in the snow. The saying that a woman’s hands were always warm was wrong, apparently, or perhaps she was
something special. Reno found himself staring, and quickly filled the gap in the conversation his air headedness had created, “Um… thank you.”
Naya blinked. Reno realized that she didn’t understand a single word he had said. He stuttered, trying
to make up for his ignorance, trying to come up with something that the Russian could understand, when
through the silence permeated the faint notes of a violin.
Reno found himself at a loss for words, but Naya’s face lit up. She pointed to the door excitedly, chattering in Russian. She looked up at Reno, and he found himself stuttering. Naya grinned, amused, and pointed
to the door once again. Reno stared at Malkova blankly, who in turn groaned in exasperation.
“She wants you to invite her in, you blockhead.”
Reno nodded hastily and jammed his key into the door. As soon as the metal rustled, the violin
stopped. Reno swung the door open.
“Willow, you home?”
Reno.
A little girl had just finished shoving her violin back into the closet. She looked up expectantly at
“The groceries?”
“They’re here, calm down.”
Reno handed the crumpled bag to his daughter, and as she stepped forward to grab it she caught a
glimpse of the two dark-haired women outside the door. She stopped and stared at them. Reno stepped aside.
“We have guests.”
“I can see that.”
“So…”
“Aren’t you going to invite them in?”
behind.
Reno smiled, and Malkova stepped gracefully into the shabby apartment, with Naya following shyly
Willow looked up at them and stepped back warily, but Naya walked up to her and smiled. She knelt
down to Willow’s level.
“Вы играете на скрипке, девочка?”
Willow blinked. Naya giggled, like a little girl, and repeated.
“Skripka?”
Willow’s eyes changed from those of confusion to glee, but her face contorted as she tried to maintain
a countenance of shyness. She looked up at Reno.
“She wants to see my violin.”
“Since when did you speak Russian?”
about-”
“Skripka means violin in Russian. I learned that in music class when Mr. Anders was teaching us
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