CHAPTER 20
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NICK
By the time I returned late on Tuesday night, my right arm was aching, but not for the reason you might expect. Instead, I’d been signing so many books, pictures, and even movie scripts that I was practically scrawling my name in the air while I slept. Now that the second movie had been announced, and Fabian Ackroyd’s latest nemesis had been cast, not only was the most recent of my books being publicized, but the second in the series was now being rebranded.
The tour had gone well, though. There was no doubt about that. Julia was happy, and that in itself was worth its weight in gold. As long as she was happy, everyone else around her could relax. Even in my house on the hill, on an island in the middle of the Aegean, she still had a way of injecting me with unnecessary anxiety all the way from Chicago.
I picked Anna up from the port in a cab after she caught the boat back from seeing her family. She said she was pleased to see them, but that she was also happy to be coming back with me. She said she missed Lily, and Eva, and me, but that she didn’t like being away from Maria for long. She made me chuckle. My aunt was an incredibly difficult woman, and I’d have hated to have been an employee of hers, but Anna seemed to adore her, no matter how weary she looked at times.
When the cab pulled up to the house, it was nearly eleven. The lights were on, and I grinned, looking up at the balcony, expecting to see Lily running out with a squeal, excited to see me home. But there was no sign of her.
“Come on,” I said to Anna. “Let’s go and see where they are.”
I opened the door and called out. Anna went straight up to her room with her case, and I dropped mine on the floor and shouted again. “Hello? Anyone home?”
But there was no sign of them. I wandered from room to room, utterly confused as to where they could be. Finally, I heard voices upstairs and went to investigate. Maria was propped up in bed, and Anna was already fluffing her pillows and chattering away to her about the latest family gossip. I leaned against the door frame.
“I’m guessing you know where Lily is?” I asked after greeting her. “I can’t find her, but nobody’s called to tell me she’s been kidnapped.”
“She’s at the beach,” Maria said, seemingly surprised that I even had to ask.
“At this time?”
“It’s not late. They go every night.”
“Who?”
“Lily and Eva.”
“Oh. Right. I’ll go and find them, then.”
“Did you have a nice time, dear?”
“It was tiring.”
“Eva made shrimp with avocado pasta this evening. There’s some in the refrigerator for you. It’s really excellent.”
“Great.”
She seemed comfortable and utterly nonplussed by my arrival home. I was intrigued by her glowing report of Eva’s cooking, too. Maria was so fussy that she rarely liked for anyone but Anna to cook for her. My stomach was rumbling at the thought of shrimp pasta, but I needed to go find my daughter first. Maria said they were down at the beach.
At this time? I went to investigate.
At the bottom of the one hundred and three steps, on the beach so black that it was lost in the darkness of the evening, I could just about make out two shapes. They were both sitting up, each crouched over something. As I called out to Lily, she looked up and beamed, before leaping to her feet and running into my arms. I swung her around, laughing. This was more like it and was precisely the response I’d been waiting for since arriving.
Eva was on her towel, and she smiled at me. “Hello,” she said, as I walked over to her, still holding Lily in my arms. “I was wondering when you’d be back.”
“What on earth are you doing down here?” I asked.
“We’ve been out trying to spot dolphins since the early evening,” Eva explained. “We do it every night. But there’s been nothing. We tend to lose track of time down here.”
“Right,” I said. “What about seals? Sometimes we get those, but usually, it’s a little later in the season.”
“No, nothing. We were just looking on my phone for some idea of what else we might see. Did you know there were basking sharks in the waters around here, too?”
“Don’t worry, they’re harmless,” I said. “They don’t eat anything but krill.”
Lily put her head on my shoulder. It felt good to have her back there. Being away from her had been difficult for the last few days, as it always was, but I was pleased to see that she seemed content being with Eva, whom I now gazed on as she looked out towards the ocean.
In the silvery moonlight, I could see that the color she’d been receiving from the warm July sun was starting to give her skin a healthy bronzed glow. A light breeze blowing in from the sea whipped her hair out and behind her head. She was wearing no makeup at all, and she looked just as beautiful and fresh-faced as she had the day I’d seen her for the first time.
The wind was a little chilly, and now the girls were ready to go back up to the house. Lily, for some reason, was suddenly so tired she couldn’t face climbing back up the stairs all the way to the house, so I carried her over my shoulder as though she were a three-year-old, and not five years older.
As we walked, Eva and I didn’t speak. I was surprised at how happy I was to see her again. After being away and gathering my thoughts in the little time I’d had to myself over the busy weekend, I was sure that I’d come home and be able to control my feelings toward her.
But I was wrong. Being away from her hadn’t stopped me from wanting her. If anything, the sight of her now simply made me want her even more. And it wasn’t just seeing her beautiful face that made me think that. I watched her with Lily, saw how much she cared for her, and how good the two of them were together.
Lily was sleepy, and although she wanted to stay up and talk to me, I gently told her that it was time for bed and that we’d catch up in the morning. I helped her into her pajamas and tucked her in, kissing her forehead and wishing her pleasant dreams. I’m sure that she was fast asleep by the time I left the room. When I got down to the kitchen, I saw that Eva had heated up my dinner and had put it on the table, along with a fork and a cold beer.
I sat down as she smiled. “Bon appétit,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to say it in Greek.”
“Kali ores,” I said, and I twirled the pasta around on the fork as I saw Eva leaving the kitchen. I put out my hand. “You don’t have to leave.”
She paused. I indicated to the chair opposite me. “Please. Sit down.”
“Okay.”
I chewed on a mouthful of food and immediately closed my eyes and gave a small groan. “Jesus, that’s good,” I said.
“You don’t have to look so surprised,” she laughed. “I’m not a bad cook.”
“You’re the absolute opposite of a bad cook,” I said and popped a delicious shrimp into my mouth. “That’s incredible. It’s a little fiery, but I love it.”
“I used some ground chili and paprika to marinade the shrimp in before I cooked them,” she said. “When Maria told me I could get fresh seafood delivered to the door, it was too good to pass up.”
“Ah, yes. We have a lot of great seafood on the island.”
“Well, I’m glad you like it,” she said, looking pleased by the compliment she’d received for her cooking.
“I don’t just like it. I love it. Damn, I could eat this every day.”
When I smiled at her, she smiled back, and the passion that I was sure would have dissipated by now, surged between us as strong as ever. As much as I was enjoying the food, I’d have happily swept it from the table onto the floor in favor of grabbing and devouring her instead. But I held my nerve.
“Thank you for looking after Lily so well while I was away,” I said. “She really loves spending time with you.”
“Well, I’ve got to say that I’m the lucky one,” Eva replied. “She’s an incredible kid. You’ve done such a great job with her. And the way she talks about you… she adores you.”
I nodded. “Thank you. I think we’re a good team.”
“She’s crazy about seeing dolphins,” Eva said. “Every night we’ve been down there on the beach, looking for them. I think she might ask you for a pair of binoculars in the next couple of days, so be warned.”
I nodded. “You know, I’ve been thinking about something over the last couple of days,” I said, and I saw how Eva’s eyes widened a little. “A couple of years ago I hired a boat and took it out around a few of the islands. It was amazing. Lily was still pretty young, so I don’t think she really appreciated it back then, but now that she’s older, I think she’d love it.”
Eva nodded, and I was sure that there was a glimpse of disappointment that passed over her expression before she smiled. “Sounds amazing,” she said. “I think the two of you would have a great time.”
“Well,” I replied, slowly, “I think Maria might like to join us too, and of course that means Anna will be coming. And we can’t leave you here on your own now, can we?”
The small smile that played on her lips was beautiful. “No,” she whispered.
“Great,” I said. “We should be able to leave by the end of the week, as long as I can get the boat sorted.”
I finished my dinner and had my beer as Eva and I chatted for several minutes. She updated me on Maria’s progress, and I was pleased to hear that my aunt was doing even better than expected. Maria, of course, put it down to being in Greece, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to argue too much with her. With clean water and good food, she was sure to recover better here than she would have done back in Texas.
We were now in August, and the weather was getting hotter, seemingly by the second. Even though the idea of the boat had been on my mind for several weeks, it was only now, sitting in front of Eva that my mind was made up. I was excited about the thought of leaving my laptop behind and getting out on the sea without the distraction of work. I wanted to see Eva’s beautiful hair whipping around, wanted to light up her face with the sight of stunning scenery and maybe, if we were lucky, dolphins would join the boat. They were known to do so.
My resolve to be calm and collected around Eva clearly wasn’t working too well. But perhaps there was no point in worrying about things too much. The summer was still young, and there was too much to look forward to. For now, it was best to take every day as it came, and not to worry too much about anything.