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from him long enough to stare through the window. She wrinkled her upturned nose. “You are sure this food is good?”
    Her expression was so cute, it immediately restored Ed’s smile. “It’s at least as good as borscht,” he said.
    She pouted. “Borscht is… how you say… sucks?”
    More cuteness. “Sucks? I thought all Russians loved the stuff.”
    Tatiana nodded with mock seriousness. “Oh, yes. And…” She glanced around for a moment and dropped her voice to a whisper. “We are all spies.”
    Ed laughed again. “Then maybe I need someone to protect
me
from
you.”
    Tatiana was quiet for a moment, then she leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Ed’s cheek. “Maybe you do,” she said. She raised the umbrella high and started forward. “Come on. Show me the park.”
    Tatiana walked on, but Ed didn’t move. He stood there leaning on his crutches as though the tips had somehow sunk into the concrete.
She’s Russian. She’s only being friendly. Like hell.
    Tatiana stopped and looked back at him. “Are you coming?”
    Ed nodded.
Why couldn’t I have met her six months ago?
he wondered. He caught up to her and slipped under the cover of the blue umbrella.
    Could it really be only days since he’d had sex with Gaia? It seemed like something from another lifetime. Something from a movie that he had seen once but could barely remember. Gaia had been there, right next to him, warm and soft. He remembered waking up and finding her in the bed. He remembered the smile on her face and the way the sun had slanted through the window and burned against her hair. That morning had seemed like the start of a whole new life. And it had been. It just wasn’t the life Ed hadexpected. Instead of life with Gaia, it had turned out to be the start of life After Gaia. Ed A.G.
    Ever since that morning, she had treated him like he was suffering from some kind of plague. Every time he tried to find out what was going on, she only pushed him farther away. Ed felt more isolated from Gaia than he had on the first day he had seen her.
    Lightning flashed as they approached the street corner. The sudden flare caught Tatiana in profile, illuminating her pale hair and lending a strange fire to her blue eyes. For a moment she seemed taller. Different.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    Ed shook his head. “For a second there you looked just like—”
    â€œLike who?” asked Tatiana. Her eyes were narrowed to slits framed by dark lashes.
    Ed swallowed.
Like Gaia.
“Different is all.”
    Tatiana continued to look at him for a moment. A smile came slowly to her face, but it was tentative. “Thank you,” she said, but her eyes were still narrow. Ed thought she probably had a very good idea what he had been about to say.
    â€œThe park’s right over there,” Ed said, hoping to distract her. He pointed toward the dark brick walls and the looming trees with the rubber tip of his left crutch. “We can cruise around the block, and I’ll—”
    â€œNo,” said Tatiana. She looked at the park andshook her head. “You were right. It is cold. We can go to the park another day.”
    â€œSo. Do you want to… go home?” Ed asked with a shrug.
    She nodded. “I think I should.”
    For two blocks they walked along in painful silence with only the sound of rain thumping against the umbrella. A steady stream of cars swam past in the street, sending up twin plumes of water. The people they passed seemed as gray as the evening.
    Ed abruptly stopped. “Tatiana, I’m sorry.”
    She studied him with her head tilted slightly toward her right shoulder. “You still love Gaia, don’t you?”
    Ed winced. “It’s that obvious, huh?”
    â€œIf there is a word that means more obvious than obvious, then that is the word to use,” said Tatiana. She took one hand