She had been avoiding this, which was uncharacteristic and slightly cowardly and she knew it. Maya was her best friend and best friends required truth, and the truth was so complicated that Jane had been refining her presentation of it for two weeks.
In the end, she didn't get to present it.
Maya was at Jane's flat when she got home on a Tuesday evening, sitting on the front step with a coffee and the expression of a person who had been patient for approximately as long as patience was available to them.
"Right," Maya said. "Coffee's for you. Sit down. Tell me everything."
Jane sat on the step beside her. She told her everything.
It took forty minutes. Maya did not interrupt, which was one of the most remarkable things Jane had ever witnessed. Maya listened — listened properly, in the way of someone who understood that this was a story that required the full attention.
When Jane finished, Maya was quiet for a long moment.
"He kidnapped you," she said.
"Yes."
"To Russia."
"Yes."
"And now you're dating him."
"I wouldn't say—"
"Jane." Maya looked at her. "You're going for dinner tonight. You've been going for dinner every few nights for two weeks. You smile at your phone. I know what that means."
Jane thought about denying it and decided against it.
"Yes," she said.
Maya inhaled very slowly through her nose. "I am," she said, with careful control, "withholding judgement until I meet him. But Jane — he abducted you. I need you to understand that I am holding that.
"I know," Jane said. "I'm holding it too. It's — complicated. He's complicated."
"Most terrible decisions are complicated," Maya said. "That's what makes them interesting and also terrible." She paused. "Does he make you happy?"
Jane thought about the restaurant in Soho and the walk along the embankment and a man who smiled, genuinely, for three seconds, and then tucked it away like something private.
"Yes," she said.
Maya closed her eyes briefly. "Fine," she said. "I want to meet him. And I reserve the right to be extremely intimidating."
"He's a literal mafia boss," Jane said. "I'm not sure you can intimidate him."
Maya looked at her steadily. "Give me a date," she said. "We'll see about that."