‘It’s a very nice restaurant, the staff are great...’
‘I was talking about being an assistant.’
Alina swallowed. ‘Of course.’ She flashed what she hoped was her corporate smile.
‘Alina...’
She stared back at him.
I hate it.
How could she say that?
How could she say to her temporary boss that for the most part she loathed her job? Oh, she tried to make the best of it, yet she was careering badly down a path that she had never really thought through stepping on; she was just too scared to follow the path that beckoned more loudly.
No, she couldn’t say that and so she turned the conversation to him.
‘This is where you first lived when you came to Australia?’
Demyan nodded. ‘My aunt ran it. She died when Roman was two.’ Alina swallowed. So rarely did he mention his son. ‘In fact, Katia died two days after my divorce was finalised. Nadia thought I should sell it but, given we were officially divorced, I told her...’ He paused and they shared a teeny smile as he contained his language. ‘That I did not care what she thought.’
‘That’s better!’
‘I suggested she live here but Nadia wanted the city. In the end I rented it out.’ He looked at Alina. ‘Suddenly I had equity.’
‘Your start?’
Demyan nodded.
‘Did you ever think of living here?’
‘Briefly.’ Demyan shrugged. ‘It was never really the same, though, once Katia had died. I thought of keeping it for Roman but...’ Demyan shrugged. ‘It seems he will be living in Russia.’
He could not go there; instead, Alina did.
‘Will you travel to Russia to see him?’
‘Of course,’ Demyan said, even though he felt ill at the thought. He had always sworn he would never go back. ‘I haven’t lost him.’
Alina frowned at his choice of word but then told herself that Demyan’s words were not always the correct ones. ‘Of course not.’
Demyan hadn’t even discussed this with his lawyer yet; he was precariously close to telling her, to admitting to what was killing him.
Yet he could tell no one.
Not even Roman.
Especially not Roman.
Demyan replayed Nadia’s words.
‘Please, just think about it. I’m not asking for for ever I just want us together...’
Nadia didn’t love him, she loved the glamour, the name, the money, and when Roman turned eighteen, that money would dry up.
Another loveless marriage?
Demyan thought about it.
Another expensive divorce?