“Moti.” Alex held out a glass of ouzo. He stood before the window, the streak of flour highlighting his nose. I read once that the afterglow from great sex can rewire your brain, making your partner seem even more attractive.Somethingwas making me feel all soft and vulnerable. It was the strangest feeling—free-falling into someone else. Alarm bells started beeping in my head.
Retreat. Retreat.
“I… I’ll be right back. Going for a walk.”
Alex gave me a puzzled look as I slipped out.
“This is on you,” I heard him say to Vasilis. “You creeped her out with your snip-snip last night.”
“You think she will agree today? Just a little lock. She won’t even miss it—”
The bickering switched to Greek, curt sentences volleying back and forth between them.
Their voices faded as I took the cobbled path to the road, startling a lizard lazing in the sun. A farmer plowing his land stared at me as I passed. Behind him, a lemon tree protected by a circle of stones blossomed under a cloudless sky.
I followed a donkey track and veered toward a one-room church. Wedged between the building and the scorched, sprawling rocks was a small, welcome field of green. A wave of wildflowers rustled in the wind—all except for a patch of white among the blossoms. They were taller, with thick stems and creamy petals that looked like they were reaching out for the sun.
I remembered Alex holding up a pressed white flower.
Folegandros,hesaid.It’s where I was born—raw and rocky, with cliffs and caves, and an unforgiving terrain. But the flowers still find a way to grow. My mother loved that about them. The white ones were her favorite. We always had bouquets of wildflowers around the house. She picked this on the day she died.
I sat in the field, wondering if she’d paused to gaze at the sea that day. Let the sun warm her skin.
I picked all the white ones I could find. Sweaty and happy, I headed back to the house, clutching the flowers to my chest.
Alex and Vasilis were cleaning up. The table was set, and the kitchen smelled heavenly.
“There you are.” Alex flung a kitchen towel over his shoulder and leaned back against the counter, ankles crossed.
Afterglow hormones were still turning cartwheels in my brain becausedamn. My heart squeezed every time I looked at him—the way his eyes lit up, the half-sweet, half-sexy smile he threw my way.
“I found these.” I held the flowers under his nose. The dusting of flour was gone, but his nose was still just as endearing. Ugh.
Alex sneezed. Apparently, I’d shoved the bouquet too far in his face. Vasilis raised his thick, caterpillar eyebrows. Probably his first time seeing his son receive flowers from a sweaty girl with dirt under her nails. His face cracked into an amused grin.
“White flowers,” I said. “Your mom’s favorite, Alex.”
Whatever remark Vasilis was about to make, it died in his throat. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the words.
“Thank you,” Alex said. Something twisted in his face as he accepted the wilting bouquet. “We haven’t had flowers in the house since she passed away. They’re beautiful.”
“Beautiful.” Vasilis nodded and wiped his nose. “I’ll go get Frida’s favorite vase.” He trotted off and returned with an amber glass jar. “It was for honey, but she liked it because it was see-through and she could tell if they needed watering.”
Alex arranged the flowers, letting the stems flop where they would. Vasilis made space for them in the center of the table. They stood back, looking at them, then at me, smiling the whole time. I could tell they were hiding something.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” Alex grinned. “We’ve just missed them, right Mpampa?”
“Yes.” Vasilis eyes were gentle when they fell on me. “And now…” He wiped his nose again and sat down. “Let’s eat.”
Lunch was fresh and ripe and bursting with flavor. An olive oil soaked salad with tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and feta cheese. Crispy fried eggplant topped with creamy tzatziki. Ravioli—tender, translucent, and fat with filling. I held a fork in one hand, and a slice of crusty bread in the other, mopping up the fragrant butter sauce on my plate.
“She eats like one of us,” Vasilis said, holding up his own flavor-soaked bread.
I looked up, embarrassed to find them both watching me.
Alex winked at me with a smug grin that made me pause and look down at my plate.
