Authors: Brandie Buckwine
“Lost her how?” she looked up at me, the light back in her eyes.
“I looked all around the port and up and down the waterfront last night, but she disappeared.”
“Did she tell you how long she was staying, or what her plans were?”
“No. Though I did ask her to stay on the boat and come to Rhodes.”
“Ha!”
There it was finally. “Why does it bum you out that I met someone on the boat?”
Ginny gazed down at the flagstone patio and shook her head. “I have a friend…”
“Oh no you don’t.” I couldn’t stay in my seat. Too many times Ginny had done this to me – set me up with some crazy ass friend of hers. It always ended in disaster. I was on my feet, ready to pull my hair out.
“No, really Matt. She’s nice. I know you two would hit it off.” She grasped my hand between her own, pulling me toward her when I wanted to walk – no, run – away. I couldn’t stop my toes from tapping the ground – another force of habit. Ginny sat up straight to face me when I sat back down, my hand still between hers.
“You can’t keep doing this. You know that. Right?”
She shook her head again. “I just want you to be happy, Matt. You’re older than me, and I’ve been married for two years already.”
“Ginny, I
am
happy. We aren’t all using the same game plan, yeah? If and when I’m ready, I’ll find my own someone.”
Her hands dropped to her sides in defeat. “And what about Miss ‘Oh, I’m a hottie on a boat’?”
The dorky smile came to my lips unbidden. “Who knows? Miss hottie on a boat could be the one.”
Niko stepped from behind the door and fly-curtain, his own cup of instant crap steaming in his hands. “Good morning, my love,” he said, planting a loud kiss on my sister’s forehead.
Ginny reached up and ran her hand down his cheek. “Good morning, agapi mou.”
“Matt,” he tipped his head to me.
“Good morning.”
“Matt has just been telling me about a woman he met on the boat last night.”
“Yes? Is she –” Niko cupped his hands away from his chest to indicate breasts and a well built woman.
“Very,” I nodded.
“Ba’ravo.”
“Why bravo?” Ginny asked. “He shouldn’t be hunting trophies.”
“Ti?”
“Never mind. He should be looking for a good woman. Thinking about starting a family.”
“Matt should do what makes him happy, yes?” He held his hand out to me and I shook it.
“That’s right.”
“So, where is she?”
“He lost her.”
“No.” Niko looked as devastated as I felt.
“I did, but I will find her again. It’s a small town, right?”
“A small town, yes, but overrun with tourists. Good luck,” Ginny said, blushing and grabbing Niko’s hand to stop its progress down the front of her dress. I looked away. They may have been married, but I didn’t need to see my brother-in-law feeling up my sister.
“So, does Miss Hottie have a name?” Ginny asked.
When I looked back, their clasped hands sat atop her shoulder. “I would imagine she does.”
“You don’t know her name?” Ginny’s eyes widened.
I shook my head and ignored her incredulous look. Even I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the fact I let her get away before I got a name.
Baby girl
. My heart sped up as the encounter once again flashed through my mind. The taste and feel of her drifted across my senses with the memory, like a ghost. I rose and excused myself before I started my own perverted show – just thinking of her brought my cock to life.
The bathroom, my first impulse, did not appeal. After two sessions last night and again this morning with Mr. Rosy Palm and my imaginary date, I ran the risk of rubbing myself raw, so I headed to the kitchen for another cup of flavored mud, instead. Ginny was about thirty seconds behind me.
“So what should we do today? Do you want to take a bus around the island, or walk up to the monastery? We could hit the beaches if you want.”
I lit the burner under the kettle and waved the match in the air to kill the flame. “No. I don’t need a tour guide. You and Niko have work to do – getting the restaurant ready for the big opening – and I’m here early, so you go about your business. I know this place like the back of my hand.”
“You’d be surprised how much has changed since you were a kid,” she said, dumping a teaspoon of the instant in both our cups. “The town is at least twice as big as it used to be.”
“Then it will be an adventure. Just tell me where the hot spots are so I can track down my hottie.”
“Oh for Pete’s sake, Matt. Who the hell knows where she could be, or what she could have planned? She might even be in a different village.”
“No, I don’t think so. I have a feeling she’s here, somewhere.”
“Well, you’re just wasting your time if you ask me. She might be jumping to another island today.”
“No. She has that funny way of talking – you know, the way Americans who’ve lived overseas too long enunciate carefully, and don’t use much slang. I don’t know if she’s local, but I don’t think she’s far, and I know she’s not a tourist.”
“Come with me instead, and I’ll introduce you to Jennifer. I’m telling you, Matt,” she smacked the edge of the counter with the spoon. “You’ll really like her.”
“Jennifer? Ginny and Jenny?” I cracked up.
“She doesn’t go by Jenny. It’s Jennifer. You might remember her. She moved here when she was thirteen, about three months before we left that first time.”
Ginny now had my undivided attention. “No way. You mean little Jenny… Shit, I can’t remember her last name. Lived over near Dimitri’s café.”
“You do remember! That’s her. But don’t call her Jenny. She hates that.”
I remembered. She and Ginny hung out sometimes, but mostly she just followed me around. I’d be down at the dock, diving with the other boys, and she’d show up, just to watch. She had a huge crush on me, but Jesus, she was only thirteen, and I was sixteen, nearly a man, or so it seemed. Obnoxious little kid, that’s what she was.
“Thanks, but no.” An icy chill went through me, remembering how strange it was. My girlfriend Anna teased me about her constantly and called her my shadow.
“You are so weird. Just because you’re hanging on to some adolescent prejudice, you refuse to even consider one of the coolest women I know.”
“I only go for the un-cool nerds these days.” The kettle began its low whistle and I turned off the gas. Ginny brought the cups over for me to fill.
“You do not,” she nudged me with her shoulder, moving the cup slightly so that I missed and poured the water on my toes.
“Fuck, Ginny!” I slammed the kettle down and danced around, trying to shake the scalding torment. “Son of a bitch, that hurt.”
“Shut up and rub some dirt on it,” Ginny said, suddenly channeling our dad.
I waved my fist at her. “Why I oughta…”
She giggled and finished filling our cups. “Want some aloe?”
“Na. I’ll be fine. When it cools down,” I nodded at the cups, “I’ll rub some of that mud on it.”
~
After a couple of days spent combing the waterfront, the beaches, and the shops of the Agora, I set up base camp at the port café. Anyone spending time on the island had to come through the port eventually. While it wasn’t in the center of town, it was definitely the hub. Buses, taxis, boats – they all came and left from the port.
I wasn’t worried she might no longer be on the island, or even be in another town, because I saw her one day in the Agora. At least, I’m pretty sure it was her. Though she was far ahead of me in the market and disappeared almost immediately, the way she moved, her graceful sidestep away from the vegetable man and his donkey, struck my heart, just as she had on the ship. She faded from view under a pink, bougainvillea covered archway. I ran, but couldn’t overtake her. The shops closed for the afternoon before I finally gave up the search.
My second chance nearly came and went the third day at the café because I was so mesmerized by the setting sun. Sunsets are amazing anywhere, but there’s something about the sun setting over the deep blue of the Aegean Sea, casting colors above the horizon you just can’t find outside of that place in time. I had my camera out, trying to capture the moment to savor months from now when inner peace would be elusive. Just when the purples, pinks, and oranges of the sky met in an explosion of color, I pressed down and heard the shutter click, and the friend walked across the frame. I chased her through the lens until my brain caught up with my vision. I lowered my camera and found her again. She walked alone, my girl nowhere to be seen. After the camera was secured in my backpack, I ran after her.
She was nearly to the Agora when she looked around and saw me. I swear she sped up when she did, but my longer legs quickly caught up.
“Hey,” I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder. “You were on the boat. You and your friend.” The way she regarded me said volumes – surprise mixed with contempt, as though I had somehow injured her.
“Yes,” she turned to face me, looking as though she’d rather spit on me than talk to me. “I came on a boat and I was with someone.”
I forced a smile, hoping to thaw her chilly reception. “Your friend and I spoke for a while on the ship. I’ve been looking for her ever since. Do you know where I can find her?”
She gave me a smug smile. “You don’t even know her name, do you?”
Baby girl
, my mind whispered. “I don’t. We were so busy talking, I forgot to ask.”
“Well, I’m sure if she wanted you to know, she’d have told you. Obviously, she isn’t interested.”
I ignored her icy tone. “How long are you guys staying?”
“That’s none of your business.” She spun on her heel to walk away.
I reached out to her again. “Please, can you just tell me where to find her? If she doesn’t want to talk to me, I won’t bother her.”
“Oh my God,” she said, pulling away. “You are really thick. Now go away and leave me the hell alone.”
I let go, but I followed her the rest of the night, hoping she would lead me to her friend. She didn’t. Not long after she left me in the street, she met a Greek man at a waterfront café. The way their hands travelled over each other’s body and their passionate kisses told me it was unlikely my beautiful, baby girl would be joining them. Still, I followed. Three night clubs filled with drunken dancers and flashing lights later, I shadowed the couple until they disappeared behind one of the many blue doors in the middle of town. The man opened the door and chased her inside, pinching at her ass, and my heart dropped.
This wasn’t where they were staying. I considered waiting for her to leave, but it was two in the morning, and the idea of spending the night crouched on marble stairs seemed unappealing. With my luck, I would have slept through her departure, anyway. I walked the streets back to Ginny’s, despondent and exhausted. Why had the young woman been so angry with me? Had I done something to piss off my dream girl? When she left me standing alone on the ferry, her manner was happy, if regretful. Maybe a little shaken, like me, but not mad at all. If anything, I was the angry one. The way she left me with no way to find her, not even a name to track her down.
~
The next morning, after an early swim, I met Ginny for coffee at the port café. It was surprising how quickly I fell back into habits from my youth spent on the island. Even at sixteen, I recognized the magic and power of the sea in the early hours – while the still of dawn kept the surface smooth like glass, the normal dark blue nearing the color of translucent slate if the sun was low. The power of it was enough to feed my soul for the day, and I needed all the strength I could get. The chase was beginning to drain me.
“So, I thought you said you’d come by the restaurant and help last night,” Ginny said, pulling her straw hat lower to block the sun.
Shit! Following the friend all night wiped my mind of my obligations. She must have seen the panic in my face.
“Don’t worry about it. Jennifer was there and she helped us hang the lights and trim the grapevine in the avli.” Suddenly, I didn’t feel so bad. My absence, apparently, helped me dodge that bullet. I could just imagine spending the evening under Jennifer’s uncomfortable stare once more.
“So where were you?”
“I ran into her friend last night,” I said, aware of my unwarranted grin.
“So you’ve found her? That’s wonderful.” Poor Ginny. She tried to sound happy for me, but I could see the disappointment in her eyes.
“Not exactly.”
Her pep returned. “Has she left?”
I shrugged. “Her friend wouldn’t tell me anything. In fact, she was not very happy to see me.”
“That seems odd.”
“I know, I don’t get it. She wouldn’t even give me their names.”
Ginny grabbed a cigarette and struck a match. “Matt, what exactly happened on the ferry ride?”
I shook my head. “Nothing bad. We kind of just watched each other all day, but when evening rolled around, I got up the nerve to go talk to her. Sort of.”
Ginny raised her eyebrows. “Sort of? What does that mean?”
“Well, we talked about nothing for the most part,” I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table. “We talked about the stars for a bit, and next thing I know, we’re making out, all hot and heavy. If the boat hadn’t arrived when it did, we would have consummated the relationship.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Ew, you made out with a girl you didn’t even know?”
“It’s different for guys,” I said, shrugging and staring at the backs of my hands. “And it was weird, because it felt like I
did
know her, like we were lovers in a prior life or something.”
“No,” she shook her head. “There is no way you, of all people, believe in past lives. I’m the flake in the family. Remember?”
“I know, I know…” I chuckled and sat back in my chair. “I don’t believe in it, except with her, I was so drawn to her, right from the start. I couldn’t have stopped the feelings even if I wanted to.”
Ginny leaned over the table, all ears now. “So it wasn’t just a lust filled encounter? There was more to it than that?” I nodded. “That’s so romantic! You have to find her, Matt.”