Chapter
One
Dani
Greece: Birthplace of many ofDaniela Guiterrez’s favorite things. Libraries. Gyros. Democracy. Cheesecake. And Dr. Theo Galanis.
His name had played on repeat in her head ever since she’d landed in Crete three days ago.Theo. Theo. Theo.This trip wasn’t supposed to be about him. This was supposed to be her opportunity to finally see the world. Meet new people. Maybe meet a guy. Someone who might allow her to forget about Theo.
Dani laughed to herself at the idea as she stared out the window of the tour bus on its way to the palace of Knossos. The sparkling, crystal-blue water as they pulled away from the harbor reminded her of his eyes. A moment later, they passed a stand selling dolmades, tangy stuffed grape leaves—Theo’s favorite food. And then, a local bar with a poster-size advertisement for raki, a celebratory drink at every one of Theo’s family gatherings.
Forget about Theo? Who was she kidding?
She’d come to Greece, of all places. If there was anyplace in the world that could remind her of Theo, this was it. Place of his birth.
And of his death.
Are you gonna get busy living or keep busying yourself with dying?Her dad’s question, butchering his favorite movie quote, echoed in her ears. As did her mom’s follow-up:What he’s saying, mija, is it’s time for you to get a life.
Ouch.
It was some thanks after dedicating the last sixteen years of her life—ever since her dad’s work accident—helping them out by taking her dad to his doctor’s appointments, doing their grocery shopping, and picking up their prescriptions only for them to tell her a month ago that they were packing their bags and finally moving to Florida like they’d threatened to do so many times. Forgive Dani for thinking they’d never go through with it, seeing as they’d lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the entirety of their lives. Yet there they were, kicking her out of her childhood home so they could sell it to some young family looking to put down roots.
Okay, so maybe theydidoffer to sell it to Dani first, but the price they needed to be able to put down the deposit on their new place in Florida wasnotin her librarian’s-salary budget and she wasn’t going to ask them for a deal. Especially not after they’d apparently considered the last sixteen years astheirfavor toher, when she’d been over there naively thinking it had been the other way around. They didn’t even seem to remember that her brother, Eddie, hadn’t offered to lift a finger when her dad first got in the accident whereas she was packed and moved out of her dorm at the University of Michigan the minute her mommuttered the words,I don’t know how I’ll be able to take care of your papa alone.
Okay, okay! So maybe Eddieoffered, but come on. Not only did he not have a single nurturing bone in his body, but he and Theo, his BFF since the second grade, had just left for a nonrefundable study-abroad program in Spain. Dani, on the other hand, was only a little over a hundred miles away and one (miserable) semester into her undergrad at Michigan. It made sense for Dani to be the one to help.
Right? She furrowed her brow as she watched Heraklion passing by out the bus window, thinking back to that pivotal time in her life all those years ago.
She’d always planned to return to U of M. Helping out her parents was supposed to be temporary. At least, that’s what she’d been telling herself for the last decade and a half. It was better than admitting that Daniela Guiterrez, former high school daredevil and talker of big dreams, was too scared to go out on her own and eventually got comfortable living above her parents’ garage and gave up on all those things she’d said she was going to do. She got comfortable never having ventured from Grand Rapids other than that short stint in Ann Arbor.
But now what? Her parents were moving a thousand miles away, Eddie was in Chicago living the bachelor life, and Theo’s family, who’d been like an extension of her own, had all left the area. There was no one left to call Grand Rapids home. Her parents’ suggestion that maybe it was time for her to start herownfamily, to settle down and find a husband, begged the question: With whom?
God, I need a date.
“Well, I’ll go out on a date with you tonight, little missy. Happy to oblige,” a voice said to her left.
Dani spun her head around to her tour bus seatmate, Harold, and blinked. Had she really said that out loud? The old man smiled, cheery as always, and she actually pondered his invitation for a moment. As she’d come to discover over the last couple of days, Haroldwaspretty funny. But ignoring for a moment that he was old enough to be her abuelo, in no universe did the term of endearmentlittle missyever result in someone agreeing to go on a date, and it certainly wouldn’t be starting today.
But as heractualabuelo had always said:Respect your elders.
“I don’t know why I said that,” she responded. “I was thinking about something else. Besides I think we’ll be too tired after today’s excursion, don’t you think?”
“Bah!” Harold said, waving his hand dismissively. “Ain’t nothing but a bit of walking around at Knossos. Wait ’til we get to the Acropolis. Glad I got that knee replacement surgery taken care of last year.” He made a fist and knocked on his knee, clearly proud of his mobility.
“But I get it,” he resumed. “If I were a beautiful young lady like you, I wouldn’t want to hang out with an old fogey like me, either.” He winked and smiled, and Dani couldn’t help but smile in return.
She was used to old men hitting on her—or really, men of all ages hitting on her, especially whenever she came out from behind the counter at her job at the Grand Rapids Public Library and they got one look at her…generouships and ass—but she didn’t get that sort of vibe from Harold. After only three days with him, he gave off moreYou’re the only person I can stand on this group tourthanHubba-hubba.
“But,” Harold continued, “if you want to check out thenightlife and need a wingman, I’m your guy. I’m the only one in this crew who can stay up past five p.m., after all.”
Harold gave her another wink, and she snickered. At thirty-five, Dani was the youngest person on the tour bus byat leastthirty years, and, in most cases, more like forty. On the first day when Harold had joked he must have been twice her age, it had turned out he wasn’t wrong. But how was Dani supposed to have known that Silver Sunset Singles Tours, LLC, catered to the sixty-plus crowd?
Okay, so maybesilvershould have been a hint. And sure, therewerea lot of photos on Silver Sunset’s website of happy retirement-age individuals. But it was the only Greek singles tour with last-minute availability she could find within her budget. It wasn’t her fault that some sort of internet form snafu didn’t catch that she was “underage,” something she hadn’t been in quite some time. So when she’d arrived in Crete for the start of the tour and the guide, Cosmo, had gone to check her in, they decided to honor the reservation.
What were they going to do? Cancel it and leave her stranded, alone, in Greece? She was just glad there wassomeoneon this bus who was interested in talking with her.
Though becoming besties with a septuagenarian wasn’t exactly what she’d envisioned for the trip when she’d booked it a few weeks ago. Right after her parents told her they were selling the house two days after…Theo’s memorial service.
