Chapter Two #2
Like how he always left her a book when he visited.
It was subtle at first, going back all the way to when they were kids.
Dani used to think he was simply forgetful, often leaving behind a book when he came over.
Then in high school, he’d talk about books he was reading, and whenever she said it sounded interesting or asked the name, he’d give her his copy to borrow.
By the time they were in their twenties, it became unspoken again.
Sometimes he’d show up at a party and hand her a book when saying hello to someone else.
Or he’d leave a book inside the garage door, so it would be waiting for her when she got home.
Like the last time he’d been home before he left on that final fateful trip to Greece.
She hadn’t even seen him that time despite the fact he’d texted a few days before saying there was something he wanted to talk to her about and that he’d be coming to town soon.
That talk never happened. Instead, after a late night at karaoke with Beau, waiting for her in the garage was a first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, her favorite book of all time.
She’d never even gotten the chance to thank him. By the time she found the book and realized he’d stopped by, he was apparently long gone. He wouldn’t even answer her texts.
“So what were those men doing under the palace?” Harold asked, tearing her thoughts from Theo.
Dani grabbed a stuffed grape leaf and popped it in her mouth. “I have no idea, but it didn’t look legit.”
Right then, Cosmo walked up to them, and Dani sat straighter in her chair.
She’d been waiting to hear back since he helped her call the police about the men sneaking around Knossos (though she omitted the part about her climbing over the railing and instead said she’d only seen them emerging from the stairway beneath the palace).
“Have you heard anything?” she asked.
“I just got off the phone with the police. There was no one back at Knossos. The gates are locked for the evening and the attendant checked the area beneath the palace himself,” Cosmo explained, seeming perturbed to have to explain this to her.
“They didn’t find the secret passageway?”
“What secret passageway?” he asked, his gaze narrowing in on her.
Shit. She hadn’t told him about the secret room.
She stabbed another stuffed grape leaf with her fork and waved it around, nonchalantly. “Oh…I…I mean, I assumed there must be something under the palace…lair of the Minotaur and all…otherwise what were they even doing there?” she asked.
Cosmo eyed her skeptically, like he didn’t believe her.
Dani stared at him, willing her face to maintain composure while her mind screamed at her for trying to blow her cover.
Once he finally deemed her innocent, he answered.
“No. They didn’t find anything. Nor did they find any men dressed like burglars. ”
Phew.
“What about the man in the baseball hat?” she asked. “Did they say anything about him?”
“Again, they didn’t see anyone.”
“But you saw him, didn’t you?” She set down her fork and turned in her seat to face Cosmo head on. “The men who were chasing me when I hopped on the bus?” Dani’s voice pleaded.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Dani’s mouth gaped open. How? How could he have missed them? “You saw them, Harold, right?” she asked, turning to him.
He shrugged. “I’m sorry. I was looking at you, remember?”
She couldn’t believe it. No, she wasn’t making things up in her head. He was there. Theo was there.
“Maybe you can ask the rest of the group if they noticed them. Maybe they—” she started, but Cosmo cut her off.
“I’m sorry, miss, but I think you should probably let this go. These people came here for vacation—to get away from their troubles, not to get into some. Besides, it looked like you had fallen, perhaps? You were covered in dirt when you arrived back at the bus. Maybe you hit your head?”
Dani blinked several times before answering. “You think I’m making this up? Did you explain again that it was Theo Galanis?”
Cosmo nodded, his face turning morose. “Yes, they confirmed he’s dead—”
“He’s not dead!” Dani said, slamming her fists on the table and raising her voice loud enough to garner a few stares from guests at other tables.
But, God, she really wished everyone would stop saying that.
“Listen, I understand that you knew him. A lover, perhaps?” Cosmo said, almost sympathetically but with a slight air of disbelief.
“Maybe that’s why you came on this trip, no?
To say goodbye? It’s only natural that your eyes might play tricks on you.
Greece is a mystical place, full of ancient tales and mythologies. ”
“I wasn’t seeing things,” she said, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms.
“I know you may not think that, but with jet lag and the time difference—”
“Okay, thanks, Cosmo. I think I’m good,” she said, waving him off and turning her head away. She didn’t care to hear any more of Cosmo’s pity.
She watched from the corner of her eye until Cosmo finally walked away, leaving her alone with Harold once again. When she turned back to face him, his mouth was twisted, as if trying to assess how to fill the silence.
“I’m sorry I didn’t see them,” he finally said. “My eyesight’s not so good anyway.”
“But you believe me, right?” she asked.
“Sure, I do.”
“And you don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Nah,” Harold said, swatting his hand in front of his chest. “Maybe a little kooky for wanting to hang around an old fart like me, but I know crazy when I see it. Like that Roberta, for instance.”
Dani snickered. Glad she wasn’t the only one who thought so.
But then she sighed. “What if Cosmo was right?” she asked.
“Right about what?”
“About me making him up in my mind because I wanted to see him?”
“Do you?”
“Of course I do. I wish nothing more than that he was still alive.”
“Because you love him?”
Dani shot her gaze to Harold’s. His question threw her off guard. How could he possibly know that? She hadn’t told him about her feelings toward Theo. She’d never told anyone how she truly felt about him. Not even Beau.
“I mean, of course I love him,” she said. “He’s been in my life since I was six years old. He’s practically family.”
“Okay,” Harold said, “if you say so.” He reached across the table and patted her hand.
Dani tilted her head, now full-on staring at Harold. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“My eyesight might not be good anymore, but my hearing is still impeccable,” he said, tapping on his ear.
She eyed him, curiously.
“The way you’ve been talking about him,” he continued. “I’d been in love with my Patty for fifty years. You talk about Theo the same way I do her. You’ve got an airiness to your voice when you say his name. Like even now, he takes your breath away.”
Oh God. She’d never realized she spoke about him that way. Hopefully no one else—such as Eddie—had ever realized it, either.
“I…I…” she stuttered.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to explain. Sometimes there’s no explaining to do. Love is love. It is what it is.”
“But we were…we weren’t together,” she explained.
“Doesn’t matter. Did he know how you felt?”
Dani shook her head.
“And why not?”
“He’s my brother’s best friend. I think he pictured me as his own kid sister, nothing more.”
Harold chuckled to himself.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing. Just an old man who ain’t got nothing better to do than laugh to himself.”
She pursed her lips at him and folded her arms. “If we’re gonna be friends, Harold, you’d better tell me what you’re laughing about.”
“All right,” he said, taking his napkin from his lap, wiping his mouth, plopping it on the table, and then leaning forward.
“Since I’m guessing you look about the same now as you did last time you saw your Theo, I can guarantee he did not picture you as his kid sister.
Now, I don’t know the fella so I can’t say whether he felt the way about you that you do him, but sister? Uh-uh.” Harold wagged his finger.
Heat washed over Dani’s cheeks.
“And don’t you go thinking I’m being a creepy old geezer,” he continued, putting up his hand. “Just being honest, is all. Maybe now’s the time I should mention that Patty was my friend’s sister, so I think I’m a bit of an expert on the topic. Though older sister, I should add.”
“So what you’re saying is I’m not your type?” Dani asked, with a smile.
Harold let out a full belly laugh. “Exactly. I like my women like I like my wine and my cheese: aged to perfection.” He brought his fingers to his mouth and gave a chef’s kiss.
“You know, Harold,” Dani said, smiling while she nibbled on the last of the grape leaves, “you aren’t the travel companion I envisioned, but you’re better.”
He placed his hand on his chest and gave a little bow from his seat. “Just keeping it for real life. That’s what the young ’uns say nowadays, right?”
Dani snickered. “Something like that.”
“So besides the fact that he was your brother’s best friend, give me some other reasons why nothing ever happened between the two of you.”
She smiled and eyed him curiously. “What for?”
“I want to poke holes in your reasoning.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Dani sighed. “He was too good for me.”
“Poppycock!” Harold called out about two volumes louder than anything else he’d said all night.
A few passersby turned to look, and Dani sank a bit into her chair and put her hand up to her forehead to cover her face.
Harold sat confidently in his seat, even more confident in his words.
But he knew nothing about Dani’s real life.
He didn’t know that all the things Dani boasted about accomplishing in the future, all the places she said she’d go, yet none of them ever happened.
She was stuck. Her old classmates had been right.
She was all talk. She couldn’t hack living on her own.