Please be there.
My throat clenched at the thought of finding nothing but an empty counter, nothing but Alex’s silence. But there was a small plate waiting in the same spot he always left it. I wasn’t hungry for what it held. I was hungry for what it meant. Always steady, always strong. Alex was the one thing I could always count on. My throat clenched even tighter as I reached for the note:
The stars weren’t the same without you tonight.
They told me tomorrow is a terrible day for a picnic.
Absolutely, friggin’ awful.
But you do what you have to, and I’ll do the same.
Lifting the dome off the plate, I found a single star-shaped cookie. It reminded me of all the nights we watched the stars on the sky deck. Sleeping under their twinkling canopy on Alex’s roof. Watching them come alive, one by one, after the sunset in Santorini. Holding hands and floating like stars on the water.
I picked up the little star. It wasn’t a cookie at all, but a piece of baklava Alex had cut into a star—a five-pointed, multi-layered slice of sticky-sweet heaven.
I saved the note and pulled up a stool. Then I lined up another one next to it. Breaking the baklava in half, I toasted my invisible companion.
“To men who pluck stars instead of flowers.” I bit through the buttery layers and honeyed walnuts and smiled.
We sat together as I finished my half of the treat, my legs swinging off the stool as I licked the last crumbs from my fingers. I covered the rest and turned off the light.
Climbing back into bed, I drifted off, smiling at the thought of Alex finding half a squished-up, crumbly star in the morning.
“Tie it up higher. Like this.” Isabelle demonstrated with her sarong. “Not you, Naani.”
“Sure.” Naani tossed aside the sheer fabric she was experimenting with. “No one wants to seemylegs. Just wait until I get back from the thermal springs. You won’t recognize these beauties.” She patted her veined calves. “Hippocrates himself wrote about the rejuvenating powers of the Lakkos baths.”
“A few hours marinating in the hot springs of Milos isn’t going to give you Tina Turner gams, Naani.” Isabelle fixed the knot on my sarong and stepped back. “And what’s with the sudden urge to turn back time? I don’t know how you managed to convince us to spend our last day on the yachtoffthe yacht.”
“I just want to know what the hype is all about. You’ll thank me when your skin is glowing on your wedding day.”
“As long as I’m not smelling like a boiled egg from all the sulfur in the water.” Isabelle tilted her head and appraised me.
“Look at you.” Naani’s eyes met mine in the mirror. “An overnight tryst with the chef. A private picnic on the beach with the millionaire.Vah re vah.”
“Youknowwhy I’m going.” I made a face. “And Isabelle, you can stop fussing around. I’m not wearing this.” I untied the sarong from my waist and slipped on the white Indian-style kaftan lying on my bed. It swirled around my ankles, its breezy folds covering my arms and legs.
“Saving it all for Alex,” Isabelle whispered to Naani, but loud enough for me to hear.
“The chef has left his mark.” Naani wagged her finger at me.
“Really? He did?” Isabelle tugged the kaftan away from my body and peered down my back. “Where?”
“I don’t know about those kinds of marks.” Naani said, chuckling. “But in here for sure.” She patted her heart.
“You two are impossible,” I said, but I couldn’t help smiling as I grabbed my sunglasses and hat.
“Motibeta,hurry up.” Dolly waltzed into the suite. “They’re all set to…” She trailed off when she saw me. “How beautiful you look.Meri pyari si gudiya. Hold on one minute.” She went into the bathroom and returned with a small pot ofkajal—the traditional, velvety black eyeliner. Rubbing her index finger over the surface, she applied a small dot on the side of my forehead. “There. Now you are not so perfect. No jealous, evil eye will fall on you.”
“I’m already wearing this.” I dangled the bracelet the farmer in Folegandros had given me, with the eye-shaped blue bead.
“Double protection from Nikos’s lustful eyes. IndianandGreek magic. One can deflect his right eye, the other, his left.” Naani made cross-eyes at me.
Dolly ignored her and kissed me on both cheeks. “Have fun. I’ll be waiting right here when you get back.”
“You’re not going to the hot springs with everyone else?” I asked.
“No. I want to hear about everything the moment you return.”
