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Aleksy stood pouring vodka into a short glass He knocked it back before saying, “Finished h his teeth

“Are you drunk?” Her equilibrium was yanked by that unexpected twist

“Russians don’t get drunk” He poured another one, then stoppered the bottle and stowed it in the freezer “They get tough” He moved, loose but steady, to where a tin of cocoa sat on the bench He spooned so water from the kettle Before he handed it to her, he tipped half the contents of his vodka into it “Warm up You’re not used to this kind of cold”

Clair cautiously put away her boots and hung her coat The hotof cocoa filled her cupped hands armth She let the steam rise to scald her frozen nose

“Are you hungry?” he asked “I can make soup”

“Maybe later,” she said, faintly be Not exactly the “tough” he was referring to

He leaned on the refrigerator, staring so hard at her she should have s to see if you would run You looked about twelve with the snow past your knees”

Clair felt twelve again, sinking into alike dysfunctional neon lights, the weight of adult e to overwhelm her

“I just wanted to stretch s,” she lied

He snorted, swirling the clear liquid in his glass “There was a tiirls alked in front of my house More than one did before I had whiskers and a scar”

“You wanton your doorstep all your life, scar or no scar?” She forgot about the vodka in her drink until she sipped and it bit back Heat slid through her all the way to her toenails

“The young girls were different,” he lass “They were like you, the kind who knew they wanted to marry and have a family”

“I don’t know that,” she said, flat but strong, eyes iht have believed it when I elve, but it’s not soain She sipped her cocoa, savoring the gloarmth that spread outward fro realistic,” she added, recalling all those childish hopes and adolescent crushes that had a

Aleksy winced “You toldsentis, Clair I did Then I iirls after I’d made my fortune”