Page 40 of Scarlet Sins

Alina touches my arm. “It’ll be okay, you know? And I think I have the best nephew ever.”

“Oh, he is,” says a voice behind us.

I turn and grin. Kara’s there.

“Kara!” Sasha speeds over and throws himself at her.

“Hi, monster.” She goes to kiss him but he rushes offagain, too many things to do and he joins the other kids once more. “Took the afternoon off. Hi, Alina.”

With a jolt of shock, I realize I’d forgotten they’d met at the penthouse that time.

“I hope you don’t mind I’m here.” Alina bites her lip, tucking her feet under the bench.

Kara scooches me over. “Nonsense. We cool ladies need to stick together. One day, I wouldn’t mind a Sasha. One day, in the vast and distant future.” Then she stops and looks at Alina. “There’s always time. I guess I have to find a man.”

I elbow her and she gasps.

“I’m sorry, did you and Max…?”

“Want kids? Yeah. And now I wonder if I’ll ever have them. Max was my soulmate. The children I pictured were his. My life I pictured, the life I knew was going to be mine, was with him. And now…” She swallows. “Now I don’t think there’ll ever be someone else.”

Sasha goes down the small slide, looking proud like he just went hang gliding.

And I can see Alina and Max’s kid under an older Sasha’s wing, and it breaks my heart.

Kara never shies away from putting her foot in it, not that she really did, but she just pats Alina’s knee. “Maybe there’s another soulmate. Or someone good. Down the line.”

“Getting over Max is going to take time. I miss him, so much so I can’t imagine how you’re doing it.”

“Like a queen,” says Kara. “You’re strong. But we’re here for you. I don’t really know you, but girl, I’m here. And Erin’s right, it’s going to take time, but one day you’ll have the strength to move on. Eventually.”

I lean around Kara and squeeze Alina’s hand. “You have a big heart, and Max was lucky. He’s in there; no one or nothing can take that. Even someone new.”

“And we’re talking way down the line.” But then Kara putsher hand on top of mine and squeezes both mine and Alina’s. “Or maybe it’s around the corner. You’ll be ready when you’re ready. There’s no right or wrong.”

“I couldn’t. I can’t replace them.”

“Then,” I say, “the time is wrong.”

Kara lets Alina talk and we listen, and I just wish I could do more to help my new friend.

The day’s a whirlwind.We end up going to Kara’s and letting Sasha nap. There are always Sasha clothes here, so I bathe and change him before his nap, and then Kara makes drinks ,but I give my head a small shake when she offers me one.

Her look’s pure questions unasked, ones I’ll be facing. But all she does is make me a virgin margarita.

And when it’s nearing early evening, we pick a restaurant near Kara and head there. At this hour, it’s fairly empty and they’re happy to accommodate Sasha and even offer to rustle up a kid menu, but I just order him macaroni with ragu, something he likes, as I know from experience he doesn’t like super fancy mac and cheese.

Kara and Alina share a bottle of wine, but I beg off just saying I’m not in the mood. We’re kept entertained by Sasha, and then Kara takes over when he gets her phone so he can watch cartoons, and she makes us laugh with the last string of disastrous dates she went on.

Finally, she kicks me under the table.

“Ow.”

“What about you?”

“I’m not dating anyone.”

Kara rolls her eyes. “She thinks she’s a comedian,” she says to Alina. “Did you sort things with her brother?”

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