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Summer’s mind went completely blank. No one outside her course could relate to it and while her sisters loved her greatly and made obliging sounds and supportive gestures, they didn’t knowwhyit was important to her. It was something she’d never really told a soul. But the way that Theron was looking at her...expectant and...and...as if he were challenging her not to disappoint.
‘I never knew my father.’ His eyes flashed for a second, as if surprised at the direction of the conversation. ‘It...it made me feel less...tethered. As if I wasn’t quite sure of the ground beneath my feet. I have a wonderful mother and two incredible sisters, but there was something about having half of my history, my identity, hidden that made me need to know that everything around me is...’
‘Safe,’ he finished for her.
‘Yes.’
He nodded. And for just a second she thought he understood. That he knew that feeling too.
‘What you do is important,’ he stated and the ferocity shining in his eyes painted her skin in sparkles, the assurance of his words vibrated in her chest, making her feel glorious. But then he blinked and it was too late to ask him about the hurt she had seen beneath the burn in his eyes. He had covered it so quickly, if she hadn’t been so used to observing and recording she might have missed it. ‘Everyone in Greece knows that.’
She linked his two statements and made the connection. ‘Of course. Your earthquakes here are—’
‘Almost daily.’ He seemed dismissive.
Summer nodded, feeling a little less shiny. She had waited so long to find someone who was impressed by what she did, but when it had happened, when Theron had said those things, all she’d wanted was for him to be impressed byher.
She leaned back in her chair, trying to shift away from the gravitational field that seemed to pull her to him. She took off the straw’s paper wrapping and plunged it into the coffee the vendor had assured her she’d like. The moment the cool, sweet, creamy coffee exploded on her tongue she couldn’t help but moan. In her peripheral vision she saw Theron’s jaw clench and pulse. Perhaps he believed that iced coffee was for children, she thought, but she didn’t care. It was delightful.
He checked a watch that could only be described as obscenely expensive and glanced at her quickly, as if checking it was safe to do so. ‘You’ve eaten?’
The question caught her as slightly strange. As if he didn’t quite care, but wanted to make sure that she was looking after herself. She was tempted to lie, but found herself shaking her head when he returned his eyes to hers.
Then a gaze that had been distracted, as if he’d been at war with something in his thoughts, cleared and the creases at his eyes softened. ‘Would you have dinner with me?’
Her mind skittered to a halt, quickly running over the last few moments. She might not be well versed in dating, but had he intended ‘You’ve eaten?’ to be an invitation? She couldn’t help but smile a little at the discomfort he was hiding fairly well as she kept him waiting. A hundred reasons to refuse ran through her mind against the one that connected him to Kyros. But that wasn’t the reason she placed her hand in his.
It was a little awkward at first as they made their way out of the square, past cafés and bars, weaving between pedestrians, but after a few minutes it eased and became comfortable. And then comfortable became something warmer, softer...something intangible that Summer couldn’t explain or quantify, but could most definitelyfeel. She smiled and when she turned to see him casting a glance her way, the hint of something soft curling the corner of his lip, she felt it in her chest. A thud. A beat. A pulse.
When he asked, she explained a little about her family, what it was like to grow up in the New Forest, focusing on her siblings rather than her mother. The ache in her chest from the hurt and confusion over her mother’s lies a bruise she gently protected. Theron was now talking about the way the different areas in Athens had changed over the years, and she wondered what he would think if she told him about Kyros. Her conscience stirred, warned her that by not telling him the truth, not telling him why she was there, she was lying to him. But, for the first time in her life, Summer ignored the rationality of her mind and followed the beat of her heart.
The sun was low in the sky by the time she saw the first glimmering shimmer of the sea. And soon they were walking along a pathway that bordered the thin strip of sand between them and the sea, towards a small white-fronted building with blue and white checked tablecloths.
‘Is this where you bring all the girls?’ she asked, forcing her tone to be light, but genuinely curious.
‘No, I’ve never brought a woman here,’ he said, looking as surprised by the answer as she was.
He was greeted like royalty by the staff and customers, who he waved off good-naturedly, and eventually they were led to an outdoor area where lines of fairy lights created an illuminated canopy above. She sat in the chair that Theron had pulled out for her and, before she could even take a breath, a carafe of wine had been placed beside large glasses of iced water. The waiter said something to Theron in Greek before leaving.
‘You’re hungry,’ Theron determined.
‘Starving,’ she confessed. And within minutes nearly ten different plates had filled the table. Some she recognised, some she didn’t, all smelling absolutely divine. Not knowing where to start, she followed Theron as, plate by plate, he dipped some of the gorgeous warm pitta into each dish.
He hardly ate a thing, while Summer seemed to taste and test everything, returning to ones that she liked in order but leaving her favourite until last—the one that made her eyes drift closed and her shoulders lower as if finally relaxing.
All afternoon he’d known that he should put her in a taxi and send her back to her hotel. But then she’d say something to make him laugh and he honestly couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. Or she’d ask a question and the next thing he knew it was an hour later. Or she’d look at him in a way that convinced him she was the most innocent person he’d ever met. Everything was there on her face, each new delight, concern, question, joy, desire...
‘Thank you,’ she said, putting the fork down, her gaze low and her smile small but satisfied. ‘So, why here?’ she asked.
‘The food is the best in Athens,’ Theron said, speaking God’s honest truth. It was also about two miles from the orphanage he’d grown up in and would probably still be leaving out food for the kids had he and Kyros not funded a soup kitchen two corners over eight years ago.
‘You must have been coming here a long time.’
‘I have,’ he confirmed, watching her look around at the humble restaurant in awe.
He speared some of thextapodi—his favourite dish—and was just about to open his mouth when she asked, ‘Did you come here with your family?’
The sharp sting cut him from head to toe. He hadn’t expected it. He usually didn’t get this far in conversation with anyone, let alone a woman. He blinked to wipe the haze from his eyes, mind and heart. ‘No,’ he said, trying to find his way back to the present. ‘They died when I was five.’
