Page 59 of Memories of Santorini

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Sienna loved the feel of Carter Ellis between her legs. She loved the feel of her arms wrapped around his waist as they flew along the road to Oia.

She found it strange the way her feelings for him had changed so quickly. As they’d all gathered round the mopeds discussing what they would do next—cliff-jumping in Amoudi Bay below Oia—she’d feasted on the angles of his face, the timber of his voice, and the animation on his features. They’d talked about walking down to the bay, but the others didn’t want another set of stairs, even though Carter had insisted they’d be going down from Oia Castle. Irene had chimed in with the old saying, what goes down must come up, though maybe it was the other way round. Carter had given in, agreeing to ride the mopeds and pray for parking, his beautiful, amazing smile making things tingle in Sienna’s belly. It made her want to touch him, even if only to cup his cheek as he smiled at her.

She felt sixteen again, watching Dylan Becker, how his body moved, how his eyes lit up when he smiled, how his gaze shifted to her, then flitted away again. She’d been obsessed with Dylan Becker, but she hadn’t liked him at first, just the way she’d doubted Carter’s authenticity. Dylan had been the football star, a senior, so full of himself that he believed he could get any girl he wanted. With those first glances thrown her way, she was sure he thought she’d fall adoringly at his feet. But after being allowed into his select group, invited by girls who didn’t think she was a threat, she began to see Dylan in a different light. The day he’d saved a pimply kid whose name she couldn’t remember, her opinion changed as quickly as it had with Carter. When Dylan found the boy circled by a gang of bullies, he’d stepped in, telling them all to get the hell away, and he’d walked the kid to his locker to get his books. No one had bothered the boy after that.

And Sienna had fallen in love with Dylan Becker.

It hadn’t ended well. Her mom had gotten her dad to agree she was too young to date a senior, and they wouldn’t allow her to go to the prom. Dylan had taken someone else, and that was that. The other girl became his girlfriend.

She tightened her grip around Carter’s waist as they made a turn, and he patted her hand as if he thought she was afraid. But she was thinking how similar the incident had been to what her father had done with Mr. Smithfield, deciding something wasn’t right for her and acting on that decision. Back then, he’d blamed her mother. Your mother says… He’d used that phrase so often. But now she questioned whether her mother had been the one to say she couldn’t go. Or had Dad used her as a scapegoat, making her the bad guy so Sienna wouldn’t blame him?

She wondered what he would say about Carter Ellis. She could already hear it, the same thoughts she’d had, realizing now that they came from her father’s mouth. Carter didn’t work as hard as he should; he shouldn’t take a three-week vacation in Santorini; his father was setting a bad example by ending his work day in time for dinner. They were slackers. They were posers.

She saw now that her father’s modus operandi was sabotage, and she knew in her belly, maybe even in her heart, none of that was true. Carter deserved his vacation. And being with family should come first.

She wanted to enjoy the flirtation for what it was, a holiday romance. She’d be going home in a week and a half, and it would all end. But what fun it was for now.

Carter guided the moped down the road to Amoudi Bay. They were lucky to find a couple of parking spaces that accommodated all the scooters.

They’d all worn swimsuits under their shorts and brought towels in case they wanted to jump into the sea along the way. Now they stripped down.

Self-conscious in her bikini, Sienna wrapped her towel around her. She’d taken off her shoes and bought a pair of water sandals at a nearby stall, and now they trooped past fishing boats in the harbor and restaurants packed with sunburned tourists. The cliffs rose above them, stabilized by red brick walls that had crumbled in places. Heading along a pathway beyond the harbor, they rounded a corner, the cafés and shops disappearing behind them. The path turned to a dirt trail at the base of the cliffs, their feet kicking up red dust motes. The trail ended at a small outcropping covered with towels, shirts, and shoes tossed down haphazardly.

Carter jutted his chin. “You can’t see it back there from the harbor, but that big rock is where we’ll jump off.”

The rock loomed out of the water, and the only way to get to it was to swim. Heads bobbed on the surface beneath a small plateau, and the swimmers shouted and waved, laughing as a teenage girl took a running jump off the cliff and cannonballed into the water. Terror rose in Sienna’s throat, choking her, until the girl’s head popped above the surface, and she high-fived another swimmer.

Honestly, it didn’t look all that bad. It wasn’t as if they’d be jumping from the cliffs of Oia. That would be insane. This was doable, maybe twenty feet. It was the rocks below that worried her more. What if she didn’t jump out far enough to miss them?

She kept her water shoes on, and the others were halfway across when Carter took her hand, helping her down. “This’ll be great. I promise,” he said, as if he saw the fear in her eyes and felt the tenseness of her muscles. But if Alyssa, Irene, and Tamryn could do it, she sure as heck would.

Climbing down, she immersed herself in the blue water. The swim was refreshing after the warmth of the sun. Carter stayed abreast of her even though he could have sprinted ahead. Reaching the rock, they hauled themselves up after the others, and she sluiced water out of her eyes. Carter held out his hand as they crossed the concrete landing to a set of wide stone steps she hadn’t seen from the shore.

At the top of the short flight, she marveled at the smallest church she’d ever seen nestled into the rock. It had a door, so people must be able to get inside. Did they have to crouch? Rounding the church, they came upon the plateau from which the teenage girl had jumped.

A short line of people waited their turn, with Carter’s group gathered at the end. An old lady stood on the precipice, catcalls rising from the sea below. Or maybe they were just cries of encouragement to Grandma. It struck Sienna that though she’d called the woman old, she was only her mother’s age. Was fifty-something really that old? The woman turned, walking back several paces, then took off at a run, jumping far out. The sound of her splash accompanied cheers rising up from sea level.

Carter held her hand. “Looks like a blast, don’t you think?” He gazed at her as if he was her cheering section. She wasn’t afraid, at least not much. She could do this. So what if she wasn’t a risk taker. This couldn’t be that much of a risk. Could it?

There were kids and teenagers and older couples holding hands. When it was their turn, Reed went first. He’d been on the university diving team, and he effortlessly arced through the air. Irene made a running jump and squealed as she went over the edge, then popped up in the water. Everyone below cheered as if they knew her. Bill went next, then Alyssa, followed by Jamal, who burst out of the water laughing and fist-bumping the others. Finally, only Tamryn, Sienna, and Carter remained.

Tamryn turned to Carter. “Sweetie, I can’t do it,” she cried, hands over her mouth.

A man in line behind them called out, “Just grab her up and throw her off! She’ll love it.”

But Tamryn looked as if she might burst into tears. “Carter, I can’t.”

Something in her voice made Sienna look harder at the glint in her eyes. Was she playing Carter?

He called back to the man. “You come and throw her. I’m afraid.”

Amid their jeers and laughter, Tamryn’s expression morphed into angry lines. She flipped the guy off, then ran to the edge and jumped.

Carter didn’t seem to care. “She’s a drama queen,” he said good-naturedly. “But she’s damn good at marketing, and she amuses me.”

Sienna found Tamryn irritating, but here was another thing she liked about Carter. Other people’s nonsense didn’t get to him. He never seemed to have a bad mood. He was kind to her mother, always including her. It brought back that day with Dylan and the bullies. Carter would save a kid from a bully without blinking an eye. Then he’d make that kid his friend.

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