Little Ana giggled up at her father. He had a green, smudged handprint on his cheek. That was where she'd touched him some time ago. "Daddy! Daddy!" Her green palm rose and she pointed at his face. "You're all messy!"
Mason Davis stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes, which only made her laugh harder. Then he took her by her little waist and put her on his lap. "That's fine. We'll clean up later."
They made some paintings with their fingers. Colors were blended all over their hands and wrists. Little Ana accidentally knocked over a plastic cup of paint, and that bothered her enough to have her stomping her foot. Her dad told her to calm down. This problem could be fixed.
He handed her a wet rag and gently told her to wipe the paint away, since she was the one who made the mess. Little Ana wasn't upset at the command, and for some reason the rag's texture soothed her. She liked how her painted hand ground into the fabric as she swirled it around.
***
Why did Ana think of that day?
She was sitting between Vlad's spread legs. They were on a carpeted floor, on a spread blanket, in a living room. They were leaning against a couch instead of sitting on it, and they were watching something on one of Vlad's laptops. Turns out, he had quite a few laptops. They could've watched something on one of Mihai's huge TVs, but they also wanted to snuggle on the floor and the angle their necks needed to take wouldn't have been comfortable. Constantly looking up wasn't fun.
It was dark. The laptop was the brightest thing in the room. Ana was going to spend the night. She wasn't sure where Mihai was exactly, but she'd been told he had to go to an airport to pick up a visiting friend. Probably some other Romanian person. Ana had imagined it was either an elderly aunt or a secret lover he might marry. Hey, maybe he was into dudes and wanted to bring a fellow over to marry him, since as lovely as Romania was gay people weren't as well accepted there as they were in U.S.A.
But at least, as far as she knew, gays weren't being tossed off the rooftops on a regular basis there.
"You're not watching the show." Vlad said as his arms wrapped around her.
Ana's brows lowered as she wondered how he knew that. Then she happened to notice a small mirror on a wall and realized he could see her dim face. "Oh, I guess I'm just thinking about random stuff."
He gave a short tickle to her sides, which forced a snorting guffaw out of her.
"What exactly are you thinking about?" he asked. His breath waved into her hairline, tickling her.
Ana shrugged against his great torso. "Just ... just stuff. Like my dad, and Mihai, nothing major."
"Oh. People are stuff now. I see." Ana felt the weight of his chin on the top of her head.
She sighed out, "Whatever," and tried to focus on the laptop's screen again, but she found that she couldn't. With a little grumble, she said to Vlad, "I'm sorry. I'm not in a good mood. I think I'll go get a snack." She took Vlad's arms and gently unwrapped them. Then she stretched up and away to go to the kitchen, flicking light switches on all the while.
The laptop turned quiet, and there were considerable footsteps behind her. "I'll have a snack too." Vlad's voice was ... meager. It made her look back at him. One of his eyelids fluttered a little, and his cheeks seemed a little more gaunt, but that could've just been a trick of the indoor lighting. He'd seemed much healthier earlier in the afternoon.
Maybe it was something to do with his sleeping patterns. Ana knew he was a night owl. He always stayed up late and slept in if he could get away with it. She wondered if that was a habit he got in older age or if he'd always been that way.
Opening the refrigerator in the fancy kitchen, Ana asked Vlad, "Do you know Mihai's friend very well?"
"Which friend?" Ana heard one of the barstools creak as he sat down.
He had more than one? Ana sighed as she picked up two plastic cups of fruits in gel. "The one he's picking up at the airport." Mihai hadn't really talked about that much. Ana had been surprised with how secretive he'd been.
She got some spoons from a drawer. She was walking to the bar when Vlad said, "I don't think I know her."
"Her?" Ana sat down beside him and gave him his cup and spoon. "It's a woman?"
Vlad's hair was loose. Part of it flopped off his shoulder as his head lowered. "I think so." He sounded like every word was hazier than the last. "I heard she wants to become a citizen here."
"So Mihai's sponsoring her? Is that legal?" Ana peeled the plastic off the top of her cup. "I thought a citizen could only sponsor family members."
"An employer could sponsor an employee, though." Vlad hadn't peeled his plastic away. He was just ... holding the cup and the spoon, staring down at them.
"Mihai's going to hire her for something?" Ana was no expert on immigration. She couldn't tell if this was legitimate or not. "What, does he need a second maid?"
"A personal assistant," Vlad replied quite dryly.
"The hell does he need a personal assistant for?" Ana mumbled as her spoon cut through the gel and she scooped up a serving of cold fruit. "He might as well just say he wants to marry her."
There was a stretching moment of quiet as Ana ate her food. Vlad didn't eat. One of his fingernails tapped the side of his cup.
He cleared his throat.
Ana gave him an almost tired look. "What is it?"
He made a fist around his spoon. "I need to tell you something. I never thought I'd have to tell you, but now ... now things have changed." He pushed his cup away, making it slide on the countertop. Then he pulled his hair away from his face. Ana saw the muscles in his throat bulge as he swallowed his own spit.
"This is sudden," Ana said with a cheerful voice. She took one last spoonful of gel and fruit. Then she put everything down and said, "You really had me fooled. I never suspected something was wrong." She turned in her seat to face him and reached over to grip his arm. "What's the matter?"
Vlad turned his head away. "It's so difficult to explain. Six sentences, and you'll call a mental health clinic."
Ana put her hand on the countertop's edge. "What? Did you become a Scientologist? Or are you anti-vax? Both?"
Still facing away, as if he was too ashamed to look at her, Vlad shook his head a little. "Mihai and I, we have a certain friend."
"The woman Mihai's bringing over?"
"No." Vlad's neck straightened, and he looked back down towards the countertop. He let his spoon clatter away from his grasp. His profile reminded Ana of an ink drawing that was made with harsh strokes. "The woman with the jeep. Red curly hair."
"Oh! I think I remember her. She's really tall." Ana smiled again, but deep down she felt more irrational jealousy. What if Vlad was about to break up with her over that woman?! She looked rough but pleasant in her own way. Tomboys could be quite charming. She heard her own fingernails make faint screeches on the countertop.
"She's ..." Vlad's voice trailed into nothing as his spine turned much firmer, his lips parted, and he swiftly looked up to one of the windows.
There were lights. Headlights.
His fingers twitched. "She's ... here?!" He stood up so quickly that the barstool fell back, frightening Ana for a second or so. She even wheezed and touched the space over her heart. She was more careful than Vlad when she got up.
