by Pilar Lepe
The plane was big and there were now three rows of sets. A young Mexican couple sat beside her who were going to France on their honeymoon, she figured when she saw them looking at their wedding rings on their fingers. They were very young and talkative and wanted to start a conversation with her and the plane hadn’t even taken off yet. She didn’t understand Spanish at all despite living in Sacramento, and they could barely speak English. They could barely understand each other, but she found they had been living in United States for about a month and didn’t speak English yet. The same way she told them she didn’t feel like talking because she was feeling ill. Finally, the couple whispered something to each other and they didn’t talk to her during the whole flight. Evelyn felt a little guilty, but what could she possibly talk about with them if they didn’t even understand each other?
The take-off was smooth, but when they were up, the plane moved roughly and Evelyn was holding her seat tightly. She hadn’t been on a big plane before, everything was multiplied by three times with this plane.
When the plane stopped moving, she took out the magazine to continue reading the information about Mykonos, she didn’t want to miss anything important; the beaches would come in second place.
About an hour later they served dinner. Evelyn had asked for roast beef with vegetables, juice and fruit as dessert.
After the flight attendant had taken the trays, she put her headphones on and selected a drama movie to watch, she didn’t want to take the sleeping pill, she decided to watch a movie instead. However, the movie was so slow, it worked to make her fall asleep. She woke up when she heard the trays. They were serving breakfast.
After having breakfast, she saw the Mexican couple looking at her curiously. She tried to make conversation with the few Spanish words she knew. They were so nice it made her feel guilty about her behavior the night before. It was strange because they could hardly understand each other, but they told her how they fell in love at first sight, and thanks to their good grades, they could study in United States. But her parents convinced them to get married if they were in love and wouldn’t hold a wrongful relationship. As they were talking to her, Evelyn thought of two things: how easy was to understand people even though they didn’t speak the same language, and that parents around the world thought the same. She would never force her son to get married.
After meditating for a moment, she looked at her watch, they should arrive soon. After going to the bathroom she sat on her seat looking out the window to see the sighting of Paris and of course, the Eiffel Tower, which she wouldn’t be able to visit in the little time she had.
She sighed as the city was getting closer to her, she wished to visit other countries later on in life. There was so much to see! Soon they announced that it was time to buckle up. The pilot said some welcoming words in French and the plane landed.
People scattered in the hallway and they were so desperate to get off the plane. Evelyn waited until the majority left, and she was surprised to see the same flight attendant who was in Los Angeles talking in English, was now talking in perfect French: au revoir madame
After getting her luggage she went to register immediately for her flight to Mykonos, she still had to wait for two more hours, but she was so anxious to go to the stores at the airport and listen to the language of love. She imagined that anytime now she would listen to Charles Aznavour sing. Her thoughts made her laugh.
“Eve!! Eve!!”
She was surprised when she heard someone calling her name, but no one knew her there. There was a lot of people at the airport.
“Eve!!”
She continued looking but didn’t see any familiar face. She felt a pull on her arm suddenly, and she let out a scream.
“Oh! You?”
Chapter 28
“What are you doing here?” Evelyn wanted to know while she was looking at her coffee mug in front of her, then she raised her head and locked her eyes into his.
“I was in Greece.” He said calmly. How she wished she could lose himself in those blue eyes that turned to green when she was disturbed. He loved her; he knew he couldn’t be without her anymore. “Why did you leave?”
“It was a mistake.”
“Mistake?”
“Yes, I thought you had realized that by now.”
“Why would you say that?”
“You didn’t look for me.”
“I was going to, but my mother called and I had to come that morning.”
“Your mother?”
“Is it strange that I have a mother?”
“Sorry, I thought you only had your brother in California.”
“My mother is seventy-five years old, my father eighty-two. They both live with Danae, my younger sister, in Corfu. Her husband and her manage the agricultural family business. Mom called because that was refusing to have an operation to change his pacemaker. Dad is very stubborn.”
“I understand.”
“What do you understand?”
“That you’ve been busy.”
“But I haven’t stopped thinking about you. Do you think about me?”
“No.” She lied.
“I don’t believe you.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.” Suddenly Evelyn’s tone became bitter.
“I will show you.”
“What?”
“That you’re wrong.”
Evelyn made a bored gesture by looking at her watch on her wrist.
“It’s still early.” He said.
“I need to go to the bathroom before boarding the plane.”
“I want to go to Greece with you, I’ll see if there are still rooms.”
“Are you crazy? I didn’t invite you.”
“Where will you stay?”
“In Greece.”
“Don’t say more, I’ll figure it out.”
Evelyn didn’t respond, she stood out from the chair and walked out of the cafeteria. He didn’t move, he just spoke loud enough for her to hear.
“Now I have to go to Los Angeles, but I’ll see you later.”
“She didn’t answer. She was so nervous, she didn’t understand how could she stop herself from throwing herself at his arms. Damn Nick. Why did he have to appear now?”
Before getting out of the bathroom, Evelyn looked out the door to make sure he wasn’t there waiting for her, there was no one sitting there and instead of feeling relieved, she felt disappointed. This time, she was one of the first ones to board the plane. She was going to be at Mykonos in a little over three hours, and save from Nick.
When the plane took off, she was happy the plane was steady unlike last time.
This time as a neighbor, she had an older lady from New York who told her maybe they could meet up in Mykonos to go to a museum together. Evelyn told her she was delighted, but she didn’t know because her husband would meet up with her there and she was probably not going to have a time alone. The lady told her she understood a little upset and she wished her a happy vacation. Evelyn felt bad about lying, but she never liked to go out with people she barely knew.
She looked at the window and Evelyn saw beautiful white buildings, some of them blue. It was a great spectacle. And the turquoise water looked so calm from the plane, they were very inviting. She thought it would be hard to keep away from the beach, she didn’t think they were this beautiful. For the first time during the trip she felt lucky and thanked her mother for insisting.
The plane landed softly at the Mykonos National Airport. Evelyn wanted to kiss the floor as she landed safely to Greek lands.
After getting her luggage, she wanted to get a cab, but a young man with a sign that said Evelyn Thomas in big letters, took her to a van that had the name of the hotel printed on it. She thanked him but he answered something in Greek she didn’t understand.
Even though it was fall, the sun was shining bright and the weather was very warm. Almost like California, but more beautiful, she thought with a smile on her face.
At th
e hotel, the receptionist talked to her in English to welcome her and pointed at someone that would take her to her room. She never thought the hotel would be this luxurious. She had seen the pictures, but this was a lot better. She was there to enjoy and not to think about anything, or maybe about Nick.
When she was alone, she went to the balcony to look at the ocean and the rest of the white constructions around. She knew that at Mykonos, the nightlife was very active, so she decided to rest and go out later.
She laid on her bed with the intention of resting for a while, but she fell into a deep sleep and didn’t wake up until she heard the phone ring.
“Hello?” She yawned
“Mom? How are you?”
“Good son, thank you. Sorry I didn’t call before, but I was so exhausted from the flights, I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed.”
“You got there OK, that’s what matters. But tell me, how is it?”
“I haven’t seen much, but so far it’s just like the postcards: white buildings with blue roofs and doors. The water of the ocean so clear. The hotel is very luxurious, way up in the hill, so I have a great view. Son, I wanted to tell you, if Nick asks for me, don’t tell him where I am.”
“Why not? I thought you liked him.”
“Yes, I do, but I think he is a little obsessed. I found him in Paris, he was going back to L.A. The thing is, he wanted to come to Greece with me, he didn’t want to let me go, he said.”
“What if he loves you? Did you think of that?”
“I have, and you know how I feel about that.”
“Mom, you can’t spend your life running away from men, you’ll fall in love sooner or later. I just hope you don’t let great opportunities go by.”
“Mark, I’m going to hang up because I want to take a bath and then go out for dinner.”
“Alone?”
“Yes, alone”
“Take care, will you?”
“Yes dad...Don’t call me too often! I love you.”
“I love you too. Bye.”
“Bye.”
After taking a quick bath, she looked for another pair of jeans in her luggage and a grey see through blouse. She got dressed quickly, and put low heel sandals; she took her purse and went to the lobby. She asked the receptionist for a restaurant and told her that Mykonos was full of bars, she just had to walk a little to find them.
She got out of there upset and started walking in the street. There was a lot of people, it seemed like the crisis there didn’t affect them at all.
After a couple of minutes, she thought it was not a good idea to go out at night, she only found tourists just like her everywhere and bars that didn’t really look Greek.
She changed her mind and was heading back to the hotel to ask for room service. Tomorrow she’d have all day to look around in town.
She was going back when she bumped into a group of tourists walking towards her. She thought it was best to avoid them, walked another way that led her to a small plaza where she found groups of people smoking or talking. She looked around but all the streets looked the same, she was lost. Evelyn walked towards a group of people to ask them the way to the hotel. From her pocket she took out the card the receptionist had given her, but before she could say something, one of the guys from the group walked towards her with an attitude.
“Hello” Could you help me?” She asked trying not to seem nervous. “I need to get to the hotel.” She continued while trying to show them the card.
“Yia sou Ti ora ine?*”
“Sorry, I don’t understand. I...
“Ti ora ine?!” The guy insisted and she could smell the alcohol in his breath.
“Doesn’t matter, thank you.” She said, more to herself really and she tried to get away from them, but the guy but they guy held her by the purse. “No! Let me go!”
Evelyn started to free herself from hi but suddenly other three surrounded her, she looked at them scared, but didn’t let go of her purse thinking that someone would help her, but no one seemed interested about the situation. When she thought she had lost the fight over her purse, a shadow appeared punching the guy, the rest looking at their friend on the floor, ran off. The man screamed something at them in Greek that she didn’t understand.
She was feeling confused about what just had happened, but when she saw who her savior was, she almost fainted.
*Yia sou. ¿Ti ora ine? In Greek: Hello, What’s your name?
Chapter 29
“How did you know where to find me?”
“Let’s walk, we don’t know if those kids went to look for more friends. What are you doing alone here?”
“I was heading back to the hotel and I got lost.”
“There’s a lot of people without a job, Eve.”
“But there are a lot of tourists.”
“It’s true, there are a lot of tourists with money to spend and there are a lot of people in this country that are in bad shape. It’s wrong, but these incidents are almost normal now.”
“You’re right; I didn’t think it that way.”
Suddenly he stopped and hugged her tightly.
“If I hadn’t arrived on time, if something happened to you...”
“But nothing happened thanks to you.” She said to calm him down. “Are you going to tell me how you found me?”
“I made some calls; I told you I would figure it out.” He told her not letting go of her as they walked slowly.
“I told Mark not to tell you anything!”
“It wasn’t Mark.”
“Then, Who? Deb?”
“She said we’re made for each other, and she is right.”
Evelyn didn’t say anything, it seemed like everyone was playing Cupid.
Back at the hotel, Nick went up with Evelyn to her bedroom as if it was something natural. He didn’t even ask her if she was OK with it, he didn’t care what she’d say. He would take advantage of those days to make her fall in love with him. Eve would end up giving in because she felt something for him too.
“What are you doing?” She asked when he took the key away from her.
“Opening the door.”
“Are you inviting yourself?”
“You don’t want me to come in?”
Damn Nick, she thought.
“Yes, I do.”
“Ah! Wait a sec. I left my suitcase at the reception when I went outside looking for you. I’ll be right back; while I’m there I could ask for room service. What do you want to eat?”
“A salad with feta cheese, wine and a yogurt.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Said Nick smiling and he left.
When Evelyn was alone, she asked herself what she was doing, what if Nick wanted something serious? She had seen that look, she’d seen it in Sam. She knew this time was no different, it wasn’t going to work out. She wasn’t a woman who could commit, she just liked to have a good time, that was it. The best thing to do was not to think about it, just to enjoy her time and destiny would take its course.
She went to the bathroom. While she was brushing her hair, she looked at the mirror. She couldn’t find anything special: she was blonde, blue eyes just like most of the girls in United States; she was tanned, California worked wonders in her. She was still thin, but it was genetic. She didn’t look like forty. However she knew guys saw something in her and they always wanted a serious relationship with her and up until now, she didn’t find anyone special. Damn Nick.
After washing her hands, she went to the room to wait for him. She was tempted to take her clothes off and wear something lighter, but she thought maybe he’d get the impression of something else, and the last thing she wanted was to look easy.
She was so lost in her thoughts, that the small knock on her door made her jump. It was Nick along with a steward who brought dinner.
“That was fast!” She said. “Please don’t bother, we’ll serve ourselves.”
Since the man didn’t understand, Nick translated in Greek what she had just sai
d and gave him a tip.
Evelyn uncovered the plates and took them to the little table at the terrace.
“It looks delicious.”
“I’ll go wash my hands and I’ll be right out with you.”
“Hurry up or I’ll start without you.”
Dinner was nice. They talked about Nick’s family, Nick wanted to know everything about her parents, and told her he wanted to see the town she’s from soon. When the talk was getting a little deeper, she changed the subject.
“Why don’t you speak in Greek much?”
“It was really hard to learn English, so I never stopped to practice as much as I could. I only speak Greek at my parent’s house.”
“Your English is perfect, no one would notice it took effort.”
“What do you want to do tomorrow?”
“I think I’ll go to a museum, go to the marked, the beach.”
“I’ll be your guide. I will show you some fascinating places. I can assure you, not all of them are in your magazines.”
“Fine.” She said hardly smiling.
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked getting up.
“I’m tired.”
“I’ll take you to bed.”
“Thank you, but I can manage.”
“I insist.” He said taking her in his arms so easily while we yawned.
“I’m sorry, I can’t stop them.”
“Don’t worry.”
Nick put her gently on the bed and took her sandals off, he also thought of helping her with her clothes, but that would probably be too much from his part. She looked at her tenderly as she was getting ready to sleep. He was crazy about her. He lowered the lights and went out to the balcony to get some air. He needed it to calm down his passions.
After a while, he felt like going to bed too. He looked at the sofa and saw it would be uncomfortable since he was tall. He decided to go with Eve slowly so she wouldn’t notice his presence.
Before going back to the room, he took a shirt from his suitcase. He took off his clothes and laid beside Evelyn.
He thought that having her so close, it would be hard to get some sleep. He had never been on the same bed with a woman anything happening. Suddenly Evelyn turned around and ran her hand through his chest. He carefully put his arm under her head to snuggle with her. She sleeping and didn’t notice.
