Authors: Lucy Francis
Bubbles of joy rose inside her, spreading a glow likely
visible a mile away. “I’d love to.”
He returned her smile. “Thanks. It’s black tie, but it’s
generally an enjoyable event.”
Wow, a big deal. That meant shopping. Serious Shopping, with
a capital S, not easy shopping at one of the many cheapish big box options she
favored. Not her favorite activity, mainly because her taste didn’t always
coincide with what stores had to offer, but she’d make the effort. “I’m game.”
“I hoped you would be. Night, Andri.”
Making life decisions set Andri in motion. Saturday morning,
she begged off the waterskiing trip with Rachel and several of her friends so she’d
have time to get her life in order. She made arrangements for a moving company
to ship her belongings from her storage unit in Phoenix to Rachel’s garage,
since she adamantly vetoed the idea of Andri getting a local storage unit. Who
knew where she’d find an apartment she liked, but at least her belongings would
be here and ready to move when she did get a place.
Rachel wasn’t agreeable on the idea of apartment hunting,
either. She didn’t see why Andri couldn’t just go from guest to roommate and
stay with her. Andri craved her own space and tended to get a little stir-crazy
when she didn’t have it. She thought it stemmed from growing up in a
contentious family in an itty-bitty house. There was never room to escape.
Rachel, on the other hand, had grown up in this roomy farmhouse. It was obvious
how much she loved the place, given that she’d bought it from her parents. She
envied her friend’s ridiculously high level of happy, settled, comfortable
living.
She sent emails to contacts, starting her job hunt. Finally,
when she couldn’t find an excuse to put it off any longer, she sat down to call
her mother. The dread weighed her down. She’d strung her mother along since
she’d come to Utah, saying only that she’d be home soon. Time to tell her what
she’d decided to do. She gritted her teeth and tapped Ma’s name in her contact
list.
As soon as she heard Andri’s voice, her mother started
chattering about all the minute details of her life since she’d last talked to
her a couple of days ago. Andri listened, inserting all the right comments
along the way so Ma would know she’d been paying attention.
“What are you doing today, Andromeda?”
Confrontations with Ma were inevitable but no matter how old
she got, she never managed to shake the feeling of being ten years old, curled
in a ball in the corner of her room, trying to shrink down to nothing while her
mother screamed at her. Apprehension clamped around her stomach. Ma wasn’t
going to be happy. “I’ve made some decisions.”
“Oh? Am I going to like them?” Her tone sounded even, but
that was part of the way she tricked everyone. There was no warning, just the
explosion.
“Probably not. I’m staying in Utah. In fact, I need you to
meet the movers at my storage unit with the key on Monday afternoon so they can
collect everything.”
She started muttering in Greek. Oh, that was never good.
“Ma, this is a good thing for me. After things ended with
Peter—”
“Yes, Peter, that reminds me. I heard this morning from his
sister that he’s moving to Boston. You broke his heart and now we lose a strong
member of the community here. It’s terrible!”
Andri held her tongue with monumental effort. Ma would never
understand because she couldn’t explain, not if she wanted to protect Peter.
She’d given up trying to please her mother a long time ago, so it really didn’t
matter if she blamed her for failing to get married. “He’s starting over, and
so am I.”
More muttering. “I should come to you, keep an eye on you.”
“Ugh, Ma, really. I’ll be thirty this year. I’m a big girl.”
“Yes, you are. I know you’re all grown up, believe me. I had
two children old enough to be in school by the time I was thirty, and—”
Andri cut her off before she could fully launch into a
tirade. “Yes, Ma. Even if I wasn’t an adult, and required supervision, I
wouldn’t want to drag you out of Phoenix. I know how much you love it.”
“Yes. This is my home, my favorite place since leaving
Greece. I don’t wish to leave it, but, God knows, children always come first
for a mother.”
The irony dripped off her mother’s words, though she was
oblivious to it. Ma always remembered things differently than she and Dmitri
did. “Ma, no. You don’t need to leave. Please,
Manoula
,
I’ll be fine, I promise. Don’t worry. This will be good for me.”
A long silence made her glance at the phone, to be sure the
call hadn’t disconnected. Finally, her mother sighed. “It’s a good community in
Salt Lake. Very strong. If I had to leave Phoenix, I would choose to come there
to be with our people. Get involved with the community, Andri. You’re too much
like your father. And, by God, promise me you’ll go to church. Maybe the saints
will take pity on you and show you the path to another decent man. Maybe this
time you won’t walk away.”
Her words yanked a vision of Travis into her head.
Definitely not what her mother had in mind for her, unless his family tree had
at least one Greek root in there somewhere. But, no. She’d already made that
decision. Friends only, maybe some benefits on the side, but definitely
friends. “I promise I’ll make it to church, Ma.”
“And look for a husband.”
“Love you, Ma. Gotta run, busy day, lots to do.” Andri
slumped in her chair, dropping the phone on the side table. That had gone well,
much better than she’d expected. Ma had always tended to be temperamental, but
now that she was sober, it was easier to catch her on a good day, when the
muttering and sighing wouldn’t necessarily escalate into screaming and throwing
things. Today, she’d gotten lucky. Maybe that was a sign that she was doing the
right thing.
Her phone chimed as a text came in. She picked it up, a
shiver of delight coursing down her spine as she checked the name on the text.
Travis:
Hey
there. Busy?
She typed a response.
Not really. Any
ideas on a nice apartment complex for me?
A moment later, the phone chimed.
Travis:
Can
recommend a few. Wanna check em out & get dinner?
She grinned.
Yes. Pick me up or should I
meet you?
Travis:
I’m
at home. Be there in a bit.
She sat on the front porch steps, reading email on her phone
until Travis pulled into the driveway. He surprised her by climbing out of the
truck and walking with her to the passenger door, opening it and handing her up
into the truck. His manners were impeccable, even when they were being totally
casual and just friends.
“Is it safe to assume you want to be down in the valley? Or,
up here where the living is great but the commute’s a pain in the ass?” he
asked as they drove toward the canyon interstate.
“If I manage to find work in Park City or Heber, I can
always move, but I think chances are higher I’ll end up somewhere along the
Wasatch Front.”
He glanced at her. “So, centrally located for now.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”
He grinned. “I think I know just the place. Well, a couple
of them in the same general area. Nice, safe, lots of shopping and restaurants
nearby, good freeway access.”
She shifted in her seat to face him. “Perfect. You read my
mind.”
“I try. Need to stop by the office first for a minute, if
that’s okay.”
“Sure.” That could be interesting. She learned a lot about
people from observing their workspace. Their personalities, what they loved, a
lot of their idiosyncrasies showed up on cubicle walls, desks, and computer
desktops.
Travis’s gaze flicked to meet hers, then back to the road.
“How’s your day been?”
“Busy. Let’s see.” She ticked items on her fingers. “I have
movers arriving Tuesday afternoon with my storage unit worth of belongings. Got
the job search underway. And for that added bit of extra excitement, I talked
to my mother.”
His brows lifted and he shot her a curious look. “Sounds
like things are tense there.”
Tense? Oh, yeah. “It’s complicated. I love my mother, I do,
and she can be really wonderful sometimes. But she’s opinionated and a bit on
the volatile side. She’s clinging harder to heritage and tradition the older
she gets, so I’m never sure how she’s going to react to things. Today she was
in a good mood, so I survived telling her I’m staying in Utah.”
He chuckled. “Parents. What are you going to do with them?”
“Exactly. I had to promise I’d get involved with the Greek
community here. We have such a small family in this country that the community
has always been the replacement for cousins. I think she’s afraid all the
ethnicity will drain out of me if I’m not surrounded by people who can pour
more in.”
“Sounds like my dad and his emphasis on family ties. We’ve
had huge gatherings with aunts and uncles and cousins several times a year
since I was a kid, and attendance is mandatory. Good thing I like most of my
cousins.”
“How big are these gatherings?”
“The Miceli side of the family, my mother’s, is fairly
small, but on the Holt side, I have three aunts, four uncles, their spouses,
thirty-six cousins, most of whom are married now. And then there’s the herd of
children, my second-cousins. We’re flirting with twenty of those already, and
it’s just going to get worse as we get older.”
Andri’s mouth dropped. “Are you sure you’re not Greek?
Sounds like our trips to see Ma’s family in Corfu.”
“It’s a madhouse. You’d think the craziness would get to my
dad and he wouldn’t want to host family parties anymore, but I can’t even get
him to slow down at work, let alone unwind on the family thing.” He paused, and
a shadow flickered across his face. “I’m worried about him. He hasn’t felt very
well the last few weeks, but getting him to the doctor is next to impossible.”
That sounded familiar, but she certainly wasn’t going to say
so. No sense inviting trouble. Her father was never fond of going to the
doctor, either, and it had ended badly. She wouldn’t wish that on anyone else.
When they reached the construction company headquarters,
Andri went in with him. The doors opened into a large, airy space, with dark
gray stone floors and pale blue walls accented with gray wood and frosted glass
tiles. A few doors led off the main room, other offices. A couple of white
leather sofas and dark gray chairs offered comfortable seating near a desk.
Large flat-screen monitors hung on two walls, and Andri wondered what they
might display during business hours. Slideshows of properties the company had
built, probably. That’s how she would use them.
The rooms were quiet except for the bluesy music coming from
one of the offices. Travis set the folders in his hands on the desk in the main
room and she followed him to investigate.
A young man at a computer spun around in his seat when they
entered his office. Jet black hair brushed his shoulders and swept down to the
tip of his nose. He absently brushed it back, exposing a fierce black eye and
angry red scrapes across his forehead and cheek.
Travis cursed and crossed the floor, bracing his hands on
either side of the young man’s head, tilting his face up to the light. “Daniel,
what happened?”
Oh, yes. His brother.
He winced when Travis touched his cheekbone. “Got into a fight,
what does it look like?” He shrugged off Travis’s hands and nodded at her. “Hi.
I’m Danny.” His hair was darker, but his eyes were the same deep blue, and they
shared the same high cheekbones and strong jaw. The stark lines of a black
tribal tattoo wound around Danny’s bicep, just visible under the edge of his
gray t-shirt sleeve.
She waved her fingers at him. “Andri.”
Travis crossed his arms over his chest and fixed Danny with
a hard stare. “What were you fighting over?”
Danny’s expression turned mulish. “What does it matter? It
happened. It’s over. You should be happy I’m in here on a Saturday working on
that plan redraw.”
Travis grabbed one of his brother’s hands, looking at the
smooth knuckles. “You weren’t in a fight. You were beaten. What the hell, Dan?”
Andri took a few steps back. This was a conversation between
brothers, something she really shouldn’t be privy to. Feeling distinctly
uncomfortable, she stepped out of the office to give them some measure of
privacy. It didn’t help, she still heard them talking.
“Who did you owe money to?” Travis asked, a thread of
resignation wound through the anger in his voice.
“Just some asshole dealer I used to buy from. I paid him,
but he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t leave him hanging again.”
“How long have you owed him money?”
“It’s old debt, from before rehab this last time. I’m clean,
I swear to God.”
“Danny, you have to be. You can’t do this anymore. You’re
playing with your life.” Desperation tinged his words, and made Andri’s heart
ache, wringing memories from the dark corridors of her mind.
“Zoe, please. You can’t keep doing this.
You’re destroying yourself, you’re hurting the kids.” Her father’s face
contorted with anguish, his hands shaking as he reached for Ma. “God, woman,
you’re breaking my heart.”
Ma stormed over to the fireplace, hurling
her wineglass into the grate, screaming, “There! Are you happy now?” She threw
the empty wine bottle into the fire. “I hate you, Michael! I hate you! I’m
tired of you saying I’m a bad mother because I like a glass of wine!”
And that was always the trouble. One glass of wine was all
she ever held in her hand. But she refused to count how many times she’d filled
that glass.
Andri crossed to the business’s main entrance, not wanting
to hear the rest of the conversation between the brothers. She recalled
Travis’s reaction to her questions about his family that night at the Mexican
restaurant. The pain in his gaze. He was locked in the same battle her father
had waged most of her life. No wonder the hurt in him called to her need to
nurture and soothe. She’d spent her formative years watching the same distress
fester in her father, unable to help.