“This isn’t the same girl we were talking about before. That prosecutor?”
Andrei nodded, unashamed. “It’s her. You’re going to have to get used to her, Dad. We’re together now.”
“How do you think this is going to look for our law firm, son?”
“Frankly, I don’t care. I’m with her. I just thought I’d give you the courtesy of letting you know before I brought her to the house this weekend.”
“The weekend?” his father asked.
“That’s right, and I already cleared it with Mom.” He smiled. “I’ll let you get back to work. I know that you’re busy.” He left before his father could object to anything else. Once he knew his mother approved, his father usually backed off.
Sam followed on his heels. “You’re really doing this, huh?”
His brother knew at least something about the issue he had with Judge Hughes and Victoria, but he didn’t push Andrei about it.
“I am. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”
His brother patted him on the back. “Not at all. I am just happy to get some entertainment this weekend.”
Andrei shook his head. He hoped like hell the entertainment stayed limited to the television and music. Anything else could be too much for Victoria to handle, and he wasn’t going to let his family scare her off.
It was still hard for Andrei to work without thinking about Victoria. He knew she worried about meeting his family, but they were important to him, especially his daughters. His ex-wife Trish was going to be an annoyance. She always was when he wanted his girls to go to family weekend, probably because Trish wasn’t a part of it anymore.
He wanted Victoria to meet his girls, and family weekend seemed like a good time to do that, but he put off calling Trish later.
Andrei could sense the tension that still existed between him and Victoria. He’d be a fool not to notice it. He also knew that she still wanted to go to Chicago, but he saw the time spent with his family as a chance to convince her to stay in New York. He didn’t like having her so stressed out while she carried his baby inside of her. He didn’t want her stressed at all, but he couldn’t stop the immediate feeling to protect her and his baby whenever he thought about them.
He took time to have lunch with Erik. Meeting with Erik always helped him figured stuff out, especially since he wasn’t the type of person to fuck around with words. Erik was a good guy who always spoke his mind. If people didn’t like it, that was their problem.
Andrei met his best friend at the Little Old Pub for lunch. This pub was quiet with booths and tables for eating and a decent-sized bar for drinking. It was dim lighting throughout, but the televisions on the walls added to some additional lighting.
“What are you boys having today?” a waitress wearing a tight, black tank top and matching shorts asked.
“A double cheeseburger, fries, and a beer please,” Erik told her. His flirtatious smile and wink were obvious, and the woman giggled.
Erik may have admired the woman, but Andrei’s thoughts only had Victoria running through it. The woman has planted herself in Andrei’s heart, mind, and life. It wasn’t enough though. He still wanted more of her. He was a selfish bastard when it came to her, but he wanted all of Victoria. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to satisfied until he got it.
Andrei didn’t feel up to perusing for something else. “I’ll have the same.” He handed the waitress back his menu and waited for to bring their beers before he started talking.
“Thanks for taking time out to see me,” Andrei said. “Could use some advice right about now.”
“Hey, that’s what friends are for, right?” Erik took a gulp of his beer. “You sounded intense on the phone.”
Andrei took a drink, too. “Victoria’s pregnant.”
“Victoria? The same lawyer you were seeing?”
After taking another sip, Andrei nodded. “That’s her.”
“Pregnant. Damn, you sure didn’t waste any time, did you?”
“It must have happened while we were in Montego Bay.”
“So you threw protection out the window when you boarded the plane.”
“We were in the moment, and we certainly didn’t plan on this. It just happened.”
“Since you already have two kids, I figured as much. What are you going to do?”