Chapter Twenty Six

She studied his face, the thick brows, the whiskers on his chin, the way his bottom lip was fuller than the top, the way his eyelashes seemed to sparkle in the sun. She loved the smell of him, the sound of his laugh, the magnetic aura that surrounded him. She wanted to remember everything. He was quiet, sitting on the grass at the Clean Ponds. She found the name humorous. It used to be referred to as the Dirty Ponds when residents used to through trash and waste into it in the 17^th century. But Prince Menshikov cleaned it up and rechristened it with its new name.  There were swans and ducks floating quietly on the water today.  Zoey looked up at the blue sky. There were very few white puffy clouds scattered upon it.  The tiny breeze ruffled the leaves. The water in the pond was a smooth and still as it would be in the winter when it froze over. She could imagine kids of all ages skating here on the frozen pond.  She could see the snow piled up around the bank in her mind. She could see Alex skating here as a child, bundled up in a huge coat that could somehow made him look small. He lay there in the grass next to her, too huge now for any coat to have that effect. He was lying on his side, propped up on his elbow, turning a leaf over in his hands. He seemed to be studying the veins sprouting out from the stem.

“Are we going to talk about Budapest?” he asked, surprising her.  She didn’t want to talk about Budapest. She didn’t want to think about it.

“I leave tomorrow afternoon,” she said, matter-of-factly, trying to hide her discomfort over the subject.  “You will go back to the States soon?”

He looked up at her, studying her face for a second. He tossed aside the leaf he’d been playing with.

“Yes, I will go soon,” he said quietly. “I have a commercial to shoot in New York City before training camp.”

“A commercial?  Really? For what?”

“Reebok. Shoes,” he said dismissively.  

“Do you do lots of commercials?” she asked. They’d never really talked about that part of his life before. She found it interesting, as well as distracting.

“Some.”

“You don’t sound very enthused about it.”

“It is not something that I like to do so much. You know, it just part of my job. I do some here in Russia, too. It’s good thing you don’t have to be pretty for hockey ads.”

She looked at him, trying to decide if he were kidding or not.

“You are very pretty.”

“You have eyes,” he chuckled.  “I have seen them. They are chocolate brown and very pretty. Can you not see from them?”

“I see you very well, Alexander.”

She brushed her fingers gently down his cheek and looked into those beautiful eyes that she loved so much. She kissed him quickly before her sadness was able to take hold of her.