She arrived back in New York early Wednesday morning, but didn’t bother calling Peter until Friday.
They never really communicated that much during the week, so it wasn’t unusual, but he could tell something was up when they got together for drinks.
“Want me to help you pack this weekend?” he asked, talking about them moving in together. “We could get you over fully to my place probably by Sunday afternoon.”
Joanna winced at the mere suggestion.
“You’re probably still a bit tired from the jet-lag though,” he said in a rare moment of consideration. “Rest up. We’ll do it next weekend, or whenever you’re ready. Want to start moving forward with selling the hotel, though?” he added, as he put a big smile on his face. “Ready to become a millionaire overnight?”
He then wagged his eyebrows and drummed the table excitedly. There was something carnivorous about him that Joanna hadn’t seen until then and something broke in her as she looked at him.
She decided to do something just then that she hadn’t planned on doing.
“No, Peter. That’s not going to happen.”
“Joanna,” he sighed. “Do the smart thing. It’s just a place. Think of it as a stepping stone to something bigger and better - for us.”
“Peter, I’m not going to sell Villa Azure, and I’m not going to move in with you.”
His face got still and flushed.
“The hotel has a lot of history for Skiathos,” Joanna explained. “It’s a lifeline for a lot of people. Selling it would guarantee its destruction. I couldn’t in good conscience do that.”
Peter clenched his teeth and turned his beer bottle on the table without looking at her. “Don’t be taken in by all that nostalgic nonsense. It’s just business and that isn’t a bad thing,” he said.
“No. Business is what people say when they know what they’re doing is wrong but don’t want to feel bad about it. Did you hear what I also said? I said I’m not moving in with you.”
“Yeah, I heard you,” he replied, still turning his beer bottle. He finally looked at her, gritting his teeth. “So what was his name? Whatever slimy Greek Lothario you cheated on me with over there. What was his name?”
She didn’t answer. “Before I left, I had to ask you if you loved me. Why is that, Peter? And I know you only said yes out some sort of misguided loyalty. And what’s worse is before I asked you, it hadn’t even occurred to me to care. We’re in two different worlds, Peter. I stayed with you because I thought I was in a phase in my life where I should settle down. You were the mature, smart choice. And you were with me because I matched what you were looking for - on the way up the career ladder, lots of prospects. But you don’t marry someone for power. You marry them for love.”
Peter pursed his lips and she could tell he was biting back so many responses.
“But I wish you well. I really do. You’ve been nothing but good to me. Take care. I’m sorry it happened the way that it did.”
With that, she stood up and left the bar, pulling out her phone and calling Donna as she hailed a taxi.
“We’re you serious?” she asked her friend, without saying hello.
“About what?” Donna asked.
“About helping me to fix up the hotel?”
“Hell yeah!”
“OK, let’s do it,” she said, suddenly feeling like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Flying back so quickly had put Greek Customs on high alert. They seemed to think she was trafficking drugs or something.
“Nope, just a woman on a mission. I’m in love,” she told them and they nodded agreeably, as if understanding.
Chris almost leapt out of her skin when she saw Joanna walk into the lobby.
“Where’s Nick?” she asked.
The other woman frowned and shook her head. “He’s not doing well, Joanna. He’s been out fishing since you left. No one knows where.”
