Elena Speranskaya - Imprint of Heart. Illumination with love

Torobov approvingly patted her on the shoulder. She right away wanted to sing. Then Nina Vasilievna approached with a severe air.

“You look very pretty today.”

Lucy was confused. Korbutova, noticing Lucy’s embarrassment, hurried to justify herself.

“As soon as I saw you, I immediately realized that we would work together. Look,” Korbutova showed Lucy in the laptop additional corrections to the schemes. “Pay attention to the notes in red color.”

“If there are any questions, I’ll turn to Razumov.”

“You are right, these are his changes.”

* * *

After work, Lucy went to the supermarket and bought a bottle of vodka, dry Bulgarian wine and some of the products. It was necessary to buy fruit. In the vegetable department she bought pepper, next to her lay grapes and watermelons. A gray-bearded old man jumped to her.

“How do you choose a watermelon? Take this one, probably ripe,” the old man pointed to a large watermelon, lying not far from her. “Here, pay attention, the tail is dry, it means ripe. And knock on it.”

Lucy hit the watermelon with her indexed finger several times; the watermelon rang as if it was empty inside.

“Ok, indeed, the old man is right. This watermelon is ripe.”

Everything that was needed was bought; she paid for the fruit and left the store. It was hard to bear. She called a taxi, comforting herself with the thought that Alex would appreciate her care, and her father wanted to do something nice.

Preparation of dinner did not take much time. For about six hours the banquet was ready.

She fried potatoes with onion and meat. Meat cooked as for shish kebabs, soaked in advance in water with vinegar. She covered a white tablecloth; put wineglasses for wine and vodka, wine glasses for water, plates for the second and salads. Wine and fruit were put in the center of the table. Then she put knives, forks and napkins to each plate. Now she had to change dress and comb her hair.

Lucy wore a glamorous, light pink dress with white chrysanthemums from Piero Moretti . A thin belt emphasized the waist line. She stabbed her hair with tortoiseshell comb, has pinned sapphire brooch of her mother. White Italian sandals, French perfumes and elixir “Nina Ricci” had completed the image.

There was a ring at the door. Lucy rushed to the door and, without asking, opened it. On the threshold stood a neighbor on the staircase – an elderly woman in a colored dressing gown with a small, trembling, gray kitten on her hands.

“Lucy, do you happen to need a kitten?” she whispered.

“No, Nadezhda Sergeevna.”

“Okay. Forgive me, Lucy, what an amazing perfume you have. Where did you buy them?”

“In Moscow,” the girl began to get angry at the intrusiveness of her neighbor. “Sorry, now I’m going to the theater,” she did not know what else to lie, so she did not intelligently close the door right in front of the guest’s nose.

“It remains to have a kitten for a complete happiness,” she thought, and looked at her watch.

Ten minutes later the doorbell rang again. On the threshold stood Alex with a beautiful bouquet of chrysanthemums. A new blue suit, brown shoes, a white with a blue striped shirt, a blue tie with brown strokes from Mastai Ferretti . He brushed his hair and handed her a bouquet.

“Put it in the vase, please,” his words aroused her sympathy.

She let the guest go into the hallway, where he looked self-assured in the mirror.

“Do not worry; my father’s name is Nikolai Nikolaevich. Try to be more polite to him.”

She led Alex to the table, sat him next to her father.

“Lucya told me about you. Pour all a little. I want to drink for our acquaintance.”

She put the flowers in a thin, metal vase of Turkish production in the middle of the table, she sat down beside her. Alex poured the wine in the glasses and, raising his wine glass with champagne, said the speech prepared beforehand:

“I want a word,” he said. “I like your daughter, we work together, and we are going to get married. Let’s drink to our friendship!”

“Alex, you said something early about marriage, I did not give consent,” Lucy interrupted him solemnly. “Engagement is a good thing…”

“And we will not ask you. You go with him and that’s it,” her father said.

She did not expect the collusion to happen so quickly. “It’s even better, we will not wait,” she thought, and barely audible said:

“I do not mind, Alex likes me. The best friend and life partner I do not need.”

“For this we’ll drink,” they all supported happily.

Lucy turned on the receiver, and a smooth melody played. She was courting her father, applying a salad, then the second. Alexey also did not suffer from a bad appetite.

“It turns out, Lucya, you are a great cook,” Alexey praised. “Eat it yourself. I’m a bad gentleman; I do not know how to take care of anything.” He took her plate and put a little salad in it and the second one, poured vodka to everyone and happily said:

“For the meeting!”

The music sounded. Alex was courting everyone. He invited the girl to a dance and poured a little wine into a glass of the future father-in-law.

“I will not interfere with the young,” her father said, and went into his room.

The couple danced and did not notice how her father left them. They forgot that tomorrow they go to work, the melody completely captured the space, and they began to kiss and hug.

“Soon we get married, would you mind?” Alex asked gallantly, hoping for a compliment in his address, since the costume he bought himself in Italy for the euro of the same firm as the tie, cost him a decent amount.

“No. I agreed,” she replied, enjoying the intimate atmosphere.

“You know, I’m a very self-interested person, think it over and over, could you get along with me?”

The words of the guy hurt her. He stayed with Lucy until ten o’clock. They finished their champagne, danced several times. At the beginning of the eleventh, Alexey said:

“The evidences are collected. Soon the court will be. Lieutenant-colonel Kiryanov advises you to come too, to confirm that you were at the post office on the day of encashment.”

“It is necessary, so it is necessary, I will come. Send greetings to the detective Tanya Ivanova.”

Alexey put on his jacket, which had to be removed, as he felt hot.

Lightening disappeared from the apartment, and she went to the balcony to see how he would go out into the corner. A minute later he appeared, stopped a free taxi, got into the car and drove away. She stood on the balcony for a long time, escorting Alexey thoughtfully. She sighed.

“Well, Alexey is not Alain Delon, but he loves me, so I love him, too.” She remembered poems written by her friend, dedicated to her, and opened a poetic notebook. At the top of page it was brightly displayed “For a friend”, and next to it there was a signature of the author:

Friend