Page 43 of Footprints in the Sand
Still on the porch, Dimitra dialed Eva’s number and pressed her phone to her ear, listening as it rang out across the Atlantic. It was difficult to imagine what Eva was up to. Maybe she was with Nico, kissing on his sailboat or swimming in the middle of the sea. Or perhaps she was with Aphrodite, painting her fingernails and complaining about Finn. Or maybe she was with Athena, Dimitra’s sister, eating food as Athena complained about Dimitra’s recklessness, saying she needed to come home.
How Dimitra missed her sister. How she didn’t miss her sister’s nagging.
But regardless of where she was, Eva didn’t answer the phone. Dimitra’s heart sank.
“I’m sure she’s just enjoying her life,” Harry said. “She’s a young woman who just lost a one hundred and seventy-pound sack of uselessness.”
“Are you referring to Finn?” Dimitra said, cackling.
“I was a one hundred and ninety-pound sack of uselessness when my wife and I divorced,” Harry admitted.
Dimitra waved her hand, remembering their true topic of conversation. “I’m sorry we got sidetracked.”
“No, it’s okay. It takes me back to all the mistakes I made in my life. It makes me grateful that I found my way through them,” Harry said, taking a sip of wine.
Dimitra was amazed at his honesty, his openheartedness.
She decided to be a little more open about her own situation.
It was a memory she hadn’t thought about in years.
“At one time in my marriage to Kostos, we were really struggling with money,” Dimitra began. “I was working every odd job I could find at the grocery store, at the harbor, at the gift shop. I was miserable, but I was trying to make it work. But Kostos was impatient. Without asking me first, he requested to borrow a substantial amount of money from my father. It was significantly more money than you should ever ask from anyone, including, or maybe especially, family. I found out because my sister told me, not because my parents did. I think everyone was too embarrassed to say. In any case, it nearly destroyed my marriage. Kostos and I fought about it almost nonstop. I moved in with Athena for a while, and I looked into divorce proceedings. But then, all at once, my father called me to tell me that Kostos had paid him back in full. Just like that.” Dimitra snapped her fingers.
Harry looked mystified. “How did he do it?”
“I have no idea,” Dimitra admitted. “But that night, he picked me up from my sister’s place and took me to a fancy dinner andtold me everything would be okay after that. I wanted to believe him so badly, so I made myself believe.”
“Was everything okay?” Harry asked.
Dimitra’s heart pounded. “I think so. Mostly. Until three years later, when he went fishing and never came home.”
Harry reached across the table and touched her hand. Dimitra couldn’t believe she’d just revealed so much of herself to this stranger. She felt closer to him than she had to another human since Kostos’s death. She felt closer to him than she’d felt to herself, as of late, if only because she found it so challenging to be honest with herself.
Chapter Twenty
Naxos Island - July 2025
By the time the taxi pulled up in front of the hotel in downtown Naxos, Eva was crying tears of relief. She paid the driver what he was owed and thanked him in both Greek and English, then climbed out onto the stone walkway and hurried into the hotel. The woman at the front desk greeted her in Greek, then asked immediately in English, “Are you all right?” Eva told her she was fine and hurried upstairs.
Outside of Jean-Paul’s door, she paused for a moment, wondering if she should tell Jean-Paul what happened. But at her core, she felt foolish and silly, and she really didn’t want to tell Jean-Paul that she’d kissed Nico. Her excuse of “I actually wanted to kiss you, but I didn’t think you were interested” felt pretty weak in this case. She also didn’t want Jean-Paul to think of her as a silly little girl. He was her employer, for goodness’ sake.
That night, Eva slept fitfully. When she woke up at six thirty, she forced herself through a yoga workout, drank somecoffee, and went downstairs to prepare for a full day of all things marble. By the time Jean-Paul sat beside her with his own coffee, she was immersed in social media strategy, working for both Jean-Paul and Dimitra, doing her best to make their careers shine. She showed Jean-Paul a few reels she’d made and smiled when he said, “I don’t know what that is, but it looks pretty cool.”
That night, after a tireless day of selling marble sculptures and arranging Jean-Paul’s creative life, Jean-Paul invited Eva out for a thank-you dinner. They ate moussaka, watched the sunset, and walked along the edge of town, watching tourists as they ate ice cream cones, held hands, and kissed. Maybe because Eva felt so out of sorts after last night, she heard herself ask Jean-Paul, “Have you ever been in a relationship?”
Jean-Paul was thoughtful as ever. His answering nod wasn’t a surprise. But then he continued, “If I ever have another relationship, I need it to be soft and compassionate and empathetic. I need it to have its own language. Does that make sense?”
Eva said she thought he understood what he meant.
“You don’t want to have to explain everything,” she offered.
“I need someone to understand me to my core,” he agreed. “And I want to be able to understand them.”
Eva stopped walking and gazed at the horizon. “What if your partner doesn’t understand themselves?”
At this point, she knew she was plainly talking about herself. She guessed Jean-Paul got that, too.
Jean-Paul tucked a curl behind her ear. It felt like the most romantic gesture Eva had ever experienced in her life. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
