Jane went ahead of Viktor to give him some time to get out of the car. And to have a moment to herself. With the shopping bags in hand she stepped on the elevator and took a deep breath. Fuck, she hadn’t wanted him to see the tears. It would only make him ask questions. Questions she didn’t want to answer, but maybe would after the way he’d stepped in and helped her. It had made her see a different side of him.
She left the door to the apartment ajar, so that Viktor didn’t have to fumble for the keys. Before she started cooking dinner, Jane put everything they’d bought away as quickly as possible, so that she was already busy with cooking when Viktor closed the apartment door.
“Jane?” She heard his voice from the door and froze for an instant. She didn’t turn around, but instead concentrated on cutting up the vegetables.
“I already started dinner. It should be ready in about half an hour.”
She knew that Viktor wouldn’t back off so easily, but for now he’d leave her alone. Heaving a heavy sigh he turned around and went to the sofa in the living room to sit down. His knee was throbbing a little bit after walking around this much. But he felt better than the day before when he’d used both crutches to walk around. Pain meant that he was healing. It would have been more worrisome if he hadn’t felt any pain at all.
Once Viktor was seated, he took his phone and dialed Patrick’s number. If anybody knew what was going on with Jane it was Patrick, or Abby.
“How’s the patient doing?” These were Patrick’s first words to Viktor when he picked up the phone.
“Good so far. Jane took my pills away, though, because she thought I might take too many again.”
“She’s a good girl. And what? You know that you’re not supposed to that.”
“Yeah, and you know what you’re capable of doing when you’ve been in pain for hours and hours and hours and you’re not able to sleep even at five in the morning.”
“Yeah.” Patrick didn’t say a word more to this. He knew what Viktor was talking about. “Apart from that… How is it with Jane around?”
“Fine. But something happened today that made me curious and a little worried.” Viktor sighed and told Patrick about what had happened earlier at the supermarket. “I was impressed that she stepped in, but when I saw her crying back in the car, I thought that there must be more to it. And she’s been avoiding me since I saw her like this. Do you know anything?”
“No. When I met her, she’d just lost her grandmother and she’d lived with her for years. She never really talked about her family, and she doesn’t even have photos of them anywhere. So we just assumed that she maybe lost her parents when she was still really young. Maybe you should ask her.”
“That’s what I planned to do. But somehow I don’t think that she’ll want to discuss it with me.”
“Try her. The worst that can happen is that she gets mad and leaves you alone, but she’ll be back tomorrow.”
“You sure?”
“I’ve known her longer than you. And if you find out what it is, let me know.”
When Viktor was seated at the table with Jane a little later, he kept his mouth shut until he was nearly finished with his dinner. It was delicious like everything else Jane had made him so far. She was unusually concentrated on her plate. She hadn’t looked up once, which had given him enough time to study her. She was cute in a way. Not the kind of girl, people would describe as drop dead gorgeous or something, but there was something about her that was really interesting. When she finally looked up at him after she was finished, he could see her eyes. Before they’d looked brown to him, but now he realized that they were brown, but blue around the pupil.
“What?” Jane said irritated, snapping him back to attention.
He cleared his throat before he answered: “What made you step in the way you did earlier?”
Jane’s spine snapped erect and she stared at him for a moment, before she answered: “That little girl needed help and I just can’t stand by when there’s a chance that someone might hit a kid. She was helpless.”
“Yeah, I get that. I look at it the same way. But you looked so determined and angry, that it was a bit scary to be honest.”
“Well, things like these just get me really mad. It’s not right to hurt someone who can’t defend themselves.” April was about to get up and clear the table when Viktor put his hand on hers.
“There’s more to it.” He could see it in her eyes that widened when he said this. She bit down on her bottom lip. Hard. “You can talk to me, you know?”
They were disturbed by his ringing phone. Jane quickly pulled her hand out from underneath his and took the empty plates.
“You should probably get that.”
When Jane turned around and walked towards the kitchen, Viktor wanted to go after her, but he got up too quickly. A searing pain ran through his knee and forced him to sit down again. Unable to walk after her, he answered the phone. It was the woman he’d given his number to before and she wanted to fill him in on what had happened after they’d left. Jane reappeared at the table just when he finished the conversation. She was already wearing her coat.
“That was the woman from the supermarket. The police took care of the situation. They took the girl to see a doctor and found out that she’d been hit repeatedly by her father. Same goes for her mother, so the two of them are in a safe place and the father is staying in custody.” A relieved sigh left Jane’s lips. “They’ll make sure that he’ll never hurt her again.”
“That’s good.” Jane took her purse from the chair. “Okay, I’ll be off now. I’ll see you tomorrow then at the same time.”
“Jane, wait…”
“Goodnight, Viktor.” She didn’t wait for him to say anything more, and she didn’t want to hear what he had to say. He’d probably ask her more questions. Before that phone conversation she’d nearly confided in him. Yeah, it was better to get away now and start over new the next day. She was sure that he wouldn’t leave her alone that easily, but it would be better for her to get some distance now and face him again tomorrow.