I'll Be There

“Hullo?” Evgeni mumbled, picking up his cell phone, not bothering to check the ID as his teddy bear eyes barely cracked open enough to see his phone.

“Ev? Baby?” Rachel sounded stressed, no doubt the result of her job that kept her up at all hours of the day.

“Rach? What is wrong?” He asked, rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake up in the slightest, looking to his nightstand to see that it was almost seven.

“Baby, I need you to do me a big favor.” He could tell that she wasn’t happy to ask, but it was out of necessity.

“Anything, Rachel.” He sat up in bed, running a hand over his head.

“I’m not going to be able to make it back home before Ava wakes up to get ready for her field trip with her summer club at the school?” She asked, “I know it’s asking a lot, but two nurses called in sick and I need to take over for them until we can get someone on call to come in.” She insisted. “I swear, I’ll make it up to you.”

“Rachel, don’t worry, I can take care of it.” Evgeni insisted, “It’s absolutely no problem.” He added. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll get Ava to the school and when you get home, we can take a nap and I’ll make lunch.”

“God I love you.” Rachel laughed, “Seriously, babe, you’re the best.” She sighed, feeling a hundred pounds lift from her chest. “There’s a spare key under the welcome mat in front of the door. She has to get on the bus by eight-thirty.” She explained. “She can pick out her own outfit, but don’t let her get too creative.”

“Da, da, I got it.” Evgeni nodded, looking back at the clock to see that if he got to Rachel’s house in twenty minutes, that would give Ava about an hour to get ready for school – and if he knew women, they needed plenty of time to prepare in the morning. “Don’t worry, she’ll be ready.” They said their goodbyes and Evgeni rolled out of bed. He didn’t do much maintenance but slip on a pair of basketball shorts and t-shirt before grabbing his flip-flops on the way out the door.

Making his way to Rachel’s house, he tried to keep his yawning under control, this being one of his earliest mornings so far in the summer. What kind of little kid went to school in the summer anyways?

It was odd to be grabbing the spare key under the welcome mat, like an intruder in a family home. Unlocking the door, Evgeni took in the familiar scents and sights of Rachel’s homey apartment. He had never been in Ava’s bedroom before, but thought that coming with a peace offering would be best. He poured a glass of OJ before bringing it to her room, knocking softly on her bedroom door. When there was no response, he quietly shuffled in to the room that had pink walls but they were covered with photos of the Milky Way, space shuttle launches, and even a poster of Buzz Aldrin.

“Ava?” He called out, walking over to her bed that was smaller than his entire body. “Ava? Wake up, sweetheart.” He lightly rubbed her back as she slept with lips parted, hair tousled and teddy bear curled into her chest. “Ava?” He called again, brushing her wispy hair out of her face.

“Ev-geeny? Why you in my room?” She asked with her eyes closed, a small frown of a pout on her lips. “Go away.” She rolled over, facing the wall, making Geno roll his eyes.

“Ava, you need to wake up, you have your school trip today.” Geno said, a giant hand still spanning the width of her shoulders on her back as he rubbed it softly up and down. “Let’s get ready to go, I’ll bring you to school and we can stop to get a donut on the way.”

“No.” Ava huffed, “where’s Mama?” She asked, curling up even tighter around her teddy bear.

“Mama had to work late at the hospital. Come on, time to get up.” He sighed, giving her a little more of a jostle. “What are you going to wear?” He asked, trying to provoke her to get out of bed. Ava heaved a big sigh as Geno drew the curtains open, letting in lots of sunshine.

“Ev-geeny.” She frowned, barely picking up her feet as she scuttled out of the bed and across the hall to the bathroom she shared with Rachel. Geno sighed, walking down to the kitchen, downing the glass of orange juice that Ava had rejected before placing the cup in the sink.

He sat down on the couch in the family room, flipping on the TV and watching the morning news for the first time in weeks while Ava moved about her bedroom, getting ready. About twenty minutes later, Ava appeared in the family room, looking down at her feet, she looked back up at Geno.

“Ev-geeny, tie my shoes.” She insisted, pointing down to her pink tennis. Geno raised an eyebrow at her before shaking his head.

“If you ask nicely, I will tie your shoes.” He insisted, looking at her pointedly. Ava sighed again, rolling her eyes.

“Please tie my shoes, Ev-geeny.” She demanded.

“My name is not Ev-geeny, you can call me Evgeni, or you can call me Geno.” He added, still unphased by her little sassy attitude that wasn’t getting her anywhere. Ava stomped closer to him in her pink tennis shoes.

“Geno, please tie my shoes.” She narrowed her eyes, Geno took one of her tiny feet into his hands, tying it quickly before moving onto the next. “Thanks Ev-geeny.”

•••

“Baby girl, get back here, you need sun block.” Rachel sighed as Ava ran off towards the water, leaving her Mama and Evgeni to carry the things from the car down to the small bank of sand at Ohiopyle Park.

“Wow, she’s got some energy.” Sidney noted as she booked it from the car and immediately started fluttering around in the water where it was warm and shallow. She knew better than to jump into deep water without her Mama or her water wings.

“She loves to swim.” Rachel smiled. “I wish there were more lakes around.” She added as she carried the lawn chairs and blankets for the little group. Evgeni rounded out the back with the towels and coolers.

Sidney had volunteered to come along with them that day, his fiancé, Brianna, was visiting family in Minnesota before the season picked up.

“Mama! I need my wingies!” Ava flapped her arms, shouting from the warm, shallow water that was knee-high on her tiny body.

“I got it.” Sidney insisted, grabbing the inflated little pieces from Rachel’s full hands, catching the attention of everyone else in the park as he jogged towards the little girl. Ava giggled as he slid the wings up her arms, making small talk with her as she threw her head back with a giggle. Sidney peeled off his shirt and followed her into the water.

“The fuck.” Geno stated pointedly, looking towards Rachel who was watching Sidney play around with Ava who was all smiles. “Two seconds and she likes him, three months and she still hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you, Evgeni.” Rachel tried to explain, but they both knew it was a broken record.

“She hates me, Rachel, we both know.” Evgeni mumbled, putting out their chairs and a big beach blanket for Ava.

“I’ll have a talk with her.” Rachel said, placing her hand on his bicep that was round and warm underneath her hand. He gave her a weak smile before she could kiss him softly. “I promise, things will change.” She insisted. Evgeni just nodded, sitting down in his chair and checking the time on his cell phone. “Ava! Sun Block!” Rachel called again. Ava came running over, Sidney following close behind as Rachel took out the aerosol spray. “Arms out, eyes closed,” Rachel insisted. Ava giggled at the feel of the spray on her skin while Sidney assumed the position as well, also getting a spray.

“Go play, children.” Evgeni waved them off, sending them both running back to the water. He slumped back in his seat, taking his shirt off and kicking his feet up as he cracked open a beer. “Have you talked to Ava?” He asked, sliding his sunglasses over his eyes, leaning in to kiss her gently.

“No, not yet. I was thinking we could do it together?” She asked, biting her lip softly, to which Evgeni nodded, as much as he wanted to say no.

It was just about a month before Geno would start up his regular routines to prepare for the upcoming season and he wanted to head to Russia for a week before he would be staying in the US for the year. What he wanted was for Rachel and Ava to join him, but he knew that Ava would be a tough sell, even Rachel knew that when he suggested it a few weeks prior.

”I don’t want it to be a big deal.” Evgeni insisted, “I know it sounds like big deal, but it’s not. We don’t even have to tell my parents I’m in town. I just want to visit and be home for a little while before season starts.” He added as he held her tightly in his arms.

“And Ava? I just don’t think she’ll go for it,” Rachel sighed, placing her hands on his chest as his hands slid lower and lower down her back.

“I want her to come.” Evgeni mumbled out, “but if she doesn’t want to, we can arrange something.” He insisted, knowing that the option of her staying with her father was out of the question. Dave was refusing to see Rachel or Ava and even when Ava cried to see her Dad, there was nothing that Rachel could do – not that she wanted him to see her. “We’ll figure it out.”

Evgeni was brought back to his thoughts when he felt a small, cold finger on his knee, tracing his old scar.

“What happened to you, Evgeni?” Ava asked in her curious voice as she studied his scar closely, the sensation tickling him in the slightest.

“I got in an accident playing hockey.” Geno explained, knowing that going into the specifics of his ACL and MCL injury wouldn’t really interest her.

“Does this hurt?” She asked, still softly tracing the pink scar tissue. Evgeni shook his head and Rachel smiled at the two of them.

“Did it hurt when it happened?” She asked, tilting her head and letting her wet bangs fall into her eyes as she settled on her beach blanket at his feet.

“Really bad.” Evgeni nodded, “it took me almost a whole year to get over it.” He added.

‘That’s a long time.” She mumbled, still checking out the long scar that ran the length of his knee. “Look,” she flung her little leg up on his lap, causing him to reach out to steady her narrow shoulders. “I fell off my bike once and I scraped up my ankle.” She pointed to the tiny white scar on her ankle where it stuck out to the side. Geno’s fingers looked ridiculously big as they touched the scar on her ankle.

“Did it hurt?” Geno asked, mimicking her.

“I cried, but it wasn’t that bad.” She explained. “I cried at this one, too,” she lifted up her elbow to show another little white scar not even half an inch long. “This one I got on the playground, Miles pushed me off the monkey bars.” She added with a frown.

“Ava, Geno and I were thinking that the three of us could go on a vacation.” Rachel said with a smile, thinking that now was as good a time as any and it was a rare moment that she and Geno seemed to be getting along.

“Like to Disneyworld?!” Ava squealed, placing her hands on Geno’s knees and jumping up and down, making Geno laugh as he covered her face.

“No, sweetheart.” Rachel laughed.

“Oh my God, are we going to Cape Canaveral?” She asked, eyes wide and jaw dropped open. Evgeni barely recognized the name of the Kennedy Space Center and one of NASA’s stations.

“Ava, we were thinking of going to Russia.” She explained.

“Russia?” She asked, screwing her face in confusion, “like… cosmonauts?” She asked, tilting her head the other direction.

“Da, Да, так же, как космонавты.” Geno laughed, making Ava blink widely at him.

“So what do you think?” Rachel asked Ava who was weighing her options as she slid her own Barbie sunglasses over her eyes.

“No, I’m fine, but thanks for offering.”

For each step forward, a step back.