Soldier Mine (Sons of War #2)(38)

Chapter Sixteen: Claudia


Another week passes quietly. The peace of life here catches me off guard. It’s easy to sink into, easy to want this to be permanent to the point it hurts me to think otherwise.

I’m exhausted by the time I get home. Todd’s winter break started today, the twenty second, and he swore he wouldn’t leave the apartment. When I stagger in around seven, my feet are killing me. The shortage of sleep this month from Anton’s projects is starting to make me snappy with customers. Thank god they’re so full of holiday spirit, they don’t seem to mind.

The scent of chili hits me as I walk into my apartment, and I pause after closing the door. “Todd? Did you cook?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he responds from the living room.

“Is it for … us or just you?”

“Us.”

“How do you know how to make chili?”

“I found the recipe in the kitchen,” he says impatiently.

Weird. In the past two weeks, he’s gone from demanding his second dinner at eight to making his own and now, to cooking.

“Thanks, kid,” I say and ruffle his hair as I cross to the living room.

The television is blaring and Todd has dumped a box of something that looks like scrapbooking supplies on the table. I didn’t know we had anything of the sort.

“What’re you doing?” I ask.

“Omigod, Claudia! Stop bothering me. I’m making Petr a Christmas card.”

I push off my shoes and roll my eyes. I’d get up and change, but my feet need a breather first. “I can give you three bucks to buy one.”

“No. I have to do this myself.”

I snort, amused. “What made you want to cook?”

He sighs noisily. “Petr is teaching me to be a better man. He says since I’m off school, I should help out around the house. So I cooked. But if you don’t stop asking me questions, I’ll never do it again!”

I laugh, delighted and surprised by the honest response. “Sorry. I’ll go change.” The mention of Petr’s name makes my heart dance.

In the three weeks Petr has been working with Todd, I’ve seen my baby brother bloom. He seems less moody, more confident, and genuinely excited about being involved in life instead of always scared or withdrawn. Petr’s progress reports are generally short, that Todd is doing good.

It’s an understatement. Todd is doing incredible. I think helping others is too much of who Petr is for him to realize how huge of an impact he’s been on Todd.

To be honest, I thought for sure he’d stop visiting the diner and being Todd’s big brother by now. I’m pleasant to him but I turn him down every day for dinner. I thought he’d be tired of it, get the hint or worst-case scenario, lose interest in me.

I don’t want that to happen. I’ve felt trapped between wanting to take him up on his offer of dinner, fully knowing how easy it’ll be for our relationship to slide into something more, and telling him to stop asking all together to save myself some heartache when he gets tired of me telling him no.

That he’d wait for me without knowing much about me isn’t something I expected. It’s more proof of how amazing he is. Every smile of his, every wink, are breadcrumbs into the forest leading me a little deeper, no matter how much I try to resist.

“Do you have homework?” Todd asks when I emerge from my bedroom, referring to Anton’s projects.

“Not tonight.” Petr’s dad comes to the diner two to three times a week with new projects. They’re pretty fun, a nice challenge that reminds me why I got into graphic design in the first place.

He always comes with Petr, except for one time this past week, when he came alone in the afternoon with another folder full of pictures.

This project I understand. He asked me to create a collage of family pictures from when his three kids were young. The honor isn’t lost on me, and his request for secrecy has kept me from sharing the project with Petr or Todd. Every night since then, I’ve sneaked peeks at the pictures of the twin brothers and their gorgeous little sister, Katya. I can’t tell Mikael and Petr apart in most of them, unless they’re labeled. The old family photos are in great shape, a sign of their value to their father.

What’s clear: the family is close knit and happy. I yearn to know what that feels like, to stop running, to be able to call my mom or visit her without fearing discovery by The Monster.

“Is the chili ready?” I ask, hungry.

“Yeah.”

I fetch us both bowls full of the hearty soup and return to my room, closing the door halfway so I can work on my ancient laptop on Anton’s secret project for a few hours before heading to bed.




“We’re having a Christmas party Thursday. Festivities start Wednesday around noon.”

The next morning, I glance up at Petr’s words and meet his blue gaze. Every time I look at him, it’s a little harder to turn away. My world seems to hold still when we gaze at each other like this.

“Open invitation for you and Todd,” Petr finishes.

That’s all I need. To be reminded at a Christmas party of everything I can’t give Todd.

“I’ll think about it,” I murmur. “Thank you for asking.”

“Is there any way you’ll consider coming?” he presses. Normally, he moves on when I refuse. “I won’t be in tomorrow morning to ask twice,” he adds with a wink.