Something in me twisted as he held my gaze. It slid into my core and latched on to my trembling gut. No one had ever caught me stealing before. No one had confronted me over it. I bit down on my lip to steady myself and stand still. I bit until salty blood filled my mouth, but I still felt naked and vulnerable. I waited for Alex’s gaze to cloud with judgment, disgust, accusation.
Instead, he slipped the hourglass back in my pocket.
“I…” I wanted to apologize, to explain, but how could I? I didn’t understand it myself.
“You’re hungry,” he said. “People don’t take things unless they’re hungry. For food, for love, for a buzz, for attention. For whatever they feel is missing.” He touched my bottom lip with his thumb, prompting me to free it from the clamp of my teeth. “Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
Then, as if nothing had happened, he picked up his spoon and went back to stirring.
I stood hunched over the sink a few minutes, light-headed, feeling like my skin had been ripped off, leaving me with nothing to hide behind. Then I picked up my knife. The mechanical slicing and dicing soothed me. I was almost done when Alex spoke again.
“Eddie is getting ready to take everyone ashore.” He nodded toward the window, where the deckhand was lowering the small boat into the water. “You should get going. You don’t want to miss Paros. Naousa is one of the prettiest villages in the Cyclades.”
I nodded and untied my apron. Washing my hands, I felt the weight of the hourglass in my pocket. Part of me wanted to put it back, but the other wanted to keep it hidden. Who wants a reminder of their shame on the counter?
“Try this before you go.” He held out his spoon, his other hand hovering beneath it to catch any spills. Steam rose from the vibrant yellow broth.
“What is it?”
“Avgolemono soup. Well, my version of it.” He lifted it to my lips.
I closed my eyes, savoring tangy lemon, shredded chicken, rice, spice. Simple, light, and comforting.
When I opened my eyes, my gaze was level with Alex’s chin. His mouth was a soup spoon away—soft and pink, nestled in the angular planes of his stubble. A familiar feeling shot through my veins. The urge to take. The urge to steal. But this time, a kiss.
I wanted to feel Alex’s lips on mine.
The realization made me jolt back.
Raspy vocals streamed through the speakers:Sign your name across my heart…
No. No.
This was going very wrong. I wasn’t supposed to feel this way for Alex. I was supposed to feel this way for Nikos. People wait their whole lives for a sign and I had a clear-cut sign Nikos was the one for me. And Dolly was watching and waiting to see if I messed up, if I fell short of her expectations once again.
I backed out of the kitchen, clutching the hourglass in my pocket.
When was I going to stop taking things that weren’t meant for me?
We walked down the narrow, cobblestone streets of Naousa in pairs:
Joseph Uncle and George (fathers of the bride and groom).
Kassia and Fia (mother of the groom and the bride’s godmother).
Rachel Auntie and Dolly (mother of the bride and my mother).
Teri and me (the hired maid of honor and the fired maid of honor).
Isabelle and Thomas (the bride and groom) had chosen to skip the onshore excursion, preferring to spend time alone before the big day. Naani also stayed onboard, partly to keep an eye on them, and partly because her unbalanced gait made her a hazard on narrow streets. Naani’s chaperoning duties, however, were redundant. Before we left, Isabelle pulled me aside for a top-secret mission: to buy a pregnancy test and smuggle it back without anyone finding out.
“Take Teri with you,” she said. “You guys can come up with an excuse and branch off together.”
As the group meandered down the streets of Naousa, Teri and I kept our eyes peeled for a pharmacy. This was Greece, home of Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine. How hard could it be to find a pharmacy?
There were cute boutiques selling handmade jewelry and leather shoes. There were restaurants overlooking the water, with rows of octopus drying across their fronts. White-washed homes greeted us at every turn. Bougainvillea tumbled over the walls. Music streamed out of ouzeries.
No pharmacy.
