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Yuna Hollander isn't used to feeling off-kilter or unsure. She sure as hell isn't used to feeling that way about her own son, but that's exactly how she's felt since finding out Shane is involved with Rozanov.
No, not Rozanov. Ilya. It's Ilya now, Yuna reminds herself. Because he's not a rival player her son hates anymore; he's the man her son loves. And isn't that just the kicker? The man her son loves, the man who just happens to love him back.
It's a lot to take in and she's still getting used to it.
Sure, she and David had had dinner with the two of them that first evening, but Rozanov - Ilya - had still been on his best behavior, much like he had been at lunch. It had been hard for Yuna to get a bead on him beyond realizing he was someone completely different than who she thought he was.
It's been a couple of months now, though. Time for her to wrap her head around the idea that her son is in love, truly and deeply in love. Time for Shane to mention Ilya regularly in texts and phone conversations. Time for her to adjust to the idea of Ilya the man instead of Rozanov the rival.
Still, Yuna struggles sometimes, wrapping her head around it all.
It's time for her to stop struggling, though, because it's the holiday weekend now, and Shane has invited her and David to his cottage for dinner with him and Ilya. David volunteered to grill tuna and Shane had said he and Ilya would handle the rest.
So Yuna sits outside at the patio table and half listens to David talk about an article he read recently about invasive lake species while she watches Shane and Ilya get the rest of the dinner things together through the big plate glass window of the kitchen. Every once and a while they'll pause to bump shoulders, or touch each other lightly on the back or at the waist, talking and laughing together as they do, like they've been doing this for years.
And she supposes they have. Maybe this more solidly defined relationship is only a few months old, but they've been together for years now. Years. Almost a decade.
Yuna continues to watch as they finish carefully stacking everything on a tray to bring outside. Before they do, however, Shane tugs on a hoodie, then grabs something off the back of a chair. Its one of his old flannel shirts, a soft brown and orange one that she bought him years ago, when he was probably still in high school. She'd purchased most of his clothing over the years and she'd been grateful to hand that particular task off to the stylist when Shane had hired one. But what is Shane going to do with the flannel if he's already wearing a hoodie?
Which is when she notices that he's pressing it into Ilya's hands, a stubborn look on his face. Ilya says something as he tries to give it back to Shane, an equally stubborn look on his face, one that is much more reminiscent of the man she's seen on the ice. He gestures vaguely towards the patio and the look on Shane's face softens as he hands the flannel back to Ilya with a few more words exchanged between them. This time, Ilya grudgingly accepts the shirt, shrugging it on over his black t-shirt while Shane smiles, wide and radiant.
Something softens in Yuna at the exchange as she remembers similar arguments with David back in college whenever he tried to pass off his sweatshirt or jacket to her, especially if they were around his friends or - god forbid - his family. She had desperately wanted to wear his things, to keep her warm and to claim him as her own, but she'd felt uncomfortable making that claim around others.
The exchange with the flannel shirt is yet another small moment she's witnessed between the two boys that proves just how much they care about one another. And if she still isn't completely comfortable with the idea of them together, well, she's getting there, slowly but surely. But for now, she'll smile and laugh and listen and learn, confident that soon, she'll forget what it was ever like not to have Ilya Rozanov as part of her family.