CHARITY GASPED. “DID she say she called . . . oh . . . my . . . God . . . please tell me she didn’t say what I think she said.”
Covering my mouth, I tried to keep the bile I instantly felt down.
She called Katerina. How does she even know her?
My hand dropped to my side as I called down, “What did you tell her, Mrs. Hawk?”
“That you and Charity were both stuck on the roof and couldn’t get down.”
Charity crawled on her hands and feet to the middle of the roof and sat down. Her arms were wrapped around her legs and she had her eyes closed. “This is bad. This is so very bad. Go to a happy place. Go to your happy place, Charity!”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Who’s in the fetal position now?”
She stuck her hand up and shot me the middle finger. “Fuck you, Gabi. Fuck. You.”
I turned back to Mrs. Hawk. “You can call her back and tell her we’re fine. We’re about to come down.”
Staring up at me, she shook her head. “Sweetheart, if you could get down, you’d be down by now. Katerina is bringing Dimitris, he’ll help.”
“How do you know Katerina?” I asked.
Laughing, she said, “We met when Nic moved in. Such a nice woman.”
My shoulders dropped and I made my way over to Charity. Dropping down next to her, I put my head on her shoulder and looked out to the mountains.
“It’s a pretty view, isn’t it?”
Charity sighed. “Yeah. It’s beautiful.”
I wasn’t sure how long we sat there staring out to the west before we heard Katerina’s voice calling up at us.
Dropping onto my back, I let out a long groan. “I’m never going to live this down. Ever.”
Suddenly, a loaf of bread was thrown up on the roof. Turning our heads, we stared at it.
Charity turned back to me and asked, “How the fuck long does she think we’ve been up here?”
Laughing, I got up and walked over to the edge, but not too close.
“Oh. No.”
“How many people are with her?”
I glanced back over my shoulder to Charity. “There are at least three Maria’s, Aunt Agnes, cousin Angie, and Phoebe. With the baby!”
She covered her mouth to hide her laugh. “It’s not funny!” I stated as I giggled myself.
“So much for keeping this from Nic,” she chuckled.
“Eat the bread! It will give you energy!” Katerina called up.
Focusing back on the group, I said, “Katerina, we’ve only been up here for a little bit. I think we’re good in the food department.”
“Charity needs to eat! For the baby!”
“Oh, dear God she’s screaming out my name for the whole world to know!”
My breath caught in my throat when I saw Dimitris and Thad pull up. Jumping out of the car, Thad looked up and started laughing. I shot him a dirty look and walked back over to Charity.
“The whole family is showing up.”
Her eyes about popped out of her head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean Thad just showed up with Dimitris. Nic and Cole have to know by now.”
As if on cue, both of our phones rang.
“I’m not answering it!” Charity cried out.
“Oh, stop being a baby. Answer it because if you don’t, Cole will be here next.”
We both answered at the same time and said the same exact thing.
“Hey, babe. What’s up?”
I covered my mouth to hide my laugh as Charity rolled her eyes but smiled.
“I don’t know. You tell me what’s up?”
Shrugging, as if he could see me, I replied, “Not much. I’m sitting here chatting with Charity.”
“Uh-huh. That’s it?”
Thad popped his head up over the ladder and grinned like a silly fool.
“Hey, girls.”
Lifting my hand, I answered, “Hey, Thad.”
“I see my brother made it up to you guys.”
With a sigh, I responded, “Is nothing kept a secret in this family?”
Thad lost it laughing as did Nic.
“Put Thad on, baby.”
I handed Thad the phone. He winked and started talking to Nic.
“Yeah. Right. I know. I will. Okay. Well, things were looking okay until the news showed up.”
“The news!” I practically screamed.
Thad chuckled. “I’m kidding. They’re not here. Yet.”
Charity had a look of pure horror on her face.
“Cole, I need to go. I love you.”
She pushed her phone back into her pocket, marched over to the edge of the house, grabbed the ladder, and before I knew it, she was heading down.
“How did she do that?” I asked.
Thad handed me my phone back. I mindlessly put it in my back pocket. “Nic’s still on the line.”
“Oh shit!”
“Nic?”
“Thad’s going to help you down.”
Chewing on my lip, I shook my head. “I don’t think I can do it, Nic.”
“Yes you can. He’s going to help you. I promise if you got up, you can get down.”
I took in a shaky breath. “O-okay. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
It wasn’t lost on me I could hear the smile in his voice. He was laughing at me.
“I’m going to go do this now.”
“Okay. Be careful. See you soon.”
Nodding, I said, “Kay. Bye.”
“See ya later, agapiméni.”
I hit End and looked at Thad. “I can’t do it.”
“Yes you can.”
Peeking over the edge, I asked, “Can I just like jump into the bushes. Or maybe you can hold my hands and help me get to them.”
For as long as I live, I would never forget the look on Thad’s face as he stared at me with disbelief.
“You want me to drop you into the bushes rather than help you down the ladder?”
My arms wrapped around my body. “It’s the swinging my leg over. I can’t do it.”
Thad took my hand in his and led me over to the ladder.
“Look at me, Gabi.”
I did as he asked. “I’m going to put your hands on the ladder, and you’re going to hold onto the ladder, but I’ve got a hold of you. Then you’re going to back yourself up and simply slide to the left and step on the ladder.”
My entire body was shaking. I was positive my face was white as a ghost. I did what he said.
“Now move your left foot out and put it on the ladder.”
“You can do it, Gabi!” Charity called out from below.
“Great . . . my own personal cheerleader.”
Thad laughed. My foot felt for the ladder and I started to panic when I couldn’t find it. Once I did, I set it down slowly.
“I can’t move,” I panted out.
Thad looked down below then back up at me. “You’ve got one foot on the ladder and one on the roof. You’re halfway there.”
My legs felt like lead. Pulling my right leg to me, I placed it on the ladder.
“I’m on!” I cried out.
“Now move on down.”
Ever so slowly, I moved each foot down until I was on the ground and in Charity’s arms.
“We almost died! We need to go shopping!”
I laughed at her then realized there was a plethora of people staring at me.
“When did all these people get here?” I asked as I looked around to see the Marias’, cousin Angelo and his wife Christine. Their daughter Marianna was holding out her little camera and taking pictures.
Great. The family documenter.
Aunt Agnes was ushering everyone over to the back of her SUV where she had some food out if anyone was hungry.
Cousin Sophia stood next to Katerina who was informing Mrs. Hawk I had officially moved in with Nic, but there had been no formal engagement.
Pressing my fingers to my temple, I groaned. Thad bumped my shoulder. “It’s not that bad.”
My hands fell to my sides. “Not that bad? Thad, the entire neighborhood is out and your Aunt Agnes is feeding everyone out of her SUV. Where in the hell did she even get all that food?”
He chuckled and Phoebe walked up carrying little Michael. “Man, Kilyn will be so tickled to hear this one.”
I shot her a dirty look. “I’m not babysitting for y’all this weekend.”
Thad jumped into the conversation. “She takes it back! Take it back, Phoebe! Take it back!”
My brows lifted. “I guess someone needs a night out.”
With a sigh, he nodded. “You have no idea.”
The pain of jealousy ripped through my chest. “No, I don’t.”
Phoebe tilted her head and looked at me. When I smiled, she returned one, but I knew she saw the hint of my jealousy.
The next three hours were spent with the entire Drivas clan entertaining my neighbors. At one point, I looked over and saw Charity sitting on a chair chatting to Phoebe as if they were at a damn family reunion.
Finally people started leaving, and the questions about why I was on the roof finally stopped. The only two people left were Katerina and Dimitris.
I stumbled into the house, exhausted from the day’s events. Katerina immediately headed to the kitchen.
“I’ll whip up a dinner for Nicholaus to have when he gets home.” I didn’t have the energy to stop her. I had made fresh pasta this morning for linguini with my lemon pesto sauce, but I could make it tomorrow.
By the time Katerina and Dimitris were ready to leave, I had four different meals put in my freezer, Dimitris had fixed the door that creaked and had installed the new light I bought for over the kitchen island. Katerina had made arrangements for her and I, and I’m sure at least three Maria’s, to go get our nails done the following afternoon, even though I told her I was working at the bakery. Her response was, “You’re the boss! Take time off!”
As I walked them to the front door, Katerina turned back to me. “You had some pasta that looked a bit old, so I tossed it out for you.”
I balled my fists and took in a deep breath. “I made that this morning.”
“Really?” she asked pinching her brows together. “Huh.”
And like it wasn’t a big deal, she breezed through the door and was gone.
After I shut the door, I leaned against it and whispered, “Bath. Hot. Bath.”
Making my way to the bathroom, all I could think about was how I needed this day to end.