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“You better, son. This is Texas after all, so you know my gun collection isn’t just for show.”
“Enough, Dad. You’ve made your point. Let’s go, Quaid, before he gets carried away and shows you his shotgun. Again.”
Quaid’s eyes bug out, and I laugh at his unjustified fear.
My father is a teddy bear of epic proportions and wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone Quaid, who he loves like a son. I’m about to say as much, when Quaid opens the door for me, a limo in my driveway to chauffeur us to the dance stunning me speechless.
“You went all out, huh?” I ask, impressed.
“It’s not going all out if I’m just giving you what you deserve,” he says, his green eyes softening.
“I hope that’s true, kid. Because my baby girl deserves everything her heart desires,” Dad adds behind us, and I feel Quaid’s body stiffen at my side, dampening his mood further.
Tonight was supposed to be a solid beginning for both of us, but somehow, I feel we just took two steps back.
The worst part is I don’t know how to move us forward, or how to ease Quaid’s doubts when I have so many of my own.
Chapter 7
Now
_____________________________________
Valentina
I’ve never been anywhere this beautiful. All of the places we’ve visited so far have been special, awe-inspiring really. But this place. This place makes you want to weep because you’ve gotten the chance to see it. Surely God must be real if a place like this exists in the world.
Or at least I want to believe that. I want to believe that everything around me isn’t just a random thing pieced together from rocks impacting millions of years ago.
I want to believe that so I have hope in the few short weeks ahead of me.
The breeze coming off the ocean brushes across my face, sending tendrils dancing in the wind.
The waiter comes by, filling our glasses with a smile. The meal is served family-style. I’d done careful research on what restaurants to visit, and the reviews haven’t done me wrong. Everything is amazing. I’ve always loved Greek food, but obviously, everything I’d had before this was a pale imitation of what Greek food was supposed to taste like.
“I think we should move here,” Carter says almost giddily. Something that’s so uncharacteristic of him that the three of us all stop to stare at him.
Carter’s cheeks are a bit flushed. The wine must have hit him fast.
“Do you know that I’ve been to one hundred and sixty countries, but I’ve never been to Greece,” he continues, lifting his glass. “I fucking love this place,” he says as he does a toast by himself.
Quaid and Logan are about to fall out of their chairs with how hard they’re both laughing at him. I for one, feel like I’m watching something magical happen right in front of me. I almost expect a Grecian god or goddess to burst out of a corner and tell me they’ve cast some kind of spell.
Carter’s happy. Not just happy, he’s carefree.
I don’t think Carter’s ever acted carefree in his entire life. He’s always carried the ghosts of his past with him.
“I love you guys,” he continues, taking another heavy gulp of his wine.
Seeing him like this makes me wonder who Carter would have been if not for his past. Would he have been funnier than Quaid? More charming than Logan? Or would he have always been more prone to melancholy?
With enough love and encouragement, who would Carter be in the future?
I wish I was able to find out.
Today has been picture perfect. From the moment we got off the ferry at the port of Athiniós and ventured onto the island, we’ve been exploring. One of the first places we went was the Akrotíri Archaeological Site. Like its more famous counterpart, Pompeii, Akrotíri was buried by lava in the sixteenth century. Unlike Pompeii, there have been no skeletons found at the site. Our tour guide told us how scientists speculated that the inhabitants had some kind of warning before the explosion and had been able to get away. It was eerie seeing the furniture upturned and plates still at the table, like they’d gotten the warning while they were sitting together at a meal. Everything was so perfectly preserved.
I wish moments could be like that, perfectly preserved in time. That’s why Carter has always loved photographs—he thought they were snapshots in time. But I wish there was a way to experience more. Like right now, when the air is the perfect temperature, when the wine tastes better than any I’ve ever tasted, when the music is playing at the perfect sound level…when I’ve never felt more in love.
