Page 18 of Fresh Start
It had been meditation and willpower that had made me persevere and come out the other end relatively unscathed. And despite the filthy lies my bandmates had decided to put out there, I’d come out the bigger man. Or so I hoped anyway.
I had to remind myself I was so close to my dream I could almost taste it, and no one and nothing would get in my way. I’d been waiting for this opportunity my entire life.
I spent some more time in bed trying to get the events of the morning out of my head. If I was going to ignore Dawson and the ghosts of the past he invoked, I had to get out of here.
Not that I needed much of an excuse. Today was day one of the Butterfly Festival. And there were events a-plenty to distract me. I had so much mending to do now that I was back home.
I reached for the festival brochure on my bedside table and leafed through it. The easiest to bond with was definitely going to be Summer.
She was too young to know what a shit brother and son I’d been to my family. Besides, she had shown an interest in spending time with me, and considering she was one of three Karagiannis family members that wanted the privilege of my company, it put her on top of my list.
Melody was too preoccupied with her B&B, and grandma always kept busy cooking for the festival. There was plenty of time to see them all.
After a shower and a change of clothes, I left Mel’s place and walked up to my family home. I’d found the perfect event to take Summer to, and it was starting in an hour, so we had enough time to grab some brunch on the way and get to know each other better.
When I rang the bell, I expected Yaya to answer it, but instead, it was Andy.
“Hey, bro,” I said and punched his chest gently.
He wasn’t amused.
“What?” he said.
“Oh, come on, Andy. You can’t stay mad at me forever. We both know you’re going to forgive me and we’ll hug it out eventually, so why not save us both the trouble and start already?” I said.
He scoffed. “That’s very presumptuous of you.”
“Fancy word. Did Lucy teach it to you?”
Again, he didn’t laugh. So, humor wasn’t working. Crap.
“You know, most Greek families just let the hatred simmer under the surface and put up a fake smile,” I said.
“We’re not most Greek families,” was all he managed, and I shut one eye thinking he was going to slam the door in my face.
He didn’t. Which was a good sign.
“What do you want, Leo? I’m busy,” he asked.
“Is Summer here? She wanted to spend some time together at the festival, and there’s a painting class—”
“Why would I let my daughter out with you?” Andy asked.
This macho masculinity he was oozing was getting on my nerves, but I did my best not to let it show. I couldn’t afford to piss him off any further.
“Because I’m her uncle, and I love her very much,” I said in a very cold manner to match his.
“She doesn’t even know you,” he said.
“But you do,” I said and again tried to punch his chest, but it didn’t do anything to ease the tension.
“Do I? Really? As far as I know, my little brother left us all behind to chase his big dream. Hell, he even changed his name because he hated us so much,” Andy said.
“That’s not why, Andy. Come on. Karagiannis is a long ass name for an artist,” I said.
I knew Yaya didn’t like that I’d changed it to Karras when I moved to London, but it had never been a subject of conversation before.
“Zach Galifianakis didn’t think his name was too long,” he said.
