Ricky clearly wasn’t buying what Mikhail was selling. “I probably shouldn’t mention that I heard Dad and Grandma talking about the two of you the other day. She thinks that you are dating Amy even if you don’t call it that.”
Great, now he was the topic of even more family discussions. “Listen, kid, the two of us are friends. Friends sometimes do things together. You know, watch television, share a pizza, go for a drive.”
Now Ricky looked genuinely puzzled. “So how is that any different than dating? Especially when you’re not seeing anyone else. Well, unless she’s got a boyfriend we don’t know about.”
“She doesn’t have a boyfriend. If she did, I wouldn’t hang out with her as much as I do. Lukash men don’t poach. So like I said, we’re friends.”
Because that’s how they’d agreed to define their relationship. Because Amy got all skittish anytime they skirted the edge of anything more, and he couldn’t figure out why.
He could blow Ricky off with some smartass comment, but he didn’t feel right doing that. “If I knew what the difference was between that and dating, I’d tell you. For one thing, I’m still adjusting to life outside of the Corps. For another, all I can tell you is that while I like Amy a lot and wouldn’t mind actually dating her, she’s not ready for anything more. Until she is, I’m willing to be her friend.”
“Well, that sucks for you.” Ricky opened the door that led from the garage into the house. Before disappearing inside, he turned back. “I’m pretty sure there aren’t any rules against asking a friend to a dinner dance. After all, Aunt Natalie dragged Uncle Tino to one right after they first met, and we all know how that turned out.”
Then he walked away, leaving Mikhail staring at the closed door. Huh, when had the kid gotten so smart?
—
Thanks to his time as a marine, Mikhail had learned something about battle tactics, including how to stage an ambush. Rather than approach Amy directly about needing a date for the dinner dance, he would come at her from another angle. After all, he’d helped her with the motorcycle and picking up her puppy. This was the same kind of deal. Sort of, anyway. A friend helping out a friend. Nothing more.
Yeah, right.
After Ricky left, Mikhail put the rest of the yard tools away and then took a quick shower and put on clean clothes. While he made himself more presentable, he considered the best way to achieve his current objective—convincing Amy that taking her to a dinner dance didn’t constitute a breach of their friends-only policy.
He didn’t want to lie to her, but surely there was some way to convince her that a night out with his family wasn’t a date. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to say that he might need her support to get through an evening surrounded by a crowd of strangers. Considering the messed-up shape he’d been in that night when she’d coaxed him back off the ledge with a banana split, she was sure to believe him.
Obviously some people thought the whole meet-the-family thing was a big deal. However, in this case, she already knew his brothers and his nephew, leaving only the female members of the clan for her to meet the night of the dance. He’d have to lay down some ground rules for his mother and his two sisters-in-law ahead of time. He didn’t want Amy to be pestered with questions about their relationship. Maybe he and the other guys could keep the women too busy out on the dance floor to allow for much in the way of an inquisition.
Her car just pulled into her driveway. Using the excuse of taking Panda home, he whistled for Sarge and headed next door. The bulldog came trotting out of the kitchen with the puppy following right in his tracks.
“Let’s go, guys. It’s time for Panda to go home.”
And time for Mikhail to convince Amy that she really wanted to hang out at the country club for an evening with the entire Lukash clan. Since she’d never mentioned the possibility of introducing him to her family, he wasn’t at all sure how she’d react to the idea. And come to think of it, he had no idea if Amy even liked to dance. Only one way to find out.
She’d already disappeared into the house with a load of groceries by the time he walked into her garage. He snagged several more of the bags before herding the dogs in the door ahead of him. He called out to warn her she was no longer alone. “Hey, Amy, I brought Panda home.”
She poked her head out of the kitchen. “Thanks. I was going to come get him after I got the groceries put away.”
He set the bags on the kitchen table where sneaky dogs couldn’t reach them. “I’ll get the rest of the bags for you.”
Another quick trip out to the car, and he’d run out of excuses to delay the execution of his plan, such as it was. He leaned against the counter and watched as Amy unpacked her purchases. “I have a question for you.”
She closed the refrigerator. “Ask away.”
“We agreed to be friends, no benefits.”
Amy had been unloading another bag, but she paused to look at him. “Yeah, we did. We are.”
Okay, so far, so good.
“But we’ve never clearly defined the actual limits of that friendship.”
By this point Amy’s efforts to put away her groceries had coasted to a complete stop. “Meaning?”
“Well, obviously it includes visits to dog breeders, shared yard work, fence building, and casual meals like barbecue runs.”
She frowned a little and went back to shoving canned goods in her pantry. “It does.”
“And then there was the whole banana split rescue mission for which I’ll forever be grateful.”
