Two days later Jane was ready to pick Viktor up from the hospital. It was likely that he wouldn’t be in a good mood, because the Blackhawks had lost their game the night before. Together with Abby she’d watched the game while having a glass of wine and takeout food. It had been a great night with lots of girly talk. The only downside had been the negative outcome of the game.
Before she headed to the hospital though, she took a detour to buy some groceries. She wanted to make a nice, healthy dinner and sandwiches for lunch. After all, she’d have to help him around the house, which meant that she’d also spend most of the day there. She had to eat, he had to eat, so she could cook for both of them. He’d either eat it or find something else. That wouldn’t be her problem.
When she arrived at the hospital and entered the hall, she could already make him out. One more signature and they were good to go. Viktor only saw her when he grabbed his crutched and turned around.
“Hello Mr Stalberg,” she said in a chipper tone, smiling at her newest client. “You’re ready to go?”
“Yes, but please don’t ‘Mr Stalberg’ me. Just call me Viktor.” He left the building next to her. He’d already taken his painkillers, but every movement still hurt. His foot wasn’t the problem, it was his knee. And his ribs. He had to figure out how to move his upper body without experiencing too much pain. His knee would feel better day by day. He couldn’t move it too much, but at least the pain would go away. If only his ribs weren’t broken, he’d feel a lot better. The game yesterday hadn’t improved his mood.
“Well, then you should call me Jane. You should call me that anyway, since I don’t really react when someone calls me Miss Walker.” She never had. Miss Walker had always been her mother, and she didn’t want to be associated with that. She’d have taken on her grandmother’s last name, but it wasn’t that easy. A lot of paperwork that wouldn’t lead her anywhere.
“What is this?” Viktor asked when Jane stopped in front of her car. How was he supposed to fit in this car? It was okay for her, he guessed, but he’d probably hit his head on the roof once he sat inside the car.
“My car.” She peered up at him, looked at her car, then looked back again. Oh, oh. “I’m sorry, but this will have to do.” She rounded the car, opened the passenger door and pushed the seat as far back as possible. It wasn’t ideal, but it would work. For now. Damn, she hadn’t thought about the fact that he was such a big man any further. “I’ll try to find something else for tomorrow.”
“You’ll drive my car.”
Jane jumped at the sound of Viktor’s voice right behind her. She turned around and tried to take a step back, because he was so close, but she only hit her elbow on the door. Did she detect a grin on his face at her reaction? She couldn’t be sure, because it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to drive that car after your accident.”
“There’ll be a new one in my parking spot at the apartment complex. I called them yesterday. It’ll be easier to drive around with that car than with yours.”
That was convenient. For him at least. Jane would have to get used to the car first and she didn’t know what kind of car he owned. Jane finally squeezed past him to get to the other side of the car. When both of them were seated inside she could start the car. Viktor gave her instructions while she was driving. It was easier this way. She could have used her phone for navigation, but since Viktor was sitting next to her, he could just as well open his mouth.
She drove down to the parking spots and parked the car in the one he indicated, making sure that he had enough room to the right to get out of the car without any trouble. She rounded the car again and took the crutches from him. Actually, she’d wanted to lend him a hand with getting out, but quickly thought better of it. He probably wouldn’t like that.
“Great, the car is already here.” He closed the door and admired the car next to Jane’s. He had to be kidding. There was a BMW that was probably double the size of hers. How was she supposed to even get that car out of the building? He’d have to have a lot of patience with her. She wasn’t used to driving cars this big. And so she told him. “Relax, you’ll manage.”
Great. At least one of them thought so. Jane took a deep breath and pushed thoughts of driving this monstrosity back. She’d deal with this problem tomorrow. For now there was enough she had to do. First of all get acquainted with his apartment. She took the bags out of the trunk and slowly walked with him towards the elevator. He inspected the shopping bags, but didn’t ask her any questions. Neither did she offer any information. He’d find out soon enough.
They rode up to the twenty-fifth floor and got out. It was a good thing that Jane wasn’t scared of heights, otherwise she would have had a really big problem here. Viktor entered the apartment first and led her towards the kitchen so that she could put the shopping bags down. He excused himself to go to the bedroom and change into something a bit more comfortable. Jane should make herself at home.
As soon as Viktor was gone, Jane looked around the kitchen. It was beautiful! She had a really nice kitchen herself, but this one was state-of-the-art and had a lot of room. The first thing she did was to open al the cabinets. She tried to memorize where she would find everything, so that it would be easier for her when she started cooking later on.
The next step was to open the fridge where she found exactly what she’d expected to find there. Barely a thing. She started unpacking the bags when she suddenly heard a loud crash.
“Are you alright?” Jane called out. He was in his bedroom after all, and she didn’t want to just run in there, because she didn’t have a clue what he was doing right then. Sure, he’d wanted to get changed, but she didn’t know whether he was already fully dressed or standing there only wearing his underwear. She’d seen her fair share of half naked and fully naked bodies, most of them of people she’d never wanted to see without clothes, but her job required that. But seeing him like this could maybe be a little uncomfortable for him.
Finally he called back that everything was alright and Jane could go back to unpacking the bags. When she was finally finished, she left the kitchen to take a look around the living room. She’d already gotten a quick glance at the spacious bathroom and could now concentrate on the center of the apartment. The furniture looked comfy and the room was not too stuffed. There was a huge TV on one wall, a giant sofa, a round table with chairs, bookshelves, as well as shelves filled with DVDs and blurays. It didn’t look that different from her own apartment, only that everything was bigger.
Suddenly she stopped in her tracks and looked straight at through the windows. How could she have missed that? One of the ‘walls’ consisted completely of windows and offered a beautiful view over Lake Michigan. It took her breath away. She knew that they were on the twenty-fifth floor, and she also knew in which area of the city they were, but this view still took her by surprise.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Viktor’s voice made her turn around. He stood in front of her in cut-off sweat pants and a white shirt. The pants were probably a good idea due to the cast on his foot and the bandage around his knee. They’d renewed the bandage this morning and she’d do this tonight before she left for her own apartment.
“Yes. It’s breathtaking.” She stepped closer to him, let her eyes drift to his knee before she looked him in the eyes again. “How are you feeling?”
“Pissed off?” He gave her a crooked smile and put his crutches aside, so he could sit down on the sofa.
“I figured that much. I meant your injuries.”
“I know.” Viktor pushed his hair back. “The painkillers work, but my ribs still hurt like a bitch.”
“Okay. If you need anything, just let me know. You’re allowed to take two more painkillers over the course of the day. For today you should maybe just rest a bit. I’ll make sandwiches for lunch and cook a healthy meal for dinner if that’s alright with you.”
For a moment Viktor looked taken aback, but then he nodded. “Okay.”
“And it might be convenient if you gave me a key to your apartment. That way I won’t have to wait for you to open the door and so on.” She was already looking out the window again.
“What?” He sounded downright terrified at her suggestion.
“Relax.” Jane turned around again, scowling at him. “What do you think I’ll do? Sneak in here while you’re asleep and watch you? Take photos of you drooling and sell them to the newspaper? Or strip off my clothes and snuggle in bed with you?” She slowly raised an eyebrow, still keeping her gaze fixed on him. “Please, I have better things to do. I’ll only use the key for scheduled meetings. Apart from that I’ll call you or use the bell.”
For a few seconds Viktor stared at her in disbelief, before he grinned at her. He liked her attitude. “There’s a key on the board next to the door. You can use that one.”
“Thank you.”