Thirty-Four. Smoothies
Painfully Ours
*Hale Sokolov*
We said goodbye to ma, she hugged Nora so tightly.
Nora, although tired and freshly woken, hugged her back.
"I love you all." My mom said with a sad smile.
And when we had the luggage from the car we began walking inside.
Nora had the hood of the hoodie she wore up as she ran up and held onto my bicep.
"Stop walking so fast." She mumbled.
"You're adorable. But the faster we get through this first part, the quicker we can get you food and then you can go back to sleep." I said and she hummed.
"Do you need help?" She asked Lore since he was holding her backpack I packed, and strolled three suitcases.
"No baby, thank you though." He said.
"Do you?" She asked me since I was technically doing the same.
"You're fine, love."
We quickly got our suitcases tagged and on the belt to get it onto our plane with my carry on and hers left out.
We got through TSA, everything fine but Lore and I usually get patted down and checked once more due to the way we look unfortunately.
So I watched as they checked Nora.
There was no reason for them to check her more.
But we made it through and she pointed to bagel bros.
"I'm shocked we have that here." Lore said, genuinely surprised.
But she got a toasted plain bagel with extra cream cheese.
She took a bite and did a weird dance before looking over at a smoothie place.
"Want one?" I asked.
"Oh no it's okay." She shook her head.
I wiped the cream cheese from her mouth with my thumb and licked it off.
Her face turned red.
"Lore I'll save seats at the gate take her to get a smoothie." I said.
He nodded.
"It's okay!" She said but he grabbed her hand and took her.
I found our gate, covering the seats beside me with a hoodie and the backpack carry on.
I confirmed the reservation we had at a restaurant tonight.
The flight was roughly 4 hours meaning we will arrive about 9/10 in the morning since the boarding time was 5.
Then we'd let her rest if she wished.
But this vacation was hers. After what she had to deal with and endure with our parents this is the least we could do.
She was to be happy and satisfied and get everything she wants.
I spent this time getting our money in order, and our father added a fund to our joint work based account.
In Russian:
+$100,000
To my daughter in law
And I gritted my teeth, but every cent would go to her.
Lore and I both carried a card for her with nearly unlimited funds.
So I put $50k for the card I carry for her and the other half in Lore's.
Another notification.
In Russian:
+80k
Because your father is an asshole
I laughed.
Gave $40k to that account the other to the one I held.
They came back.
In Russian:
"Dad sent 100k for her, ma added 80 more so I split them between the cards we hold for Nora." I said.
"Okay. It's the least his ass could fucking do." He said.
"It's okay, our wife bruised his ego." I smiled.
Nora sat with her smoothie beside me and Lore on the other side of her.
She rested her head on my shoulder.
"How are you, my love?" I asked.
"Tired. Excited. But I feel bad." She answered.
Lore grabbed her that wasn't holding the smoothie, kissing her knuckles.
"Why?" He asked.
"I mean, your parents. You guys. I feel guilty looking forward to this with everything that just happened because what happened directly affected you both." She replied.
"This shit has been going on for our entire childhood. It's nothing new other than you being there for it. We understand our family dynamic will never change. We accepted that. But no relationship will take importance over mine with you and Hale's with you. I want nothing more than for you to be excited. I am." Lore reassured.
"I also am." I kissed her hair.
"You sure?"
"Yes. You're our everything. It's all we need." I told her.
"Okay." She whispered.
She finished the smoothie and stood, throwing away the cup.
She came back with a small smile.
"We're going to Greece." She screamed in the quietest voice ever.
I laughed as she sat back down and grabbed my hand, grabbing Lore's and hugging our arms to her.
"I love you so much." She squeezed harder.