready for my night out with Mia. I was so glad that she was able to co with . I was really hoping that we would beco friends, and getting a chance to know Mia better was the best way to do that.
We’d had a good ti this afternoon, but all the talk was about the wedding and Bianca. I felt bad about monopolizing the conversation. This would give a chance to ask Mia about herself.
I texted my driver to let him know the new plan for the night, then went upstairs to get ready.
I changed into a nice dress and touched up my hair. While I was looking in the mirror, I couldn’t help but picture myself in the wedding dress I had tried on this afternoon.
It really was beautiful, and I felt so pretty wearing it. But the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that losing out on it was a good thing.
Maybe I should take Tallon up on his offer to have the dress custom made, I thought.
I could get sothing with a similar cut and style, but that had a little more personal flair. The idea of trying to incorporate so traditional elents into the wedding had been floating around in my head for a while, but I hadn’t worked up the nerve to broach the subject with Tallon yet. I didn’t want to cause a stir among the family by drawing attention to my Russian heritage.
It wasn’t out of any sentintality for my family, but more a feeling that my own identity should be more present in the wedding. I spent so long pretending to be soone else and now, with Tallon, I was finally getting a chance to be myself. Being Russian was a major part of that, and I didn’t want to turn my back on it completely just because my family was... well, what it was.
I pushed the thought from my mind and jotted a quick note on the back of Tallon’s, then went out to the car. Maybe I’d draw so sketches of dress ideas later and see what Tallon thought of them, I thought. Would it be too scandalous to include a little red in the dress?
Despite my attempts to think about sothing besides the wedding, the drive to pick up Mia was quiet and gave a lot of ti to daydream about the perfect dress. Maybe I would forget about a veil and wear a kokoshnik. That would certainly simplify my anxiety about choosing a hairstyle.
I shook the thoughts off as we pulled up outside of Mia’s place. She was wearing another stunning dress, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were custom made or if she just had so trick for clothes shopping that most won never figured out.
“Thanks for the invite,” she said happily. “I was so disappointed when Alessandro had to cancel, so you saved from a very lonely and boring night.”
“I’m glad you aren’t sick of yet,” I joked. “Is there anywhere specific that you would like to go for dinner?”
“I don’t know the area well enough yet to have a preference,” she said. “Everything is still pretty new to .”
“Are you okay with sothing a little less opulent than last ti?” I asked. The really high-end restaurants are nice, but I kind of wanted fried snacks and cocktails tonight.
“Oh, absolutely,” she said in excitent. “Those places are so nice to experience, but I don’t need that all the ti, you know?”
I nodded my agreent. “I know just the place then.” I leaned forward and told my driver where to take us. He nodded his understanding, but his expression was less than impressed.
The restaurant we pulled up to was very nice, but the atmosphere was much more casual. There was upbeat music playing through the speaker system and the hostess that greeted us was wearing a nice sundress rather than an expensive uniform.
She took us to our table and sat a couple of nus in front of us.
Mia grabbed the cocktail nu right away and perused the offerings.
“I want sothing fruity,” she muttered.
I smiled and looked over the nu. I already knew what I was going to get, but I didn’t want to make it too obvious how often I ca here.
“So, how did you and Alessandro et?” I asked.
“At a concert,” she said with a wistful smile. “I love music, and any chance I get to see a live performance I jump on it.”
“What kind of music?” I asked.
“Oh, everything,” she said happily. “Opera, orchestra, rock concerts, anything.” She set the nu down. “I was at a rock concert when I ran into Alessandro. He didn’t waste any ti making his attraction known, and normally I would have dismissed a guy like that, but the way he approached was—” She made a hand gesture as she tried to find the right words. “I don’t know. He wasn’t creepy or aggressive. He was just very confident and complintary. I knew that if I told him to leave alone, he would. I just had this sense that I could trust him. I know that sounds strange.”
“Not at all,” I said. “Sotis you can just sense what kind of person soone is. It’s a good instinct to have, as long as you don’t trust it blindly.”
She nodded in agreent. “It surprises that he was at a concert like that,” she said, “once I learned who he is.”
“Oh, the Valentino n love music,” I said. “It surprised , too.”
The conversation was cut short when our waitress arrived. She introduced herself and took our orders. I was thrilled when Mia ordered a dish just as breaded and cheesy as the one I wanted. She looked at a little sheepishly, but when she heard my order, she laughed.
We had a lot in common, it seed. The waitress went to put in our orders and Mia jumped right back into the conversation.
She told all about her ho and all the beautiful sights and amazing foods that could be found there. The love she had for her ho was obvious in the way she talked about it, and I wondered if she was feeling a little hosick.
I knew how that went. I still had monts where I felt completely out of place here. I was happy and I wouldn’t trade this life for anything, but I still felt like I didn’t belong sotis. I felt even more determined to help Mia settle in and get to know the city.
Introducing her to a nice restaurant where we could get fried food and fruity drinks was a great start, in my opinion.
We spent the next few hours snacking and talking in increasingly boisterous voices about everything.
Mia was so much fun to be around that I quickly lost track of the ti.
When I realized how late it had gotten, I was shocked. I left a very generous tip to make up for taking up the table for so long, and we headed for ho.
We continued to joke around on the drive back to Mia’s house, and I waited to make sure she got into her house safely before I had the driver pull away and head ho.
I was feeling much more secure now that I’d had a chance to decompress a bit, and I was feeling pretty bad for how I had reacted to Tallon early today.
He was just trying to reassure , and I knew that he wasn’t a liar, so what he said about Bianca was probably his honest opinion on the matter. Just because I didn’t agree with him didn’t give the right to go off on him about it.
It was so late now that I was sure he would almost definitely be ho. If he wasn’t asleep yet, then I was going to apologize when I saw him.
We couldn’t let Bianca, or anyone else, drive us apart. We’d been through too much together to let sothing so insignificant cause problems for us now.
Tallon was the love of my life, and I wanted our wedding to reflect that, but in the end, all that mattered was that we were together.
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