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She shook her head, adding a little snort. “Sienna thinks only of her career. She doesn’t have time for relationships. I could barely get her to come on this vacation.”
“Hard work is admirable.”
“I think so too. But a person also needs a life outside of work.” Then she added. “Like you do. Taking time for coffee in the morning, enjoying the sunrise, reading the paper.”
His smile was heart-stopping. “I have never been what you Americans call a workaholic. As you will remember, my job was more fun than work.”
“Do you still work tours?” She knew very little about his life now.
He shook his head, tapping the rim of his coffee cup. “I leave that to my children.”
“You still run your father’s company?”
A frown formed between his brows. “Sadly, my father passed away fifteen years ago. So it is now my company.”
She wanted to touch him, offer comfort, but she didn’t know him anymore. “I’m so sorry.”
Losing the frown, he said, “Thankfully, my mother is still very much with us.” She hadn’t met either of his parents, but he’d talked about them. His mother had been a force to be reckoned with, wearing the pants in the family. “How are your brothers and sisters?”
He’d talked about them too. He came from a big family, the eldest, with two brothers and two sisters younger than him. “They’re good. My mother is happy to have many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
“And what about your kids? Tell me about them.” She wanted to know everything.
“Christos works in Athens, a software engineer, married, two children. He did not want to come into the family business. Thea has moved to France with her husband. She has three children. But Niko has stayed with me at the company.” He grinned widely. “And Juliana, my youngest, attends Athens University, a business degree.” His eyes shone bright with love. “She says she will run the business when I no longer want to.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“Enough of me,” Xandros said. “I want to know more about you. You have a daughter.”
“And a son. Matthew. He works for his father. They’re all financial advisors and managers.” It was the easiest way to describe Donald’s investment house.
“And your daughter works for him also?”
She ran her finger through the last bits of pastry on her plate, licked it off. “She works for another company. She’s very independent and wanted to prove she could make it on her own without needing her father’s help.”
“Your son didn’t feel that way?”
She didn’t want to get into her family’s power struggles. “It’s different for a son. They have less to prove.”
At that, he laughed. “Just like my youngest, Juliana. She would like to think she can do everything better than her brothers. And truly, she’s right.” He leaned close, his voice intimate. “And what of you? Did you become the teacher you wanted to be?”
She sighed. She’d been pregnant with Sienna when she got home. There was no chance for a career. But she’d never been as career-oriented as Sienna. “I had Sienna fairly quickly.” She glossed over the details. “Matthew was born two years later. I stayed home to take care of the children. But I don’t miss having a career,” she added.
Then he asked, which she should have known he would, “With the children having their own lives now, what do you do?”
The real answer was not much. She’d accomplished nothing major in her life. But she didn’t want to sound pathetic. “I’m an avid hiker, and I belong to a hiking group. I do volunteer work as well.” She smiled, thinking of Mama. “My mother was always involved with good works. She could never stand to be idle, and she taught me that.”
His smile was soft. “I remember that about you. You always wanted to be doing something. ‘Where shall we go today, Xandros, where shall we go?’”
She was pleased he imitated her so fondly.
He patted her hand. “Let us do something together, Angelika, since your daughter is away with her friends.”
She was surprised, even shocked, but so pleased. “I don’t have any plans.”
“Then let’s have fun like the old days.”
There was a look in his eye, a spark, saying that he’d thought of all the things they used to do. Especially in bed.
