“Some have figured out who you are, but not everyone.”
“They were asking me not to sell, weren’t they?”
He nodded.
Joanna turned back and looked at the hotel. Yes, it needed a lot of work, but she admitted to herself, it was beautiful tonight. With its red tiled roof, stone walls and walkways— it was the epitome of an upscale Mediterranean hideaway. Besides the views, she especially loved the climbing vines and ancient lanterns that hung sporadically around the property. It had a secret garden vibe to it.
“You must understand that your father was a town icon,” Nick said. “In addition to helping out numerous local children in need of direction, he held a lot of parties and festivals here to keep us all united and together. It was never anything lavish, but he was kind of like Gatsby I suppose. He gave everyone a spot to unwind during tourist season and always made sure we knew how to laugh together. A lot of people have family on the mainland, and if any of them needed a place to stay while visiting they came here. This place has always been the heart and soul of the island.”
“I just don’t know how I could realistically keep it without abandoning everything I’ve worked for in New York.”
He nodded, understanding. “Anyway…” He pointed at boats on the horizon. “See those boats out there? My wedding gift for the couple is on them.”
“You going to make them swim out and get it themselves?” she joked.
“Fireworks,” Nick said. “Big ones. I’m not good at shopping for other people, so I found a way to get them something that was really a gift for myself.” He tapped his brain and grinned. “Markos helped me. We had a great time picking them out. They’re from a professional fireworks company in China. We got the salesman to come out this way and got him so drunk he acquiesced and let us preview them. Markos was afraid the coast guard was going to come and get us, but we were too far out in the water.”
She giggled. “Did you take him spearfishing afterwards?”
“No, he confessed to us he was a horrible swimmer and had nightmares about drowning. But he was a lot of fun. Was fluent in Greek, and told the filthiest jokes I’d ever heard. Your father would have loved him.”
Nick really did have a Peter Pan, fox in the henhouse mischievous quality to him. In many ways he reminded her of an overly intelligent, twelve year old— partly because he seemed mostly unaware of his own sexual magnetism. Well, if not unaware, than at least pleasantly preoccupied with other things.
She would never tell him this, but if he had been anyway aggressive with pursuing her, she would likely have acquiesed. She was emotionally vulnerable, and very much attracted to him— a dangerous combination. He was also just so much fun to be with. And she could talk to him and tell that he was listening.
He wasn’t just being polite and performing a role (as she sensed Peter often did when they talked). He actually listened to her.
All of this had added up and scared Joanna to her core on the drive back from the church, while the bouquet rested in her lap.
Skiathos was magnificent and Villa Azure was so tempting, an alluring change of pace from New York.
It seemed the universe was being quite blunt in its attempt to tempt her with another path.
Or was her brain just frantically looking for a way to keep the vacation dream/illusion alive? She had only a couple of days left, and yet it felt a bit like she only had a few more left to live.
She glanced at Nick beside her as the light turned an orangish pink to the west. He was simply majestically, beautiful. She could already see him as a dear friend and confidante certainly, but she also guessed he could be a wonderful partner— a passionate, soul finding, lover.
One with whom she could already see herself enjoying a very happy life with.
That was crazy, wasn’t it? But it felt right.
This must have been what her mother had felt in the beginning with George, when she had first left Skiathos and gone back to New York.
Her heart was aching the same as her mother’s had when she had written those first two letters.
If only she hadn’t asked Peter to tell her he loved her and agreed to move in with him. He didn’t love her. He only loved the idea of her.
And yet she was guilty of the same. She loved the idea of establishing a ‘grown up’ life with him, and doing what people her age were supposed to do.
Her job? Of course she cared about her job. She had worked hard for it. How many nights had she forfeited sleep so she could meet a deadline? Too many. But they had paid off. People had noticed and liked her work. Now she was the youngest senior editor at Herod Publishing. She had broken through the glass ceiling, and she was still on the rise. Tectonic shifts were taking place in the world, and she was a part of that.
But from this vantage point, here on the island, New York was beginning to feel like an empty existence. Surely God did not intend for people to live that way; constantly seeking, and constantly fighting, all in the vain hope of obtaining a title? A label. A label to be stuck on her by strangers she could care less about. They were all ships passing in the ocean. Every one of them. Never to truly see one another again.
Chapter Eighteen
Nick looked at her and seemed to sense the turmoil taking place within her. He put his glass down, gently tapped her forehead and said, “Shh. Wherever your thoughts have taken you, come back to here. To right now.”
Then placed his hand around her neck and pulled her into a slow, heartfelt kiss. Their tongues never met, but it was passionate and heart pounding. She never wanted it to end, and yet it did all too soon.
