CHAPTER 24
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NICK
“Maybe you could put this in a story. You know, Fabian discovers he has a daughter he never knew about.”
I laughed and took another sip of my beer. “Sure. You never know. Truth is stranger than fiction, right?”
Maria and I were sitting on the beach, and the water was as clear and still as I’d ever seen it, save for the time Lily cut through it, squealing as Eva chased after her. It was August fifteenth, a national holiday, and everyone was off from work, celebrating the ascent of the Virgin Mary into heaven. It’s considered a day, not of mourning, but of celebration because of the union of the mother with her son. It’s bigger than Christmas in Greece and right in the middle of summer.
The days were flying past and within the next two weeks, it’d all be over, and life would go back to normal. Lily and I would fly home to Chicago, and she’d go back to school. Maria would return to Texas to complain about the heat, and we’d spend another year talking almost daily on the phone, where she’d tell me how sick she was of the US and how much she wanted to move back to Greece, permanently. I’d then tell her to put the apartment on the market, only for her to then say she’d do it next year.
I couldn’t blame her for staying, really. Her husband had loved Texas, and it’s where she felt closest to him, I guess. I wanted her to move to Chicago to be closer to me, but she wouldn’t hear of it. I knew that if she moved anywhere, it would be back here; back to Greece.
And just the thought of having to ship all of her beloved plants over to Chicago was enough to give me an instant headache. I knew that she wouldn’t be without them and silently prayed that the staff at the complex had been watering them as they’d been instructed or else there would be hell to pay when she returned. She might be old, but she still had the ability to instill fear in the hearts of those that worked for her; the kind of fear that made your asshole pucker up to the size of a decimal point if you didn’t do as instructed and were found out.
“She’s so good with that girl,” Maria said, as she watched Eva and Lily playing in the water, snapping me out of my reverie. By now the two of them were thick as thieves, and they could easily have been mother and daughter.
“She is,” I agreed.
Maria looked at me over the rim of her glasses. “When are you going to admit it, Niko?” she asked.
“Admit what?”
“That you’re in love with that girl.”
I thought about making a flippant remark about how, of course, I loved my daughter, but I didn’t bother. It wasn’t worth it, because I knew precisely who Maria was referring to. I didn’t say anything at all. Instead, I sat on the sand and finished my beer.
The last couple of weeks, since coming home and telling Lily the truth, had been strange. I felt as though it had brought the three of us closer: me, Lily, and Eva. And yet it had to be because of discovering that Lily was Eva’s niece. That was the logical explanation, I was sure. Eva and I’d had our time together, but was it more than just another summer romance? And it would soon be over, the way it had been seven years ago.
But as the days crept closer and closer to our departure, I had to admit that my mood seemed to grow darker and darker. I felt sad, and I didn’t understand why.
“See? You’re not saying anything.”
Maria’s pressing snapped me back. I shrugged. “It’s not like that,” I said. “Maybe it could have been at one time, but too much water’s gone under the bridge now. And it’s all changed.”
“What do you mean?”
She spoke to me in Greek, but I had to answer her in English. I couldn’t find the words in her language to explain what I had to say properly. I pointed to the girls in the water.
“Look at them. The bond they have. That can’t be broken now. But if Eva and I decided to embark on a future, how would I know it was really about me? How would I know it wasn’t more about being close to Lily than wanting to be with me?”
“You know, for an intelligent man, you’re very stupid sometimes,” Maria said, softening the insult by affectionately patting my arm. “You have no idea of the way she looks at you? The way she wishes she could start all over again? I can see it, plain as day. And I’m an old woman!”
But I couldn’t be convinced. And as we were only two weeks away from going home again, back to our lives, I’d resolved not to give it much further thought. Eva and I had found each other again. We’d worked through our past issues, and we could move on from here, having forgiven each other. But to think we had anything other than that was a pipe dream.
Wasn’t it?
Maria had her tablet on her lap a couple of hours later, as we sat and ate sandwiches that Anna had brought down to the beach for us. “You know, there’s a new place that’s opened in town,” she said, showing it to me. “Vivi was telling me about it. I think it’s something strange. Chinese? Thai?”
“It’ll be for the tourists,” I said. “You know how it is. Americans are coming all the way over to Greece only to wonder where the nearest place is where they can get their Kung-Poa-Chicken.”
“Well, I’d like to try it,” she mused. “See if it’s any good.”
I laughed. “Come on,” I said. “You’ve never once eaten anything but traditional food, especially here. What are you going to do with noodles and bean sprouts when they don’t have oregano sprinkled all over them? And you know the Chinese don’t eat feta cheese, right?”
But she was adamant that she wanted to go. “Call and book a table for the four of us,” she said. “Life’s too short not to try out new things. Right?”
I gave her a look that I knew she’d understood because of the way she sweetly smiled at me; my gaze telling her that she couldn’t use the metaphor of trying out new food to get me to take a chance on love. That was stretching it, even for Maria. Still, I called and made a reservation. What I didn’t know at the time, was that she had something entirely different in mind, yet again.
By eight that evening, I was waiting at the bottom of the staircase. “Are we ready to go yet?” I called.
“In a second!” Maria sang, and then she appeared at the top of the stairs with Eva, who looked as beautiful as she ever had. She wore a white dress, looking feminine and sophisticated, that showed off her tanned skin. Her dark hair was pulled up in a clip, with soft wisps of curls hanging down around her beautiful face.
They slowly made their way down, Lily being the last one to appear, clutching a book to her chest. I asked her what it was.
“I found it in the study,” she said. “It’s about Ireland.”
“Right.” I remembered buying the book when I wrote my first detective story. In the story, Fabian spent time with a tough Irish nun, and I wanted to capture something of the country in her demeanor. I’d bought a small book written about the history of Ireland, and now Lily was reading it, trying to learn a little more about her heritage. I was happy she was using an actual book instead of Google to do so.
Eventually, we all got into the car and drove toward town, where we got out just outside the restaurant. It was a Chinese place run by Greeks, gaudily decorated in red and gold. The sort of place I knew Maria hated. But she seemed as happy as a pig in Palestine as she walked to the front desk and asked the host to seat us.
“Stavrou,” she said. “This is my nephew, Nikos. Nick Stavrou. The writer.”
The man’s face lit up. “Of course! Of course!” he beamed. “Please, come this way!”
He showed us to the best table in the house at the back of the restaurant, overlooking an inlet where the sea came into a narrow part of the bay. We all sat down, and a Greek woman in a kimono came over and handed us a menu.
“Why she’s wearing a Japanese dress in a Chinese restaurant, baffles me,” I whispered to Eva, who giggled and stifled a laugh.
Suddenly, Maria dug her phone out of her purse and held it to her ear. “Nai?” she said, answering the phone as she always did. Strangely, I hadn’t heard it ring, but Maria’s face lit up, animatedly. “What? Are you? Goodness me! Yes, we have to meet up! Hang on a second.”
She clasped her hand over the phone and smiled at me. “Can you take me to the coffee shop around the corner?” she asked.
“Now? We’re about to eat dinner.”
“We can have something at the coffee place. I’m meeting an old friend. She has a daughter about Lily’s age so I’ll bring Lily with me.” And at that, Lily leaped up, ready to go.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.
“Chop-chop,” Maria said in English, putting her phone in her purse and clapping her hands.
“You didn’t finish your call,” I said, and she shrugged. Then she hobbled out of the restaurant as I apologized to Eva. I hissed into Maria’s ear as we walked to the car, “I can’t believe you think I’d fall for this bullshit.”
“Language!” she scolded me, waving me away with her hand. I helped her and Lily into the car and drove her to the coffee shop.
“I’m sorry, Lils,” I said. “It seems Yaya Maria has a really pressing engagement.”
“Don’t worry, Daddy,” she said. “It didn’t look like a great Chinese place anyway.”
I narrowed my eyes at her as I looked at her in the rearview mirror, shaking my head. She was in on it too. I wondered how much Maria had to bribe her with to have her in on this little scheme. But, as my aunt requested, I left her at the front of the cafe and went back to the restaurant, parking the car on the side of a small parking lot.
Eva was still waiting for me, looking out over the sea as she sipped her wine.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “It was a ten-minute recess to ferry my family around town.”
“Don’t worry,” Eva said. “I ordered you a glass of wine too.”
“Thank you.” I took a sip and found it to be surprisingly good. I imagined it was a Greek wine. It tasted familiar.
There was an awkward silence between us. Eva looked at the menu again, although I was sure that by now she’d have memorized every single item.
“So, who’s this mysterious friend that was so desperate to meet up with Maria tonight?” she asked.
“Whoever it was, her imaginary friend seemed very keen to see her immediately.”
“What?” Eva blushed as she realized what was going on and laughed. “Oh, I don’t believe it.”
“Well, believe it. She had this all planned and dragged Lily into her little scheme as well.” We both laughed, knowing that we’d just been set up, once again.
We ordered dinner, but neither of us really ate anything. We made small talk over the next hour, but I was glad when the meal was over, and we could leave. However, as we walked out onto the street, we could hear music playing. There was a band to our left, sitting near the old stone walls of the town. We naturally gravitated towards it, as Eva was intrigued.
“What is this music?” she asked. “It’s very pretty.”
“It’s traditional,” I said. “On August fifteenth we celebrate the ascent of Mary into heaven, and everyone comes out to have a good time. This is what’s called a bouzouki. It’s the name for both the instrument and the actual event.”
People were throwing flowers and petals from wicker baskets, as they always did at these kinds of things, and I reached into my pocket and pulled out some cash. I bought a basket of flowers and handed it to Eva. She took it but looked at me, a little confused.
“You throw them into the air,” I explained.
“Why? They’re beautiful. I don’t want to throw them.”
I grinned. “Trust me. You don’t want these. Someone probably already threw them earlier, and they’d been scooped up and resold.”
“I’m so confused.”
“Don’t worry. Just follow.”
She tossed some of the petals into the air in time to the music, which was growing louder, and started to sway to the rhythm as the bouzouki player’s fingers flew over the strings of the guitar-like instrument. Then, the songs slowed down as he began to play a popular folk song. A love song I remembered from my childhood. Around us, couples were taking to the floor. Eva and I stood awkwardly on the sidelines. Then, I reached for her hand.
“Dance with me?”
She nodded, and I drew her close. She was in my arms again, pressed against my body. The haunting lyrics came through as the singer closed his eyes and sang the words of the old song. Eva rested her head on my chest, and we moved together, neither of us doing more than gently swaying back and forth. Then she looked up, staring at me with her bright blue eyes.
“What’s he saying?”
“It’s called Signomi,” I explained. “It means Sorry. He’s apologizing for the mistakes he made in their love, and that he wishes things had turned out differently…”
“Oh.” She nodded. “Right.”
“Right,” I echoed, only now feeling the full impact of the words of the song. I held her more tightly to me, as the singer continued to lament his misfortune. It made me sad to think of how apt the words were, and I felt myself holding onto her even tighter still.
I’m sorry, I wanted to say to her. If only things could have turned out differently. But I didn’t. When the song ended, we slowly made our way back to the car. There was no sign of Maria or Lily yet. They were certainly doing a great job of keeping out of our way. I leaned over to open the car door for Eva, but I stopped short of the handle. She was so close to me that I could feel her breath on my neck. I couldn’t stop myself. I lowered my head and brushed my lips against hers.
She flung her arms around my neck, dropping her purse to the ground as she returned the kiss. I pulled her close, desperately trying to hold onto her, knowing she’d soon be gone. I wanted it to always be summer in Greece, always hot and humid like this. I wanted to stop time, so I could keep her in my arms, forever kissing her, tasting her sweet mouth, feeling her beautiful soft breasts pressed up against my chest.
I pushed her up against the car, grabbing her, holding her face and devouring her mouth. She groaned into my mouth, and I was hard in an instant. The parking lot was quiet, but wouldn’t have cared if it had been full of people. I needed her now.
Lifting her skirt up, I grabbed hold of her thighs. I should have stopped, really. It was hardly the most romantic thing in the world to do, making out against a car like a couple of love-crazed kids, but I couldn’t stop.
She yanked the car door open, and we tumbled onto the back seat, shutting the door again after she dragged me inside. She straddled me, holding my face, and I felt her tears spill onto my cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she whispered. “Just don’t stop. Please.”
I wasn’t about to deny her. I unbuttoned my pants, and she yanked her panties to the side, and I entered her while she groaned and caught my bottom lip between her teeth, biting into the soft skin. We moved together on the back seat, both of us unable to put into words how much we never wanted the night to end.
I was in no rush at all, instead relishing the feeling of being inside her, of making her mine once more. I slowly moved in and out of her as we found a rhythm that was part desperation, part wanting it to last forever.
Time seemed to stand still, and it was only as she cried out and threw back her head in her ecstasy, that I was drawn back to reality. I joined her and released myself as deep inside her as I could as we both reached our climax together.
By the time we came back down from our ecstasy, our hearts beat to the same rhythm, as if one.