Things went from bad to worse over the course of the weekend. Marie fawned over Lena, coddling and pampering her and asking her to help with dinner. When she wasn’t with Marie she was playing cards with Peter. It was like this sick joke where I woke up and she and I had switched places.
Alex was nowhere to be seen, according to Mike the other man had gone to the mainland early and had been in a rush. At least Mike was talking to me, even if he was boring, he was nice.
“You’re looking tired, Chloe,” he said as I sat on the couch with my laptop. “Something eating at you?”
I shook my head. “No, just writing. I’ve been staying up late doing it lately, I really need to stop but I’m kind of on a roll.” Maybe early was a better word for it since I had been up to five in the morning the night before.
“Did you sleep at all last night?” Peter asked across the room. “You didn’t come to bed.”
I bristled, my fingers frozen and hovering above the keys. Why did he have to say that in front of everyone? “I didn’t want to wake you,” I replied briskly. I closed my laptop and jumped up, I really wasn’t in the mood for this today. “Hey Lena, I’m going to the mainland, do you want to come?”
“Oh, um…” she paused and glanced from Peter to me and back again. “Not yet, we still have a few rounds left. But mama is probably wondering where I am, will you stop by the house and let her know I’ll be back tonight?”
She’s your mother, not mine. I slipped into my sandals and waited by the door for a moment. Peter leaned back in his chair and watched me with a blank expression, like he wasn’t even really seeing me. I wondered if he noticed I wasn’t wearing my engagement ring. With resigned patience I grabbed my purse and left.
It was surprisingly nice out and I was glad I had chosen my flowy baby blue sundress. The boat back to Athens was lonely and quiet, I hadn’t taken it alone before and I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to again. Suddenly being alone on the ocean seemed a lot more intimidating than before.
The dock was packed with people, fisherman setting off, tourists coming and setting off. Americans. My heart soared and I waved excitedly at them. I just wanted someone to small talk with, someone who wasn’t going to be antagonistic or passive aggressive. Seriously, I just wanted to talk about the nice weather.
“Chloe!”
I turned at the sound of my name and frowned, I couldn’t see anyone I recognized in the crowd. I kept standing there like an idiot and trying to see over everyone nearly a foot taller than me.
“Chloe, koritsi mou!” My girl.
I wheeled around again and spotted her in the crowd, weaving through and elbowing people out of the way. “Mama!” I cried, throwing my arms wide.
She shrieked and did the same, barreling towards me with a face splitting grin. In an instant she had her arms around me, crushing me to her chest and pulling me down at an awkward angle.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded. “Did Papa come with you?”
“No, no, he stayed home with Dimitris. Iva told me you were at Peter’s and I thought I’d surprise you.” She sighed and shook her head, standing back she looked me over with a soft smile. “Let me see the ring! I’ve been dying to see it on you!”
Fuck me. My smile faltered and like the hawk she was she noticed; her eyes narrowing as she took a step back. “Chloe,” she said disapprovingly. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I waved my hand dismissively but couldn’t meet her gaze. “It’s nothing—”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.” Mama seized my hand and I yelped as she jerked it towards her face, closely examining the tan lines from the engagement ring. “Where is it?”
“I took it off this morning for a shower, it’s not a big deal, mama.”
“Mothers know when something’s wrong,” she scolded. “Come, we can talk on the way to the house.”
Just what I need, an entire house full of family ready to hound me. She talked my ear off most of the way to the house, I tuned it out but I was thankful for the distraction either way. It had been forever since I had seen her, and I could only hope that being with her sisters then she wouldn’t focus on my not wearing the ring.
“And your brother met the loveliest girl—”
“Uh huh.”
“She is so adorable—”
“He’s seven.”
“And she’s eight, he likes older women.”
“Dimitris is seven, mama, I doubt their dating or even holding hands for that matter.”
She clicked her tongue and shook her head. I’m pretty sure if she had her way, I would’ve already walked down the aisle by now and my brother wouldn’t be far behind. Sudden terror gripped me as I realized that might be why she was here. We’ve been engaged too long, she keeps telling me that.
“Where are you staying?” I asked, trying to hide my fear.
“With Iva and Eleni,” she replied. “But maybe my darling girl would invite me to stay with her so I could spend some time to get to know my son-in-law?”
“Yeah.” My voice came out horribly high pitched. “Yeah, that uh, I’ll ask Alex.”
“Alex?”
Shit. “Mr. Hatzistefanis, Peter’s father.”
“I see.”
I could hear the disapproval in her tone but I bit my tongue. Hopefully she wouldn’t read into it, and with enough luck, she would never actually meet Alex. Not that I thought anything weird would happen, but I preferred my family to keep their distance since Lena seemed to be close enough for the bunch of them.
Family seemed to haunt me today because as we rounded the next corner the salmon coloured house came into view; tall and narrow with multiple balconies and a winding staircase up the side. Aunt Iva and Eleni were sitting outside on the patio, a pitcher of drinks between them and a tray of food.
“Konstantina! Chloe!” they screamed in unison. “Come sit with us!”
Mama and I were the only blondes in the family, the rest of them looked like older versions of Lena with light brown hair, tall, willowy figures, and musical laughs. I wonder if she feels the same way I do next to my cousin.
“Where’s my Lena?” Iva asked. “She’s been gone all weekend, she didn’t even come home for dinner last night! You’ve been stealing her from me, Chloe” She waggled her finger at me and I laughed.
“She’s back on the island playing cards with Pete and Marie. She said she was coming home tonight though.”
“Ah, that’s so good of them, it’s good for you girls to be so close.” Iva reached over and patted my thigh and then pinched it. “Maybe she can help you with that,” she said with a giggle, giving my thigh a shake.
I forced a laugh and stood back up. “I’ll make sure to ask, but I’ve got to go, I had plans to go shopping.” I pushed the chair in quickly and backed up, brushing my hair back and glancing over my should so I wouldn’t walk into anyone. “I’ll stop by later!” I didn’t wait to see their response, just power walked down the street as fast as I could.
One taxi ride later and I was wandering around the central market, far, far away from my family and Peter’s. Or a at least a fifteen-minute drive. Food and spices overwhelmed my senses, the crowds were surprisingly thin and there was an abundance of baked goods beckoning to me.
I moved slowly, toying with my dress as I went, eyeing every stall and chatting to every person that stopped. Honestly, it was just the people that I was closest too that made me cynical, surrounded by strangers I actually felt pretty calm and rational. Or as rational as someone could be with a bag now stuffed with various pastries.
“Do you have enough yet?”
I groaned and kept walking. “I just can’t escape…”
Alex laughed and jogged to catch up with me. “You want to escape?”
“Yes, it should be obvious.”
“Are you going to keep talking past me?”
I came to a stop and Alex swore as he almost walked into me. “I just want some time alone. Okay?”
“Are you leaving Peter?”
I sucked in a sharp breath and whirled around to face Alex. He was watching me with a resigned look, his dark eyes sad and the soft cupids bow pulled into a frown. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because Marie called me to say that you practically flew out of the house this morning, and Peter was already on the defence.”
The man behind the butcher counter started bitching at the two of us, making shooing motions and I realized that there was a woman waiting behind Alex. I grabbed his arm and pulled him along beside me, he just chuckled and let me lead him away.
We looked at the different stalls together in silence, the sound of people shouting and laughing engulfed us. I chewed on my thumbnail as we went, trying to find the right words for him. I didn’t want to leave Peter, we worked so well before, but I didn’t know what to do anymore.
“Your son is an ass,” I said finally.
“So am I, but you never ran out on me.”
I elbowed him hard in the side making him yelp and sputter. “Don’t say that out here.”
“Nobody’s listening to us,” he retorted while slightly out of breath. “Don’t be so high on yourself.”
“Look, I realize that we never officially talked about this, but it’s sort of the unspoken rule to just continue not talking about it,” I said defeatedly.
“I think we should have,” he muttered. He cleared his throat and then tried again, “I want to talk about it now, Chloe. After Friday night and you avoiding him for the past few days, I think it’s important that we talk.”
“And where should we talk? The house that you own where your ex-wife lives, the guest house where your son and I live, or on the street where you know like half the city?” Okay, now I need to turn down the bitchiness. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t very nice.”
He snorted. “You usually aren’t nice, I wouldn’t start apologizing now.”
“Seriously? The next time I elbow you I’m aiming for your favourite appendage.”
“And that’s what I’m talking about,” he taunted. “I’m glad to see that two years later you’re still the twenty-year-old with anger issues.”
“Twenty-three, thank you very much.”
“Terribly sorry, those two years really changed you.”
I rolled my eyes and cast him a sour look, he just smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You liked my meanness…”
“I did, I do. I don’t think Peter cares for it.”
“Gee, you think?”
Alex shook his head and looped his arm through mine, steering me toward the exit. “Come on, we’re going to continue this in private.”
I stared at him questioningly but didn’t pull away. On the street he stared straight ahead and led me towards a closed restaurant. The building was massive and stunning, painted in a maroon colour with crème accents and large, arched windows.
He dragged me around to the side entrance and produced a pair of keys from his pocket. A minute later we were standing in a two-storey dining space with a few abandoned tables and chairs. It wasn’t dirty, surprisingly, but it wasn’t ready for people either.
“If you’re opening a restaurant you should be warned that there are already like thirty on this street alone,” I teased.
“Have a seat.”
Ooh, Mr. No-Nonsense is out to play. “Are you going to try and sell this place to me?”
“No, I’m going to sell it to a man with more money than brains later, and when it closes again in a year, I’ll do it again.” He flopped down across from me and undid the buttons on his double-breasted jacket, letting it hang open loosely revealing his dark blue dress shirt. “Did you know before he brought you back to the house?”
I sighed and leaned forward on the dusty table, bracing my forearms on it. “No. I knew his last name was Hatzistefanis and I thought it was just a coincidence.”
“Even when you knew what he did for work?”
“He was a contractor, you’re a realtor, I didn’t even remember you owned the other company.”
“You knew I had a son that ran it,” he argued.
“You never told me your son’s name, Alex! He told me he didn’t see his dad often and left it at that, when he invited me for dinner it was the first time I met Marie.” That had been an awful dinner, she had prodded me all night and kept calling me by his ex’s name.
“Why didn’t you stop seeing him when you knew he was my son?”
The hard question, the one I had no good answer to. I shrugged but couldn’t meet his eyes and just glanced around the room as nonchalantly as possible. Alex folded his arms across his broad chest and I could feel him staring at me intently, trying to will me to look at him. He started tapping his foot loudly and I huffed. “I don’t know, alright? I didn’t want to and I figured since he didn’t talk to you that it would be fine.”
“You didn’t think that would hurt me at all?” He sounded so hurt that I worried he really did hate me.
“Alex—”
“I’m sorry about last night,” he interrupted coldly. “It was wrong and it shouldn’t have happened and it won’t happen again.”
My face fell and I tried to cover my tracks, desperately trying to not look disappointed. “I figured as much.” I probably would’ve sounded more convincing if my voice didn’t crack half way through my sentence.
“Chloe, I’m sorry—”
“Don’t be,” I interrupted with a fake, too loud laugh. “I’m gonna go back to my Aunt’s house and binge on cannoli’s. I’ll meet you back at the dock later…”
He nodded and looked as if he wanted to say something but bit his tongue. I made it out the door before I choked and started to cry. I can’t be here anymore; I can’t do this. I wiped angrily at my unwelcome tears and checked my phone – it wasn’t even three yet. Steeling myself I tucked my grocery bag into my purse and set off back down the street. It was nearly an hour walk back to Aunt Iva’s, but it would do me good.
Too many hours later I was back on the boat and nearly falling asleep on the boat back to the island. Alex was glowing with excitement, I could only guess that he had just made the sale. I was happy for him, but I hadn’t actually spoken to him since we met at the pier. I leaned back in the bench seat and closed my eyes. The breeze was harsh and cold tonight on the water and I wished it would just carry me away because I was certain that Peter would be waiting for have our nightly fight.
The first thing I noticed after we docked was that the main house lights were on and guest house lights were all off. That’s weird, I thought with a furrowed brow. Pete always left at least the porch light on for me. I glanced over at Alex who also looked vaguely confused but shrugged.
“Maybe Peter fell asleep on the couch,” he offered.
He hadn’t done that in a while, but it was possible. There was also the chance that he had crashed in his old room, he’d done that a few times when he had been drinking. I brushed it off and decided to go to the main house with Alex, maybe Pete and I could sleep in his room together instead of separate bedrooms for once in the past few weeks.
“Did Mike and Marie leave?” I asked as we bounded up the porch steps.
“Yeah, they went back to Florida today but they’ll be back in a week or so.”
He unlocked the door and pushed it open, light from the living room bathed us and there was a loud shriek over towards the sectional. As I closed the door my jaw dropped and clutched the door handle so tightly I thought it would shatter in my fist.
Lena was scrambling for her top and Peter had the throw blanket pulled over his lap as he frantically buttoned up his shirt.
“What the fuck is wrong with you!” I screamed, slamming the throwing my purse onto the chair beside it. “Lena, oh mygod, are you fucking kidding me?”
“I’m so—”
“No!” I cried. “No, you aren’t fucking sorry!”
“Chloe stop yelling—”
Fury surged through me like a tidal wave and I stomped across the room, my fists shaking. “How long Peter? How long have you been acting like a complete twat?”
“Oh, because you’re so fucking self-righteous!” he snarled, jumping to his feet. His belt hung open and his shirt was misbuttoned.
What had happened with Alex was a horrible one off incident, it hadn’t ever happened with anyone else. I hadn’t even thought of cheating on him. “You can’t blame this on me! I didn’t do anything!”
“Exactly, Chloe! You never do anything! You don’t try anymore, you don’t even want to sleep in the same goddamn bed.”
Lena cleared her throat. “I should just go—”
“Why the fuck are you still here?” I demanded. “Get the fuck out.”
“Chloe this wasn’t—”
“It wasn’t what, Lena? Get out before I call Iva.”
The other girl visibly paled and scurried for the door. Alex’s footsteps shook the floor as he strode towards his son. I turned to see him and felt my heart stutter; he looked furious. I had never seen him so mad before.
"You need to leave too."
I turned to Alex, about to say something but stopped short when I saw the almost uncontrolled rage on his face as he glared daggers at Peter. His son didn't seem to think there was anything to worry about and strode nonchalantly towards his father with a swagger that made me want to sucker punch him.
"Are you kicking me out?" he asked, raising his chin defiantly.
Alex was only two or three inches taller but when he squared his shoulders and stood up straight it could've been several feet worth of difference. "Grab your shit and get out of my house."
"No."
I wasn't able to register Alex cocking his fist and aiming for Peter's face before it connected hard with the younger man's nose. I screamed and covered my mouth while backing up against the wall.
"Get out!" he boomed, pointing at the door with his now bloody hand.