Chapter 13
T WO HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX dollars!
Oh my God, had she really been able to write 256 articles in such a short span of time? Mairi couldn’t help making a face at the thought. Considering she had also lost about five pounds in the same period of time, maybe it wasn’t too surprising. She had worked backbreaking hours for those articles, but it was all worth it.
Tomorrow was their first month anniversary. Did he realize that? Probably not , she thought glumly. There was noise all around her as she walked further into the city’s central market, which had a thriving and bustling atmosphere. And since it was morning, the busiest time of the day, the area was also crowded, requiring Mairi to squeeze her way into the alleys that led to the fish section.
Fish vendors were typically the noisiest, and Mairi had to smile at the way the vendors good-naturedly attempted to out-market each other with their claims. Her boots squished with each step she took. Wearing boots to the fish market was a lesson she had learned from her first visit. Then, she had worn flip-flops – a decision that ended with Mairi submerging her feet in water mixed with rose oil for a few hours. It had been that dirty and smelled even worse.
“Mairi, over here!”
She smiled in greeting as she hurried towards Phil – short for Philemon. He was waving at her exuberantly, his fisherman’s hat in his hand. He was white-haired and burly, with a smiling weathered face. He could be anywhere between fifty and a hundred, but he moved about like he was in his thirties. Eating several kilos of olives sure had its perks , Mairi thought with a secret smile.
“ Kalimera ,” she greeted him good morning cheerfully, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she did. It was an exceptionally hot morning, and with the nonstop flow of people, she was ruefully aware of how much she was sweating under her knee-length cotton rompers.
He immediately grabbed her hand and gave it a brisk and enthusiastic shake. She shook his back, not losing her smile even though she knew it meant having her hand smell like a dozen different types of fish after.
“The package arrived as scheduled. Are you ready to see it?” he asked with a grin as he released her hand.
Mairi forgot all about her now-greasy and smelly hand. “Totally!”
He waved for her to walk inside his booth as he walked towards the end and opened one of the crates. “Here they are!”
A few hundred of doctor fish were swimming lazily inside the crate, their tiny black bodies making Mairi almost swoon in delight. Oh my God, Phil had really done it! “They’re really from Turkey?” she breathed.
“They are indeed.” Phil crossed his fingers behind his back. The nice little girl meant Turkey – the country – while he meant Turkey, the name of the pet shop in a neighboring town, but it was really all the same. And sure, these were truly not doctor fish or garra rufa, but that should not be a problem either. These black ones were practically the same.
“And the aquarium?”
“Bought it as well.” He was eager to show this one off since he had truly bought this one, having generously decided that he would not cheat Mairi twice for the same deal – something he normally did for most other customers.
Waving at her to check out another crate, he took off the old tarpaulin cover and presented his purchase with flourish. “It is beautiful, ne?”
Mairi’s jaw dropped.
There was no denying that the aquarium was indeed brand new, with not even the tiniest scratch marring its glass walls. But the top two inches of the walls were also painted with pink... breasts and blue... nipples? She rubbed her eyes before taking a closer look at it, hoping she just hadn’t seen it right. Maybe they were like pink cupcakes with blue icing——
Her heart sank.
Nope. They were what they were, giving new meaning to “aquarium porn”. Where in heavens had he bought this?
“It is nice, isn’t it?” he boasted. Phil was extremely proud of the deal he had made. It was just his luck to bump into Lazaro, who owned the stripper club a few blocks away from his home. Lazaro had been telling him about the aquarium he had custom-designed for customers to pay to peek into live boobs – it had been a very strange story, the mechanics of which were lost on Phil. But none of it mattered anyway. All he had heard was that the aquarium was new and unlikely to be used because none of Lazaro’s girls had wanted to be a part of it.
“How much are you selling it for?” he had asked.
“I’m throwing it away. I don’t want my wife to know that I spent a hundred dollars on it for nothing!”
The memory had Phil smiling fondly. All in all, a good day’s work.
He looked at Mairi expectantly. “You like it?”
“Umm, yes.” She didn’t have the heart to tell him she hated it. Maybe, maybe she could get rid of it somehow.
“Good. I knew you would. Maybe you can give me a tip,” he added.
Mairi had a silly urge to laugh. Old Phil would probably be shocked if he found out that the $256 in her pocket was all the money she had in the world. She would never touch her savings account – if she withdrew from it, her aunts would find out and start asking questions. It was better that they kept on thinking she was having a fabulous time working as an English interpreter.
“I’ll give you a tip,” she promised.
By the time she had loaded the crates in Damen’s car – a top-of-the-line Benz that she had deliberately chosen because it was the least expensive model and least likely to draw attention – she was down to $63 dollars.
Just enough to buy a bouquet of roses and a greeting card, Mairi thought in satisfaction as she leaned back against the seat.
Giddy at the thought of what Damen would think of having his own fish spa at home – something she proudly considered a unique gift that no other former girlfriend of his would have thought of giving him – Mairi took her phone out and called Damen at his office.
“Leventis.” His voice was clipped.
Her smile faltered on her lips. “Hey. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
Damen slowly leaned back in his seat. “No. Of course not.”
It was impossible to read his mood when he spoke like that. She said hesitantly, “You’re sure?”
Her uncertainty got to him and he said in a gentler tone, “I will always be free to talk to you.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” She let out a nervous giggle. God, she was giggling too much these days, it was getting humiliating.
“What do you want to talk about then?”
“Umm...I’m wondering if you could come home early tomorrow – like seven-ish in the evening?” Knowing he was likely to ask why, she hurriedly told him, “I just want to have dinner with you...if you have time.”
“Then I will come home at exactly seven.” He paused. And then Damen heard himself lying, “I might not be able to come home tonight though.”
Her heart stopped beating at his words. This was his first time not to come home to her. Could it have something to do with his meeting with Alina Kokinos? She wished she had the courage to ask it, but she was scared of looking like a jealous, nagging insecure girlfriend.
Swallowing convulsively, she said, “I’ll miss you.”
“I will miss you, too.”
Unbidden, their early morning conversation returned to her. It had sounded exactly like this, like she was saying the words with desperation and he was returning the words mechanically.
They spoke for a few more moments, but the earlier intimacy, brief as it was, had been dispelled and they were both stiff with each other by the time Damen excused himself to talk with another investor.
She wiped the tears from her eyes. She really did love him, really did miss her Greek billionaire, but she didn’t think she could take more of this. Before she knew it, she was sending a chat message to her aunts.
Vilma: Good of you to remember you still have aunts.
Mairi: It won’t work, Aunt Vilma. I know you’re just being cranky because you miss me.
Norah: When can we fly there?
Mairi: Not until I’m convinced that you two would behave yourselves around Damen.
Vilma: How dare you? I admit that both Norah and I find Greek billionaires irresistible, but we draw the line at seducing one who belongs to our niece.
Mairi giggled again, imagining how her two aunts would no doubt have Damen uncomfortable in seconds. They had told her that she better have Damen prepared when they finally flew in for a visit. Nothing would stop them from asking the burning questions in their minds, accumulated over the decades they had spent devouring Mills and Boon paperbacks.
Norah: Have you asked him yet?
She shook her head at the question. Norah had wanted her to ask Damen the percentage of Greek billionaires with and without chest hair. Like heck she’d ask something like that!
Mairi: NEVER. And you mustn’t ask him that either!
Vilma: What about mine? Did you ask him?
Aunt Vilma’s question was just as bad. She wanted to know the average age with which Greek billionaires lost their virginity. Seriously!
Mairi: I love you, Aunt Vilma, Aunt Norah.
Norah: We love you even more.
Vilma: We love you ALWAYS.
****
H ALF AN OCEAN AWAY , Norah and Vilma exchanged looks with each other. They had been enjoying an early breakfast in the kitchen. It was five in the morning and the sun was barely out in the sky. All in all, it was definitely too early for her heart to be broken like this , Norah thought.
“She’s hurting.”
“I know.”
“We must do something,” Vilma insisted.
“Not yet. She’s not a little girl anymore. We need to let her learn from her own mistakes.”
Vilma knew her sister’s words made sense, but it went against everything she believed in to simply stand aside and allow Mairi to be hurt. And she would be hurt, in a way that terrified Vilma.
“Were we so wrong?” Vilma whispered. “It had seemed so harmless at the beginning, letting her dream about stupid Greek billionaires.”
Norah reminded her gently, “You didn’t think they were so stupid before.”
“Yeah, so color me stupid, too.”
Glancing down at her phone, Norah’s heart became heavier. She said quietly, “It can’t ever be wrong to let someone dream.” It was just a sad reality of the world that most people found joy in destroying another person’s dream.
Stay strong, Mairi, Norah whispered in her heart. Please God, let her be strong enough to love and dream even when she was alone.