CHAPTER 16
________
NICK
I’ve always known that my aunt Maria was a cunning old bird.
She’d always managed to find a way to get me to eat the vegetables I so hated when I was younger, and she’d always somehow gotten me to confess the times I’d slipped back into the house when out with my friends after I’d assured her that I’d be back before midnight. Some might call it manipulative, but it had never been cruel or spiteful. She’d always been perceptive, knowing what was going on around her, no matter how much people might have tried to hide the truth.
A few days after Eva’s arrival, she and I had been sitting out on the deck at the back of the house while Eva was inside, taking a shower. Maria had tapped me with her hand.
“There’s something about that girl,” she’d said, and there was no need for me to ask her what on earth she was talking about. “She broke your heart, didn’t she?”
I thought about trying to brush it off by mutterings of it having been a lifetime ago, but I knew there was no point. Maria could see right through me. Instead, I only nodded.
“You know, it was a long time ago and only a matter of weeks before I’d decided to make Lily a part of my life. So, I didn’t have time to stop and think too much about Eva after she’d left me. But now that I have time to think about it again, I’d have to say yes, she broke my heart.”
“She left you?” Maria asked, incredulous that anyone could do such a thing. “I wish I’d known the girl was insane before I hired her.”
I chuckled. “You’ve always been one to flatter me. But I don’t think she left because of anything I did. In fact, I know she didn’t. She left because she received a call from home, and she had to go back.”
“What was it about?”
“I still don’t have a clue,” I’d replied. “She didn’t tell me then, and I don’t know now. I left my number with her best friend, but I don’t believe she gave it to Eva. Whatever she was going through, it had to be serious enough for her to not worry about some guy she’d met at Long Beach.”
“But she’s single now, Nikos. She told me. And now is what matters. Surely you could try again?”
“It’s not that easy, Maria.”
“It’s only as difficult as you want it to be,” she’d said, sagely.
Tonight, at the wedding, I knew she had thrown Eva and me together using some pathetic reason for exchanging seats with Eva. However she did it, I wasn’t complaining, because with Eva, having moved over and now sitting on one side of Lily and me on the other, it actually felt like we were a family.
Earlier that day, when I saw her in the parking lot wearing that stunning red dress which clung to her every delicious curve, for a moment, I felt sad thinking about how things could have turned out. How they should have turned out, if only she hadn’t left me that morning.
Regrets aren’t healthy. Maria had taught me that. “I could have divorced your uncle and married another man,” she’d said. “I could have taken a lover who could have given me a child, and perhaps nobody would ever have known. But I didn’t. Because we make our choices and we live with them. And sometimes it works out for the best after all. If I’d had children of my own when your parents died, would you have come to love with me? I don’t know. But you did, and you have made my life so wonderful, Niko. I couldn’t be happier if you were my own.”
I couldn’t spend my life regretting things. Thinking about how I should have tried harder to find Eva seven years ago. Or six. Or five. Because she was here now and whatever the reason for her leaving that fateful day, she’d tell me when she was ready. I didn’t want to force the issue.
She looked gorgeous as she danced with her new friends, made sure my aunt was comfortable and even played with Lily. She seemed at home, here in my home country. She looked happy. And it made her beautiful.
Maria wasn’t finished in her meddling, I was soon to find out. She beckoned me over a little after eleven, a dramatic look of worry on her face.
“Oh, Niko. There’s a big problem. Sofia told me there’s not enough room in her mother’s car for all the gifts,” she said. The way she told the story, one would think that she’d just confided in me that someone in the family had just been issued a terminal diagnosis. “I don’t know what we’re going to do,” she said frowning, her face crumpled up like an old brown-paper-bag.
Then, suddenly, her face lit up, and she smiled brightly as if heaven itself had sent her the answer straight from the throne room. She even punctuated the revelation by waving a finger in the air.
“Eureka! You can drive the Bentley!” she said. “Fill the back seat with gifts and drive it back to Sofia’s parents’ place.”
“And why do I have to do it?” I asked, wryly. “Can’t Sofia’s parents do it?”
“Not a chance. I wouldn’t trust Marios with that big old car,” she said, shaking her head. “No. It needs to be someone who can handle an old engine. Someone with experience. Like you. And while you’re at it, take Eva with you. She can help carry everything to the car.”
“You’re about as subtle as a bull in a China shop, you know,” I said, but she gave me an innocent look and held her hands open in shock, as though she’d absolutely no idea what I was talking about. I looked down at her with raised eyebrows.
“And who’s going to drive you home? Lily isn’t tall enough to reach the pedals.”
“Anna can do it,” she said. “She drives it all the time when you’re at the beach. How do you think she gets fresh milk and eggs every day?”
“What?” I asked, expecting an answer. But she only held out her hand and smiled sweetly until I handed over the keys.
“And Lily?”
“She’ll come back with me. Now get going, before it gets too late. There’s some rain coming in.”
“Too late for what?” I asked, but she shrugged, and then dug into her purse to bring out the keys to the Bentley. I had no idea who she’d bribed to get them, but I could only shake my head and chuckle. If it were any other woman than Eva, I’d probably have protested more, but it wasn’t. And I was glad for the time we’d be able to spend alone, at long last, not being able to do so with everything that’s been going on at the house in preparation for the wedding.
So, I set off to look for Eva, and found her just as she took a break from dancing to get some water.
“I need your help,” I said, and she seemed a little confused when I explained the ‘dilemma’ but she agreed to help. So, we set off, carrying the gifts out to the car. As we loaded the last of the gifts safely into the back seat, a huge crash of thunder erupted above us.
“We need to move fast,” I said. “It’s going to pour down any second now.”
“What? Do you need me to drive with you too?” she asked.
“Well, in this weather I’m sure to need someone helping me carry the gifts into the house. Is that okay?”
She didn’t answer immediately, but as a bolt of lightning flashed in the night sky, she quickly nodded her head in silent agreement. We hurried back inside to say our goodbyes to the bride and groom, and I told Lily to go home with Maria and Anna. She seemed unperturbed and went back to chasing her many cousins around on the dance floor.
Then we were back in the car and the old engine gunned into life as I turned the key and set off towards the other side of the island. I was really glad that we were alone, properly, for the first time since Lily’s arrival.
And Eva was still wearing that incredible red dress, and I was having trouble concentrating on the winding road ahead of me.
“It’s a beautiful car,” Eva said, running her hand along the walnut dash. “I don’t know how people manage to drive these, though. There’s no power steering or even a fifth gear.”
“True, but the T-series is one of the sturdiest ever made,” I said. “They don’t make them like they used to, that’s for sure.”
The heavens had finally opened, and now large drops of rain were pounding against the windshield as the old wipers frantically tried to wick the water away.
“Can you see where you’re going?” Eva asked, shooting me a concerned look.
“It’s not easy,” I murmured. Crafty old Maria, I thought. She knew this was going to happen. At that moment, there was another flash of lightning, and the road lit up ahead of me just enough for me to see that it was nearly flooded with water.
“We don’t have regular storms here in Greece,” I said to Eva. “We have biblical floods.”
As we headed up a steep incline, the car gave a loud groan in protest, and I decided that there was nothing else for it but to admit defeat. Sofia’s parents lived on the top of another steep hill across the island, and I knew that we weren’t going to make it. It was becoming too dangerous to drive anyway.
Instead, I took a left turn at the crossroads and headed toward a place I knew was somewhere around here where we could stay the night. No use in trying to wait it out either, the rain was coming down too hard.
“We’re going to have to stop for the night,” I said to Eva, and she looked at me in horror.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said.
“Sadly not,” I replied. “It’s getting too dangerous to drive now, and the car doesn’t have the wheels to cope with the wet rocky roads and steep hills. I don’t know what Maria was thinking, giving me this old thing to drive.”
“Call a cab.”
“I’m afraid Uber hasn’t come to Greece yet,” I said, only half-joking. “We really need to stop and get off the road. We can stay the night at this little BnB I know, and then drive back in the morning.”
But Eva was rummaging in her purse and brought out her cell phone. “Goddammit,” she said as she looked at the screen, noting the distinct lack of signal. “Let me guess. They don’t have cell phone towers around here, either.”
“You would be wrong,” I said, but could see that she wasn’t happy. So, I pulled the car to the side of the road and turned to face her. “Look, I know there’s a place around here. The guy who owns it used to work for my dad. Let’s stop and check in for the night, let the storm pass and then head back tomorrow. We’re on the other side of the island, far from home, and it’s dangerous to carry on in this car and in this weather.”
“Fine,” Eva said, folding her arms. “But I want my own room, understood?”
I held up both my hands. “Separate rooms,” I assured her. “Scout’s honor. And I’m paying.”
“No, thank you,” Eva said. “I’m more than capable.”
“Right,” I said, grinning inwardly at her childish obstinacy.
The BnB was tucked away at the bottom of a winding lane. I remembered coming here as a kid to help pick apples during the summer in return for a little vacation money. The farm had long been sold and turned into yet another place for tourists, thanks to the boom in the trade, and though the farmhouse was still there, sturdy as ever, it was now a Bed and Breakfast.
In the pitch black of the night, I pulled up outside the house and noted that there were several other cars in the lot. I wondered whether Eva’s desire for separate rooms might have been wishful thinking. I wasn’t even sure they’d have one room available for the night, let alone two.
Inside, a wizened old lady sat behind the reception desk, her glasses perched on the tip of her nose as she read an old Greek romance novel.
“Kali spera,” I greeted her. “Good evening. Do you have any rooms available?”
“Mono ena,” she replied flatly. “Only one. We are busy this weekend.”
I turned to Eva and couldn’t help but laugh as she stood there in the foyer, drops of water running down from her hair and over her temples. I noticed how the red dress, now soaking wet, clung nicely to her body.
“You’re never going to believe this,” I said, smiling.
“Let me guess.” She rolled her eyes. “No rooms?”
“No. One room only.”
“Seriously? Fine. I’ll sleep in the car. I’ve done it before.”
“No, you won’t,” I said firmly. I nodded at the woman behind the desk. “We’ll take it.”
I filled in the paperwork and took the key to the room. The woman pointed towards the staircase and rambled off instructions on how to get to the room which was situated on the second floor.
Eva marched off ahead of me, her purse slung over her shoulder and her arms still defiantly crossed over her chest.
“Stop being such a child. It’s not the end of the world having to spend one night with me in the same room, you know. You’ve done it before.” She shot me a heated look before looking away again.
“I have no problem sleeping in the same room as you,” she said, her nose in the air as she refused to meet my gaze. “But you’re sleeping on the floor. That’s final.”
We’ll see about that, I thought.