.»
«I read somewhere,» Vera was addressing Jeff. «A man put a bouquet of the flowers on the porch of his neighbor. The owner of the house reported it to the police, and the man was arrested.»
«Crazy lady,» Nina giggled. «I wish someone put flowers on my porch.»
«I think you’re right, Nina.» Vera fixed her glare on Jeff, and the embarrassed policeman wanted to change the subject. He looked at her car.
«Your car is much cheaper than your husband’s,» he said with surprise.
«We have separate accounts and budgets,» Vera calmly answered, reviving hope in his heart. «We spend money how we want. I need to pay for my study, and the paints are very expensive. Oleg has his own business in Russia. But my account is all the money that I have. I have to be practical.»
«I don’t understand,» Nina cut in. «Why Vera doesn’t kick her light-headed hubby out and find some good, serious man instead.»
«Oleg loves me,» explained Vera, moving her braid in front of her. Enchanted by the view, Jeff watched her long thin fingers mechanically playing with her chestnut hair. «Immigration is a very difficult process. It would be a dishonest act and a betrayal to divorce him.»
«And this is why…» Jeff felt irritation, and lost his careful manner. «you’re ready to sacrifice your life, and maybe the happiness of some other man?»
«Yes, because I appreciate and value such feelings.»
«Don’t you think another man can have the same or maybe even stronger feelings for you?» He saw Nina walk aside leaving him alone with Vera, and he fell silent.
«You don’t know me.» Squeezing her braid, Vera stared at Jeff. The small, refined features of her dizzyingly white face made her look like a mouse.
«I feel as if I’ve known you all my life,» Jeff replied very quietly, and Vera lowered her eyes thinking about her husband.
Vera had been dating Oleg about two months when she received the invitation from the University.
She was afraid that she had misunderstood. She went to her trusted professor, then to the Embassy of the United States.
Everybody confirmed these papers, and an excited Vera barely believed her luck.
She was sorting her belongings when Oleg entered her apartment, and she felt confused. He was a nice man, he helped her, but Vera had no strong feeling for him. She was happy to have a reason to break up with him in a friendly way, without, she hoped, a scandal.