“We’ll bring him next time. I’m sure Kai will love it here, especially your good food,” Nikos said. Honey cut her eyes at him, and Nikos smiled.
“We have to set that up. I would love to meet your son, Honey. Do you have any pictures of him?” Honey grabbed her phone before pulling up a picture of her son to show Ava. Nikosfound himself smiling as he watched their interaction before he walked over to the table, shaking his head with fondness. At first, he had been worried about coming here again. But now, he was glad that he had come, and now he could see why Aris liked Ava so much. She was a kind woman with a genuine soul. He wouldn’t mind coming over again with Honey and Kai, which surprised him even more.
On his days off, with someone as young as himself, he should be going clubbing or trying to hook up with someone. But now, his free time had been given to Honey and Kai, and he didn’t mind it at all. Before he could let his mind linger on that thought, he looked up and realized Nina was there. She was eating apple pie and ice cream. When their eyes connected, she looked away and rolled her own. Before he could say anything, his phone dinged, and it was a message from Aris.
AD:send me his license plate and address. A birth certificate will be nice too.
“You wouldn’t happen to know Tommie’s license plate number?” Nikos asked, and Nina’s eyebrows nearly rose past her hairline as she looked at him with mild suspicion. Before she could mistake him for a stalker, Nikos lifted his phone, showing Aris’s text message, and Nina sighed.
“He always acts like he’s my father,” Nina grumbled, but there was a small smile in her eyes that made Nikos smile.
“He just wants to know that Tommie is a good person for his younger sister,” Nikos said.
“Well, he is,” Nina said with a pout before she took another bite of her ice cream. The permanent pinched look on her face and attitude reminded him of someone. It almost felt like he was feeling déjà vu in her presence.
“You remind me of Pierce,” Nikos said, and Nina’s eyes widened as if she were offended.
“You think I remind you of that jackass,” Nina said, and Nikos hadn’t realized they had met before, but they clearly did because anyone who had the misfortune of meeting Pierce Drakos would say the same.
“Yeah, he is a jackass,” Nikos agreed. “You’re lucky you didn’t have to live with him for twenty plus years.”
“I don’t know how you could have a brother like that,” she said offhandedly, and Nikos smiled.
“He’s your brother too,” he said, and Nina paused, looking at him with those same green eyes his father had. “I know this is all very odd and, to be quite honest, fucked up. I had only learned a couple of years ago of what happened, but I genuinely want to get to know you and to have you as my sister.”
Nina stared at him for a beat before she looked away and returned to eating her ice cream. Nikos wondered how persistent he would have to be because he wouldn’t let this be the end of it, but Nina finally spoke again.
“No,” Nina said, bluntly, and again, Nikos was reminded that although Ava and Nina looked alike, the young girl had a stark difference in personality from her mother. Ava was inviting and warm, while Nina was closed off and cold. “I don’t want to have anything to do with that family. Aris is the exception.”
From her words, Nikos was suddenly reminded that he wasn’t the only one who had been affected by his father’s actions and that just like himself, Nina also hadn’t taken very well to what had transpired between their father and her mother years ago. It was no wonder she kept reminding him that she only had one brother, and now Nikos wondered what his brother had done to get the young girl to acknowledge him.
“But…” she started to say with a stubborn pout on her face. “I guess you can be an… acquaintance. But only because that’s what Aris would want me to do. You’re still not my brother, though.”
“An acquaintance? I think I can accept that for now,” Nikos said before smirking, feeling a surge of persistence come over him. She was a tough cookie, but Nikos had never been one to back down from a challenge. He would get her to acknowledge him as her brother one day.
“Good,” Nina said haughtily, and Nikos smiled before he talked to Nina more, asking her questions he had been curious about but avoiding the topic of their father. He had a feeling that, just like himself, Nina wasn’t ready to speak about it, and quite frankly, Nikos wasn’t ready either. It was the elephant in the room, and it would probably remain that way until it was time to confront it. Nikos just hoped it wouldn’t be any time soon.
After speaking to Nina, she headed upstairs to find Tommie, and Nikos returned to the kitchen where Ava was by herself because Honey had gone to use the restroom and made a phone call to check up on Kai.
“Do you need help?” Nikos asked, watching as Ava washed the dishes.
“Oh no, it’s fine. You’re my guest,” Ava said, and though Nikos could return to the couch and wait for Honey, he rolled his sleeves up, standing next to her by the kitchen sink. Ava smiled before she passed him a towel, and he helped dry off the dishes after she cleaned them. They did it in peaceful silence until Nikos spoke again.
“I’m glad you invited me,” Nikos admitted.
When he had said yes before, it was because he didn’t know how to decline her. He hadn’t just asked Honey to come herewith him tonight because he liked spending time with her, which he always did. For some reason, Honey just always entertained him, and he enjoyed watching her roll her eyes at him and pout whenever he said something that annoyed her. But he had invited her because he hadn’t wanted to come alone in this situation, worried about how awkward it would be, but to his surprise, it hadn’t been awkward at all.
“I’m glad you came,” Ava said as she rubbed the sponge against the dish in her hand. “I know this must be awkward for you.”
It became silent again, and Nikos was almost going to let it go on that way until he realized he needed to get this question out of his mind. He had been thinking about it since that dinner when his mother had revealed his father’s infidelity. It had plagued his mind, and though his relationship with his father had never been the best, this revelation had soured it even more until the point that he didn’t even like to be in the same room with his father. He wondered how Ava could even be this way now, smiling and happy, despite what his father had done.
“Can I ask you a question?” Nikos said, and Ava passed him the last dish before she dried off her hands.
“You want to know what happened, don’t you?” Ava said, and Nikos nodded. Ava sighed.
“It’s not much to say. I met your father when I was very young, and he was very handsome. And we fell in love,” she admitted with a soft look in her eyes as if she were reliving every moment. “Sometimes, I think your father hadn’t had intentions of falling in love with me, and he had, and before he knew it, we had both been swept down a road that we couldn’t return from.”
It was vague, yet an image had already been created in his head. Ava was still this beautiful in her old age. Nikos could onlyimagine how beautiful she had been when she was younger. His father must have fallen for that, and being the greedy indulgent man he was, he hadn’t told Ava the truth that he had a family back in Greece and instead created a family with her.
