Immortal Ash

Chapter 4

What had she done?!

Pulling Wolf away from the trees, Sonya walked forward quickly, as if she were in a hurry to get somewhere, but in fact she was running away from her spontaneous act. Wolf was stubborn when he wanted to 'read' the mark left on the trunk. Sonya was angry - not at him, at herself, but it turned out that she was getting back at the dog.

"I'm sorry, it's not your fault," she gave up when the wolfhound stood on the ground with four paws and looked at her reproachfully. Sonya loosened the leash, the dog sniffed the pole carefully, stepped back and looked at her mistress, grinning. 'Well, what are you fussing about? Calm down!' - read in his gaze, and Sonya involuntarily grinned.

What was she really doing? She was not sixteen years old already. Her feelings for Eugenie had long ago been grinded into flour by the millstones of time and circumstance. And yet she was nervous. Nervous because she did not know how Lebedev would behave in this place.

...When he called her back, she listened to his hurried story and unexpectedly offered to come. Too anxious. In fact, as he explained later, nothing had happened. Just Volodya suddenly became nervous: he shouted, tore the drawing paper, threw his pencils. And before that he drew Sonya again as Little Red Riding Hood with a wolf.

Hearing the invitation, Eugenie hesitated, but before Sonya could recover, he had already agreed. Too quickly, as if realizing that she regretted her spontaneous decision. Lebedev promised to be there by evening and said goodbye. The name of the town did not seem to surprise him. As if it had to be so. As if he knew something in advance...

Wolf stopped once more to sniff a tall blade of grass, and Sonya, boiling with inner irritation, stepped impatiently from foot to foot. For a moment she thought she had found the solution: all she had to do was to call Eugenie back and tell him that her friend had changed her mind and would still come, and that there were no other places available. Perhaps she would have done so, if she hadn't been distracted by a call from Alexei.

"Sonya?" began the nephew, and his voice sounded sad. "Are you already in place?"

"Yes. Are you too?"

"No," Alexei answered after a moment's hesitation. "We... You see, we had a big fight with her yesterday. So, in general, everything was canceled."

He sullenly silenced, and Sonya regretted that she was so far away from her nephew. He was upset, even his bass cut through the ringing notes. Sonya refrained from optimistic but inappropriate consolations. Instead, she suggested:

"If you want, come to my place with Wolf. We'll fit in. The house is spacious."

"And that's great!" Alexei came to life. Sonya couldn't help smiling - that's the solution. And the nephew will be divorced, and with him everything will seem easier.

"I'll call one of my acquaintances. He's on his way here right now. I'll ask him to pick you up."

"Okay!"

"Also run to my place and get my spare glasses. They're on the dresser in the living room. I broke mine, can you believe it?"

"No problem," he said in his usual bass voice.

Eugenie did not ask unnecessary questions and agreed to give Alexei a ride. He only asked if the reservation for the house would be canceled and promised to reimburse Sonya's friend for all the expenses.

"I'll come with my son. There's no one to leave Volodya with. Sonya, I'm so glad you invited us! Thank you. My son will love the trip."

She almost blurted out that Volodya, on the contrary, in an unfamiliar place can feel uncomfortable, but she stopped herself in time. Eugenie is his father and understands his son better, while she is nobody to them.