Say my name

Chapter 11

It was good to be back home. Aleksey's place was wonderful, but home was home. Anabella woke up in the morning in her own bed looking around her small feminine bedroom. After travelling the whole day and night, it felt good to stretch the body in a familiar softness. The sheets still held her scent, she felt the lumps in the mattress in just the right spots. It was heaven. Anabella laid there thinking about the summer. How strange, it was only yesterday and yet it seemed ages ago. Everything felt a little unreal. Was it possible that the distance erases the connections so fast? Anabella thought that Aleksey would like her cottage and smiled. It had the same old world feeling without being out of date. She decided to take a shower and then call Maxim. She also remembered the mandatory dinner at her parent's house later. Ugh, we will be grilled about every day of our summer. I hope that Kevin will be yapping most of the time. Refreshed and dressed Anabella made herself a cup of coffee and sat on the patio. She dialed Maxim's number.

"Hello." It was nice to hear his voice, so deep and strong. Perfect voice for the radio.

"Hi," Anabella replied shyly. It was so different to talk to him over the phone than in person.

"How was your trip?" Maxim asked softly but his voice vibrated through her whole body.

"Thankfully, no adventures, although it was tiresome. We got home in the evening and I went to sleep immediately. I just woke up. I feel exhausted."

"How is it to be back home?"

"Wonderful, to tell you the truth. There is a magic about one's own bed. Although your bed was the most comfortable, I missed my lumpy mattress," she smiled into the phone.

"I slept in my bed too," Maxim said in an odd voice. "The smell of your body still lingers on the pillows and sheets," He confessed and added quietly, "It drove me insane."

"Maxim..." Anabella gasped imagining his big muscular body touching the sheets that hugged her own skin earlier. The heat rose to her cheeks.

"How do you feel?" Maxim asked.

"Strange," she replied truthfully.

"How's that?"

"I feel like I'm in a dream. I feel like things happened but not in a real life," Anabella looked around her backyard and fruit trees behind a low picket fence. The sound of suburbs reached her ears from time to time. No more open fields, quietness and big blue sky.

"Anabella..." Maxim sounded urgent," I'm real, very real. I could barely sleep last night. Not having you close felt terrible. Even the old man walked around aimlessly, complaining how quiet it is."

"When are you planning to come?" Anabella change the topic to make him feel better.

"I'll be done with the commission in two, tops three weeks. I will definitely come by the end of September. I can't stay away any longer," Maxim's voice was eager. Anabella could not see his hand holding the phone so hard he could break it any second.

"I would love it," Anabella assured him about her intentions. "I want you to meet everybody. See my little cottage. I want you to meet Brutus, our family dog. But I must tell you that if he doesn't like you then our relationship is over," she laughed, "He can smell good people. He always barked at Christopher." Ops! Anabella covered her mouth catching herself too late. Too much information.

"Well, I will make sure I'll bring a lot of treats for him, to bribe him," Maxim said unfazed.

"I'm going back to work on Monday. That will occupy my time and the time will fly. We will meet in not time," Anabella spoke softly, "now I must go Maxim. I have to get ready emotionally for a family dinner," she chuckled, "It will be quite a spectacle, I can tell you. I just wanted to say hello and tell you that we arrived safely. Take care of yourself please and work hard so you can finish as soon as possible."