#gscott

“Complicated.” Alina echoed, her tone amused. “Right. And now you're getting married?” Gen gave her a wry smile and flashed the ring on her left hand – rubies, it looked like, with a platinum band. Alina laughed again. “That's great news, Gen, really. Congratulations.” 

Gen looked pleased in spite of her earlier self-consciousness and went back to her coffee. “What about you?” her friend asked when she emerged from behind her coffee mug. “It's been awhile since we've really gotten to catch up. Any new special persons in your life?”

Alina thought of Hunter and immediately averted her gaze. “No, of course not,” she replied casually, looking more like she was talking to her salad than to Genevieve. “When would I even find the time?”

Gen scoffed in disbelief. “Well, that was a boldfaced lie if I've ever seen one,” her friend said dryly. Of course, Gen was a prosecutor and had therefore met more than her fair share of boldfaced liars throughout her life, but Alina still smiled and rolled her eyes. She watched as Gen put down her mug for the first time in the last hour and fixed her with that characteristically demanding stare of hers. “Come on. Tell me who it is.”

“It’s no one,” Alina insisted halfheartedly. Gen only raised an eyebrow at her, and Alina amended herself. “Okay, so I might have met someone – but it's nothing.” More disbelief in her friend’s gaze. “Probably. Most likely.”

“Nothing because. . . he's not interested?” Gen asked calmly, reaching for her coffee again.

Now it was Alina’s turn to scoff. “No,” she replied immediately. Alina didn't think of herself as a vain woman, but she wasn't blind. She'd dealt with the advances of men all her life, and the subtle shift in Hunter’s gaze when he looked at her – well, it hadn't gone unnoticed. He hadn't acted on it, at least not yet, but still, Alina didn't imagine lack of interest to be the problem. “But it would be . . . complicated, I think, if it ever came to anything.”

“Complicated. Right.” Gen said with a smirk, doing a spot-on impression of Alina only a few moments ago. They both laughed. “So what's wrong with him then?” Gen asked lightly. Then her expression got a little more stern. “He's not married or something, is he?”

“Oh, sweet Circe no, nothing like that,” Alina replied hurriedly, and the severity faded somewhat from her friend's face. Alina speared more salad onto her fork as she thought over her words. “There's nothing wrong with him,” she continued casually enough. “Or at least, not that I've noticed yet. But he's a client of mine, and um, sort of the center of a lot of attention – ” Wow, talk about an understatement, considering she was talking about the wizarding leader of an entire magical nation. “– it would be difficult, I think, to carry on anything worthwhile.”

“. . . But?” Gen prodded, an eyebrow raised.

“But –” Alina agreed with a small laugh. “– he is charming. And intelligent. He seems like an attentive listener. He's an interesting conversationalist.”

“And handsome, I assume?” Gen asked casually.

Alina thought about the almost completely nude photoshoots from Hunter’s youth, and the first impression she'd gotten from him when they'd actually met – an older version of that same man, who had grown to exude a natural sort of authority. She tried not to let her expression betray the tingling sensation that thought had sent through her body. “He's certainly not hard to look at,” Alina replied nonchalantly.

Gen gave her a vague frown. “Then I'm afraid I don't see what the problem is.”

Alina was silent for a long beat, using her salad as an excuse to buy herself a few more seconds before she had to answer. “I'm not sure,” she sighed finally, her gaze still on her food. “Sleeping with a client. Doesn't that sound like – I don't know – a conflict of interest or something?” An unexpected noise caught her attention, and Alina looked up with a frown. “What's so funny?”

Gen was choking back laughter over her coffee mug. “Nothing,” she said hurriedly over suppressed snickering. “Oh, Merlin – nothing, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing.” She took another drink of her coffee – wasn't that mug empty yet? – to drown her laughter, although when she put the mug back down, it still looked like she was fighting a smile.

Alina noticed that Gen had wrapped her hands a little further around her mug so that one finger could absentmindedly rub the ring she had shown earlier, although she still didn't feel like she understood what had brought on her amusement in the first place. Before she could think on it much more, Gen started talking again. “It's just. . . take it from me when I say that a conflict of interest is not a good enough reason to not pursue something that could, y’know, be really great. If that's the only thing holding you back – well. You might regret that in the future, that’s all. Your work might be important, but it’s not going to help keep your bed warm at night.”

Alina couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her friend look quite so solemn. But still, she only nodded and looked back down at her salad. “I suppose,” she agreed with a sigh, the hesitancy still alive and well in her voice. Gen frowned at her, looking confused by her tentative tone – but after a moment, her expression cleared, only to be replaced with sympathy. She took another drink of her coffee before daring to ask in a gentler tone, “Have you heard anything about Max lately?”

Alina’s heart gave a pang in response. She moved her food around her plate aimlessly for several long quiet beats before she found the voice to answer. “Yuli sent me a letter a few weeks ago with an update and some pictures,” she said, looking up. “He seems to be doing well. You wouldn't believe how big he's getting. Apparently Olenna has signed him up with one of those no-maj youth sports leagues – soccer, I guess. Yuli says sometimes she sees them practicing when she takes her daughter to the park. She says he seems like he's good at it. Like it looks like he's having fun.”

Gen gave a somewhat bittersweet smile and nodded. “That's good, then.” She brought the coffee mug back to her lips and took a long drink before she asked, with slightly more trepidation, “And Aleksey?”

At the mention of her ex-husband, Alina’s gaze hardened slightly, and she sat up a bit straighter. “Still in prison, as far as I know,” she replied stiffly. That wasn't strictly true, of course. Alina thought of the orchids that had been on her desk and felt her stomach clench uncomfortably. She tried not to jump to conclusions – even if they were from Aleksey, that was no guarantee that he had been released – and if Gen noticed something was off, she didn't say anything. She continued drinking her coffee, her gaze inscrutable.

“Alina,” she said finally. “Have you been with anyone since your divorce?”

Alina felt the heat bloom in her cheeks and she pursed her lips, but she said nothing. Gen seemed to take that as an answer. She could see the concealed concern mingling with the surprise in her friend’s eyes, and braced herself for whatever came next. “Alina,” Gen said mildly. “It's been three years.”

“I know,” Alina shot back. She caught the defensiveness in her tone and winced. She tried to temper it when she spoke again. “I-I know. It's just . . .” she trailed off. How did she explain – that for a long time, she had just assumed she would never take a different lover other than her husband? She and Aleksey had had more than a decade to learn each other’s bodies, to discover what triggered every moan and tremble and hitched breathing. The idea of someone new – it was so much more intimidating than she would that thought beforehand – and Alina couldn't deny that there was a part of her that was terribly afraid no one would ever know her as well as Aleksey had.

Alina didn't give voice to any of those fears, but there was an understanding gleam in Gen’s eyes that made her think that maybe her friend already suspected how she felt. Gen sighed and put down her mug, reaching for her friend’s hand. “Alina, I know it's hard, but. . . trust me, nothing good comes from holding on to the past like that. I've done that, and it just – it wears on you. When you cling to the past, it makes it impossible to live in the present, to think about the future. You deserve better than that. You deserve to be happy right now – but you can't do that if you let the past hold you back.”

Gen’s words felt like they cut to Alina’s very soul, but she managed a small smirk. “I'm sorry, are you – Genevieve Navarro, the payback queen – telling me that I should just let go of the past?”

Gen laughed and pulled away, flashing her ring again. “What can I say, Miss Kovak? I'm a changed woman now.” Her smile got a little softer, and she tilted her head, taking obvious care to speak in a more meaningful tone. “You'd be surprised what other people could open your eyes to, if you're willing to let them in.”

Alina smiled gratefully at her friend, before taking in a deep, nervous breath. It felt a little like she was closing her eyes and preparing herself to walk blindly off a cliff, but maybe Gen was right – maybe she just needed to have a little faith and take the chance that if she fell, someone would be there at the bottom to catch her. “But what will I wear?” she wondered out loud.